Hey gang, This is a music review I did for Roadpoet eMagazine. enjoy! -Mike

"Down On The Spirit Farm" 12th anniversary Edition
by Martin Jack Rosenblum
Holyranger.com

When I was given this C.D. to review, I thought I'd listen to it from a music perspective. Then, from a lyrical/poetic perspective. I did. But along the way I got absorbed in Dr. Martin Jack Rosenblum flawlessly weaving the two together. I first heard him as a spoken word artist perched at the mic like a far-off eagle seeing every movement of life in the desert, then, hearing him as a died-in-the-wool blues man with hat tilted over one eye, in a dark nightclub with a cigarette in his mouth and wearing shades. In any form that his voices take, the melody of a storyteller came through with vocal delivery that brings to mind Stan Ridgeway (of Wall Of Voodoo fame). From tales of outlaws then and now to highway rambling and riding the open road, the melding visions of Rosenblum rise like a chant in a cathedral. The cathedral being the sky over an empty strip of highway and the monk wears a cowboy hat - a spiritual being just being!

Backing up Rosenblum is an amazing band complete with country fiddle and backing vocals that float well with the rock-steady rhythm. The opening track, "ItĒs Your Call" spins like new tires in road dust, asserting . . . nothing will be with you once you have finally gotten through". The title track, "Down on the Spirit Farm" simmers slow and heavy with images of facing, or not facing an inner battle like a snake not free from its disease" . . ."crawling down a hallway under the spurs of some shaman, his fingernails cut a lady, she has given him blood".

In "Against the Light", he paints a mural of apocalyptic confrontation amid thick guitars and a driving beat. "(You Need) Friends to carry Your Bones" is a haunting pirate tale of the sea personified as a woman: " . . .the majesty of her hair that flows as water on stones will never provide for you, you need friends to carry your bones."

Martin Jack offers us this in the song "Just the Way I Sing": Songs are written to be treacherous, the poetry hotter than a cigaretteĒs match. My music follows every ravine and creek where I chased them but never can catch"

This is the "12th Anniversary Edition" of "Down on the Spirit Farm" C.D. and the songs resonate with impact. There are two versions on this disc of "No Freedom, Honey", one being an alternate version. showing the versatility of The Holy Ranger and his band.

Dr.Martin Jack Rosenblum is an artist, word-shaman and six-string slinger who creates music that lives on its own but lives in the world. A camera obscura that obscures nothing. Rosenblum is Harley DavidsonĒs former Poet Laureate, his lyrics are poems, but not of the "reading" variety. And in a world where words and info. come at us faster than one cares to decode, it's cool to just listen and hear.

Mike Amado: Roadpoet eMagazineĒs Associate News Staff and Music Reviewer


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