When songwriter
James Jackson Toth dropped
Wooden Wand & the Vanishing Voice (his pseudonym was the first half of the band's name) and let that unit simply dissolve into the neo-hippie ether, he created an almost unlimited sense of possibility for himself as a solo artist. That's not to say that
Toth has completely left his post-'60s ethos behind -- far from it. He's still assembling super-limited-edition CD-Rs to give away at impromptu shows and collaborating with many other artists. The hint that
Toth was on his way to something else could be heard on 2007's
James and the Quiet, the final
Wooden Wand offering. Issued by Ecstatic Peace, it was a deeply introspective album that, while more cohesive than anything
Wooden Wand had recorded, was still a meandering cipher of a set. Released in 2008,
Waiting in Vain is a 180-degree turn, produced by
Steve Fisk and recorded in San Francisco with a band that includes wife Jex Thoth,
Otto Hauser,
Shayde Sartin,
Jason Quever, and
Jarvis Taveniere, along with guests including
Nels Cline,
Carla Bozulich, and
Andy Cabic. Each and every tune here has -- in comparison to anything he's done previously -- a taut, formal structure, each of them evoking some source of inspiration. For instance, the calling up of the spirit of
John Lennon in "Look in on Me" is eerie for all its forlorn need. The production comes right from
Lennon's debut solo album, while the lyrics and melody are pure
Toth -- ambling, leisurely paced country-rock. The combination works beautifully. The combination of
Neil Young and
Jason Molina that saturates "Midnight Watchman," with its blend of hollow-body electric guitars, strummed acoustics, and upright piano, is gentle, forlorn, and sweet, but the only place you know it's
Toth is in the lyrics. And if there is a problem with
Waiting in Vain, this is it: too much emulation, too much paying of tributes without enough focus on getting the songs across in his voice, whether they be rockers, ballads, folk tunes, countryish rock songs, or his attempt at psych pop. That said,
Waiting in Vain is a pleasant listen; there's plenty to like here, and despite some of its relative laid-back sloppiness, it carries within it the genuine effort of a very good songwriter who is not only trying to communicate but trying to find his way through his heroes into his own sound. Over nearly 50 minutes, however, the listener has to give
Toth a generous benefit of the doubt, because it's simply too long. This is a solid if flawed first try. ~ Thom Jurek