Les Thomas sparks memories and hope with this self-produced gem.
Les Thomas uses an 1840 painting by J.M.W Turner for the cover of his latest record. The Slave Ship depicts a dramatic seascape as the ship hits turbulent waters. The original title of the painting was Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, a horrific act, as the dead could be claimed on insurance. Thomas remembers everything.
This sets the scene for a collection of songs woven and crafted to inform, refresh and educate, not in a preachy way but as a powerful reminder of what has gone before and what the future may hold. In piano-led odes to what has gone before, Thomas sings with heartfelt emotion, focusing on what is important and highlighting past mistakes.
Thomas is an Australian singer-songwriter, and I Remember Everything was recorded across several studios in North Melbourne with a talented ensemble of musicians, including Mandy Connell on harmony vocals. Thomas self-produced the set, and it touches on facets of his life, experiences and historical markers.
In the track The Last Of The Old Holdens, Thomas explores how the closure of the Australian car company, part of General Motors, affected people. Using the narrative of the father, whose whole life was given to the company, which in return offered stability and a stable way of life for his family. Thomas sings, “With a lion on his jacket and a regular pay packet / And dreams of freedom rolling from the shed”. 60,000 workers were laid off as the Elizabeth plant in South Australia finally closed in October 2017 after 69 years. That recurring pay and dream just died.
The cornerstone of the album is nine minutes of recollections throughout time. List songs can sometimes be tedious, but Thomas holds the listener’s attention throughout this impressive guitar-and-piano epic. There is a clever Australian/UK tie-in as Thomas mentions the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Six agricultural labourers in Dorset Village took on the landowners after further wage cuts and were sent to the penal colony in 1834. Eventually pardoned, they returned to a heroes welcome and became pioneers for the trade union movement. The lyrics pick out people of resistance and moments in time, and the list sparks a sense of despair, yet with the hope that, as long as there are individuals willing to challenge, there is hope. Thomas asks, “Can we ever start anew?” The last verse gives us a clue by recalling the birth of his child. Thomas has produced an absolute gem which should be studied line by line in schools.
There are many stunning moments throughout the violin on Oh Geronimo. Takes the sadness up a notch as Thomas laments the life of the Bedonhohe band of the Ndendahe Apache leader and medicine man, who fought the US military and the war with Mexico, and tried to free his people from the reservations and back to their nomadic life.
Thomas has produced a special record, and as he pleads on the penultimate track, The Firing Line, with excellent background vocals from Connell, “Don’t be silent, please be brave / We still have much to save”. Wise words from a compelling album.
