620 W. Surf

Description

620 W. Surf is the debut album by the American singer and songwriter Michael McDermott, released on Giant Records/Reprise in June 1991, manufactured by Warner Bros. Records, a Time Warner Company. The album was recorded by Ed Thacker and was produced by Don Gehman with Brian Koppelman co-producing. All songs written by Michael McDermott.

It’s hard to be a saint in the city. Ask Michael McDermott, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter whose first album, ‘620 W. Surf’, looks out from the shadows of Chicago tracks where “the L train rumbles near the rooftops of angelic fear.” The album is sometimes bleak, with many fears and few assurances, many mysteries but few answers. For McDermott, spirituality is an admirable struggle. “I shall receive my passion eternally from the bitter stars that shine,” he sings on the opening song, «A Wall I Must Climb».

Similar in style and content to emotive singer-songwriters like Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Cockburn, McDermott’s existential tales are based on acoustic guitar rounded out by tasteful organ, harmonica and violin. Producer Don Gehman gives the album the sparse power heard on John Cougar Mellencamp’s best work.

Though not specifically a “Christian artist,” McDermott fills his songs with religious symbols and biblical references. He quotes the Sermon on the Mount, and his Catholic upbringing shows when he pleads with St. Jude, the patron saint of desperate causes.

Although rarely plainly stated, the battle for a modern faith is a subtle theme of ‘620 W. Surf’. In «A Wall I Must Climb», the singer is determined to scale the barriers of his emotions – faith, fear, love, doubt – only to realize that he keeps kicking the ladder out from under himself. That idea echoes in «620 W. Surf», where a disheartened McDermott goes to church “just to pray/ Came back home feeling the same way… but I still believe.”

McDermott searches for the source of redemption, but also the source of sin. In two troubling songs, «Murder in the First Degree» and «Mr. Simmons’ Arkansas Christmas Blues», McDermott enters the harrowed mind of a mass murderer. Those songs starkly contrast «Sacred Ground», where McDermott sings, “I will be free someday from these things that drag me down.”

‘620 W. Surf’ is riddled with bitterness, failure, and self-doubt. “I am to what I believe a broken tool,” McDermott sings; and in the same song he gets drunk when he can’t find the proof he seeks from the “book of truth.” The lack of eternal reassurance is unsettling, and some listeners may be disturbed by the confessional nature of the album. But for those wrestling with the same issues and doubts as McDermott, those qualities may be the most reassuring of all. [Brian Mansfield, CCM, September 1991]

> iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/album/620-w-surf/1600780525)

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “A Wall I Must Climb” – 3:45
A2. “Fool’s Avenue” – 4:53
A3. “Shadow Of The Capitol” – 4:18
A4. “No. 49” – 3:28
A5. “Your Silence I Will Always Admire For Its Being” – 9:57

Side Two
B1. “Sacred Ground” – 4:10
B2. “620 W. Surf” – 3:19
B3. “Murder In The First Degree” – 4:05
B4. “Death In The Autumn Air” – 4:28
B5. “Mr. Simmons’ Arkansas Christmas Blues” – 3:33
B6. “Trembling Hour” – 7:17

Note: Simultaneously released on cassette, 12-inch vinyl LP, and CD by Giant Records.

[youtube_sc url=”” playlist=”jiWyk0pWSwg,KDXxW1GofLY,sRFtZfjeBZU,ovr44Nbm6ok,-IlY0t6YB9o,4L31zM-g4Vw,s_A30670_Fw,YVRIT9PA_nc,box1NV1kLUM,M1zWrkcsLVE,btJoJEVPGrY” title=”Michael McDermott, 620 W. Surf – A Wall I Must Climb + Fool’s Avenue + Shadow Of The Capitol + No. 49 + Your Silence I Will Always Admire For Its Being + Sacred Ground + 620 W. Surf + Murder In The First Degree + Death In The Autumn Air + Mr. Simmons’ Arkansas Christmas Blues + Trembling Hour” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]