American Gothic

iTunes Review

Released in 1972, David Ackles’ American Gothic is not as well-known as the works of Elton John, James Taylor, Randy Newman or Joni Mitchell, but David Ackles was once a contender and this album, produced by Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin, is a main reason why. A former Vaudeville performer hired by Elektra Records as a songwriter, Ackles made his way to the recording studio for a series of eclectic studio albums that includes this underrated masterpiece. The title track begins with a Vaudevillian bounce before the piano and horns of the perfect ballad “Love’s Enough” prove Ackles to be as versatile and weird as a cult artist like Scott Walker or a hit-maker such as Don McLean. The album bounces between tender quiet moments (“One Night Stand”) and those of showtune intensity (“Oh, California!”). Ackles, the performer, comes out swinging for the vamping “Ballad of the Ship of State” where his voice, made for Broadway, serves up literate lyrics about a time and place now deep in our past. “Blues for Billy Whitecloud” recounts a Native American Indian’s slide into alcoholism with sadness and compassion. “Montana Song” ends things with a ten-minute epic. Beautiful.