Music

Slow Dark Train Year: 1997 | Run Time: 59:02

Â©1997 Capricorn/Fingerprint. Produced by Bill Mallonee, Danny Horrid, Dan Russell. All songs written by Bill Mallonee. Song arrangements by VOL. All songs Â© 1997, 1992 Irving Music, Inc. / Allegiance Music, Inc. / Cybrenjojosh / Russachugama Music (BMI)

Track List

About Slow Dark Train

Following VoL's slow progression away from roots rock toward pop-tinged rock, Slow Dark Train marks the apex of that journey. From here they would journal into the dusty roads of americana and alt.country. But before taking that turn, they created one of their most solid and overlooked works. Slow Dark Train starts off with three big, noisy tunes that threw many long-time fans for a loop. Rounding out the rest of the project is a series of solid, catchy tunes, bookended by the fragile "Only a Scratch" and "Judas Skin." Bill Mallonee has called the band's final album for Capricorn a "testimony of despair," and it is more downbeat than any previous album. The loud songs are noisier and less-melodic than before, and the lyrics have echoes of disappointment throughout. "If you can do anything with this / Well, if not I don't blame ya." Still, some of the songs are infectiously bouncy pop tunes, even with lyrics like "taking on water / going down fast", and in fact the entire album is strangely catchy. The band leans toward its folksy roots on jangly songs like "Version of the Truth" and "Points of My Departure" which have a definite alt-country flavor, and they transform "Love Cocoon," which first appeared on Jugular, into a memorable, energetic pop song whose silly lyrics about, uhh, marital bliss proved to be a double-edged sword. A large chain of Christian stores banned the album nation-wide because of the song, ironically ending the honeymoon the band had enjoyed with the Christian music industry after the release of the VOL compilation. The sense of despair that hangs over the album is expressed most clearly on the final song, "Judas Skin", a haunting, quietly troubling songâ€”"on my own again / on my slow dark train" sung over an acoustic guitar, cello, an accidentally recorded rain storm, and an inadvertent bleed-through of vocals from another session, an eerie echoâ€”"what is it you need to know you don't already understand?" Slow Dark Train was released on June 3, 1997.

Did you know?

Slow Dark Train was recorded in September of 1996 at Full Moon Studios in Watkinsville, GA. The title for this project went undecided for quite a while. Two other considerations were Garage Mahal and Resplendent. Pre-ordered copies of Slow Dark Train were sent out to those who ordered directly from Fingerprint. These copies are stamped as pre-releases on the cover. According to Brenda, the design on the CD itself was an enscription from an actual gravestone. In the fall of 1997, VoL were to open for a Jars of Clay tour, but were dumped for Jars of Clay labelmates Plumb.

Quotes from Bill Mallonee

DATE UNKNOWN: Slow Dark Train is a record of thick rock and roll, heart on the sleeve, goin' for broken and God is the safety net when all else reveals itself to be illusion, lies and apathy. Some of that is within our very selves, you know.

DATE UNKNOWN: The new disc is a more honest, garage-y kinda thing [with] very bold and broad strokes, very passionate and heart-felt, very three-piece... very "live."

DATE UNKNOWN: The record has a pretty dark and dense cast. Each song sort of flows into the next. That's deliberate. There's an element of despair, of wrestlin' with something unseen, but which can steal your joy. Fight the good fight, even when all the superstructures around you are collapsing.

DATE UNKNOWN: The sad thing about all of it was that we knew, given our label's [Capricorn] general health, that the record was DOA... dead on arrival. In a word the label did absolutely ZERO to promote Slow Dark Train. They were too busy doing damage control for 311—another of their bands who sells a ga-zillion records—but this year in '97 they had a disc, a new release that went south. It cost the label a good bit, so I'm told.

DATE UNKNOWN: With Slow Dark Train, we ended up recording 20 or 21 songs, but I couldn't edit them down because I loved them all. The record was almost at the point of becoming a double album—we just didn't have enough time.

DATE UNKNOWN: I did all the solos and leads on Slow Dark Train but it was like pulling teeth. I actually just had a bunch of effects—stomp boxes—and went to work. I also kept the songs short enough. I kind of got this philosophy from Pete Buck; if you ever do a guitar solo it's not going to be more than four measures long. It's going to be a lot more about color than it will be about notes or technique. And I buy into that and that's why I really like Slow Dark Train a lot. It's a thick record and the solos are melodic. They're not technically real fast or anything. Anybody at "Guitar 101" could do them. But they're melodic and that's what I tended to go for.

