Ripley

Sparse is the electric, driving rock edge of the Tractors on the first solo effort of bandmember Steve Ripley. The album, simply entitled Ripley, is first and foremost vocal, but its instrumental accompaniment is powerful enough to counterbalance Ripley's amazing "rasp." Ripley's jagged vocal style adapts itself to the album's bluesy cuts such as "Too Many Borderlines" and the funereal "Gone Away," then slides into perfect synch with the rhythmic drums and Hammond organ in "Sweetheart Town." It's impossible to miss the spiritualism on this collection, and not just because of the two final cuts, both about the relief of entering God's kingdom. Somewhere floating among Ripley's notes is an intangible but clearly audible belief in every word of every line, the kind of belief that comes from the soul. The spirit is as present in the love songs as it is in the ballads of hardship. Ripley's debut, with all its melancholy rapture, is pure and original and is one of the year's best offerings.