By Henry Lipput
Wouldn’t you like to be the groovy uncle? Wouldn’t you like to
be the kind of uncle who shows up at a family gathering knowing about all the
coolest new music and movies and knows who that was hosting last weekend’s Saturday
Night Live? (For the record, that’s not me.)
Well, you can’t be the groovy uncle because Glenn Pragnell is
already. Glenn has been recording under
the name Groovy Uncle since 2011 and No Man’s An Island (Trouserphonic Records)
is his 10th and latest release. Last year he was part of the musical
partnership The Vague Ideas and their Lennon-inspired New York Letters album.
On New York Letters (one of my 2022 favorites) Pragnell
channeled Lennon’s vocal and musical stylings and some of this bleeds on to a
few of the songs on the new album. It’s a fun thing to hear since most of the
music I listen to is inspired by McCartney.
The opening and title track on the album, “No Man’s An Island,”
is one of those songs. It’s a groovy, tuneful song like “Nobody Told Me” from
Milk and Honey. The press notes describe the album as dealing with “feelings of
isolation, bewilderment, loss, and frustration but ultimately forward looking, optimistic,
and uplifting.”
The lyrics for “No Man’s An Island” are all about the bewilderment
and frustration of modern life: “Every day you hide away/You need a break/Just
because the world requires/You give, they take.” So what’s the answer? “No man’s
an island/Set yourself free/You’re been too long by yourself/But like the
sun/You keep on shining.”
“Beneath” sounds like a missing early Kinks song sung by Dave
Davies with lyrics that could have been on his song “Rats:” “Beneath an existential
sun/Dividing each and everyone/Reaching for a helping hand/They’ll crush you down
into the sand.” The solution is not to
take it personally because you’re not the problem (“It’s not you”) but you
might actually have the answer if you look hard enough: “There’s much ado and
much to see/Beneath our blind reality.”
“When I Get Back on My Feet Again” is Pragnell’s prescription
on how to put yourself back together: “It won’t be easy, ain’t gonna lie” he
sings. The best way is to not cut yourself to others who mean something in your
life: “Another rain check from me to you/Let’s say hello and not goodbye.”
If I had assembled the track listing for No Man’s An Island I
would have ended with the album with the sad and beautiful “We Had Holidays” (the Lennon influence is here too). Yes, it’s about a relationship that has
ended but it was a positive experience: “Once or twice or maybe more/I recalled
the ways/You were there to reassure/We had holidays. “
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