Feb 22, 1997: Yeah, you know they wanna do "Love Cocoon" as the first single... even though we recorded a rockin' cool version of it at Capricorn's request... the song strikes me as a bit on the juvenile side... but in the best possible way... I'm terrified it will be either: 1. an utter failure... also know as first single interruptus (upon which the act of marketing the disc would probably be aborted) or 2. it'll become a success and will be catcalled for by hormonally driven frat boy types as a pick anthem... or 3. it's success will be hailed by right-wingers as a"return to family values" (which, of course we've always championed... in our own way free of other political agendas)... and we'll become, like the Pat Boone of old, THE family values band... all of which leaves me...........cold.

Apr 16, 1997: On a disappointing note I found out today that some buyer for Family Christian bookstores has banned Slow Dark Train from his chain... because, wouldn't ya' know it... "Love Cocoon!" I'm a bit stung... FCB makes up about 30% of the CCM (stands for Confederation of Closed Minds, I think) market... I don't get it. How you can you have two number #1 singles in the CCM market ("Double Cure" and "Hopeless Is As Hopeless Does"), be nominated for a Dove award... and then banned seven months later???" [snip] "It's sort of like being told by your family that you're ugly... it may be true... but it still hurts.

Apr 21, 1997: ...just found out that Focus on the Family, in a phamphlet aimed at teens, declared us to be undesirable and unsafe for consumption... no reason given as far as I can tell. [ed: The man who wrote the Focus on the Family article said that VoL's inclusion was purely a decision of the picture editor who needed another picture to fill the spot.]

May 29, 1997: "Love Cocoon", at least from the preliminary indicators isn't doing well at all at AAA radio format (I told 'em so!)... so they're sending up another single... ("Taking on Water?") Anyway... Capricorn is moving to Atlanta (from Nashville) right as the record is released, AND right as the single is going out their top two radio folks are going on vacation... again with no committment to video or print media.

Nov 24, 1997: Slow Dark Train... never left the turnstile... got almost zero attention... and in today's extremely excess driven world of pop music (I'm speaking of monies alloted for marketing a "product") we didn't stand a chance... no one we were connected with seemed to be able to do anything about it... no radio, no sales... "marquee value" (hideous term, isn't it?)... it's all pretty discouraging after seven albums... to get the greastest reviews from the press, both secular and Christian, and yet not be able to sell hardly any records...

Jul 1998: There is an interesting little footnote to it—we talked to the woman who did the [promotion on it]. She's an independent, and she works radio singles in the [Contemporary Christian Music] market. She worked on "Double Cure" and was responsible for its success, which was immense for us. She said, "Your label, Capricorn, came to us with 'Love Cocoon,' and I told them there's no way that I can work this single—it's not gonna work over here. They won't get it." And see, we had told Capricorn that already. We said that they weren't gonna get it—it's like spittin' in the fan. I could defend the song until the cows come home from a Christian perspective, but they won't get it. That's all that counts. Anyway, she said, "I know what I can sell and what I can't sell, but your radio guy at Capricorn really came down heavy on me. He started accusing us of conservatism and being censors and all this...." And I can hear it now—I can hear our Capricorn guy, who's just a real 'new agey' feel-good kind of guy doing that to her. But we never knew about it. I mean, the band never hears about that kind of stuff. We just knew that the single wasn't picking up. The funny thing is, the same family bookstore chain that banished it was already carrying Jugular, which has just as racy a song. But [Love Cocoon] just happened to be a record that was sent up as a single. If it hadn't been a single, it never would have gotten anyone's notice....

Dec 28, 2001: Slow Dark Train... is an ominous and sorta desperate record... we were told while still in the studio that the label was taking a bath on a 311 record... and so there would be very littlle time to work a single... then the label picked a dumb and weak song as a single that whacked out our careers, while spitting in the face of a demographic that had embraced us six months earlier... and got us kicked off the label... (praise God).... SDT? it still feels like the place where I learned to love an ensemble and the magic it creates with it's chemistry... something I don't think we'd had up to that point... honest... we took off as band thing to me... Slow Dark Train was and is a study in fear, fragility... spiritual pep talks even when you're not listening to yourself... it was and is a talking to oneself down a dark and unfamiliar hallway... all delivered with a good measure of sonic bombast... it was even experimental in places, which was good for me... I'd remix a few songs if I'd had the bucks... but c'est la vie... it was also a very pivotal point in my life: I gave up hoping for success... as strange as that sounds, everynight with Tom Crea and Chris Bland, was a bit a desperate ritual... which led to embracing the road, all things "americana," and the ramblings of "perishable goods." i'm not saying I'm past it... I'm saying I have to come up for air and sunshine...

