Greg Copeland - The Tango Bar (2020)

Copeland released his first album, produced by Jackson Browne, in 1982. However, despite considerable media interest, the label offered virtually no support, prompting him to quit the business. He returned, 18 years later, with his second, and now, with a relatively short gap of just 12 years, at the age of 74, he’s back with a third, with a follow-up already planned for 2021.

The musicians including Jay Bellarose and Don Heffington on drums and Greg Leisz on electric guitar and pedal steel, he sings on five of the tracks, delegating the duties elsewhere to the excellent tones of Inara George (Lowell’s daughter) and Caitlin Canty. Indeed, on three numbers he doesn’t appear at all, including the reflective opener ballad I’ll Be Your Sunny Day which features George accompanied on piano and bass by producer Tyler Chester. You can hear the Browne influence still persists.

Chester moves to guitar for the second track, Copeland stepping up for to the microphone to bring his now grained but still warm and evocative vocals to the gently jogging rhythm of Let Him Dream, Ron Burger offering accordion colours. He continues upfront on the six-minute semi-spoken Scan The Beast, a moody, bluesy track with Leisz on lap steel and Val McCallum on electric guitar, followed in turn by the more acoustic, percussive jog, whisperingly sung Coldwater Canyon, the lyrics comprising just the line “up in Coldwater Canyon, there’s a secret town, right around the corner there’s a secret town” while Copeland does some minimal whistling, and Chester tinkles jazz piano and adds hand percussion.

With Leisz providing plangent guitar and Heffington on drums, Lou Reed is pretty self-descriptive, delivered in appropriate slurred, narcotic style with a Velvets psychedelic smouldering groove.

It’s then Canty’s turn to take over the vocals for three in a row, starting with the smoky, bluesy waltzing Mistaken For Dancing with Copeland absent and McCallum on guitar and the piano, keys and bass supplied by Chester, continuing with the jogging country blues strum Better Now on which she also plays rhythm guitar as Leisz and Copeland harmonise and ending with just her, acoustic guitar and keening pedal steel on the dreamily ethereal Beaumont Taco Bell.

The title track closes proceedings, bringing Copeland back to the mic for another reflective song (the cover features a photo of himself at 22 taken on holiday in Greece with his then-wife and two passing strangers of the age he is now, the album itself concerning time passing), Stewart Cole on trumpet and French horn, a warm hymnal keyboards number that recalls Chip Taylor in its tone and delivery.

Featuring some of the finest songs of his career, imbued with the experience and wisdom of age, it’s a terrific comeback and a tantalising portent for its sequel. His debut was called Revenge Will Come; for a business that turned its back on him then, this tango is a dance of sweet revenge indeed.