A Review by manos / May 8, 2002

I remember waiting in nervous anticipation for Slow Dark Train to come out back in 1997. It had been over two years since 1995's Blister Soul and everyone was wondering what would Bill do this time around. The V.O.L. compilation had only given us 4 new tracks, and they mostly didn't compare to the writings or production of the Capricorn releases.
SDT turned out to be like nothing the band had ever done. It started out loud, bold and, somewhat boring. It sounded much like everything else on the radio. At least that was my perspective of SDT at the time. While not up to the production of Blister Soul or Struggleville, or the passion of Killing Floor, I am surprised at the gems to be found.
After coming off a top ten AAA single from Blister Soul, the band made the surprising move of releasing a straight ahead rock record. Slow Dark Train opens with two big rockers "Locust Years" and "Tokyo Rose." While nothing special, the two get the feet moving.
Most of the songs fall short of the tempo established in the beginning. "Only A Scratch" is slow, dark and beautifully bitter. If the song is not about paternal abuse, it is a close facsimile. "Version of the Truth" is refreshingly up beat and negative. Probably the best track on SDT, "Version of the Truth" is a bitter broadside towards the record industry. For an artist that is usually clear on what the truth is, Bill admits that "everybody's got their version."
"Points of My Departure" is much more strangely happy about being off the steep and narrow. Probably would have made a good single. Speaking singles, there is always the infamous "Love Cocoon." The lyrics are brilliant but the song doesn't seem to have the lastability of other Bill tunes. "Willingly," long over looked, holds up well in comparison. There are also plenty of weak tracks coming in with "Black Crow", "Taking on Water," "Hang On Ever Word." For an artist that writes 30 or 40 songs a year, some of these tracks come off surprisingly as filler.
At the very beginning of SDT in "Locust Years" Bill laments "there is nothing left/come and take me." This despair gives the record a sense of a dying dream. One last sellout, even though you know it won't even work. This disc fulfilled the contract with Capricorn, and well, maybe that was a good thing. Less then a year later, VOL released To the Roof of the Sky. Too band they didn't turn that record into Capricorn!

Credits

Bill Mallonee: lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, harmonica, piano

Chris Bland: bass guitar, distort-o-bass, background vocals

Tom Crea: drums, percussion

Phil Madeira: hammond organ, lap steel, piano, keyboards

Darryl Coyne: cello

Mark Smith: percussion, background vocals

Danny Horrid: background vocals

Produced by Bill Mallonee, Danny Horrid and Dan Russell. Executive Producer: Chuck Long. Engineered by Danny Horrid, Mark Smith and Taylor Montague. Recorded at Full Moon Studios, Watkinsville, GA. Production Associates: Harv, Jennifer O'Neil and John Weston. Mixed by John Weston. Mixed at Metropolis Studio, Middleton, MA. Mastered by Henk Kooistra and John Weston. Mastered at 9 West Mastering, Marlborough, MA. Art Direction: Diane Painter. Photography: Jeffery Frazier. Design: Timothy Holland. Cover and Folk Art: Tobin Hines.

Liner Notes

Bill: I am grateful for the love and support of Brenda, Joshua, and Joseph Mallonee. Also thanks to Tobin and Rebecca Hines, Kevin Lawson, the Guthrie Family, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Jon and Sue Evans. Heart-felt thanks to fans and folks who write us and attend the shows, Lee Beitchman, my wonderful legal guy; Dan Russell, manager, friend and cheerleader; Steve Sax and Entourage Talent for making it happen on the road and all of the great people at Capricorn/Mercury for being part of the vision. Feed the hungry, care for the poor, love your neighbor, pray for peace...

Chris: Thanks to all of those who have encouraged me in my endeavors with VOL especially Gary and Sandra Bland, Shannon Bland Frye, Wayne Uzzel, Joyce Thrasher, Angie Aparo, and Alan Queen.

Tom: Thank you God, The Crea Family, Lea Lane, Joyce Thrasher, and Randy and Beki Kirkman.

Vigilantes of Love would like to say thanks to Danny Horrid, Dan Russell and Mark Smith for their patience and creativity in the studio, John Shields, Jon Evans, Phil Madeira and Buren Fowler for your help with this project. Fans, for your mail (we read every word), club goers all around the country (who stay out way past their bed times), and our VOL E-mail pals, the Fingerprint team, Barry Landis and the Warner/Resound crew, Dwight Ozard, John Brashier, the Earls, the Kirks, Thom Jurek, Chris and Laura Donahue, Over the Rhine, True Tunes Upstairs, everyone at University Church, JPUSA, Gail Kocher (thanks for the cookies!), Velana Vego, Barry Buck and the 40-Watt gang, and of course, The Taco Stand. We have so many friends we should thank! We know you are out there. We can hear you breathing...but we have forgotten your name. If you feel left out, insert your name here:_____________