Buoyed by the success of the quite excellent Fight Another Day (2016), the Dan Reed Network are back with another album that mixes soul, funk and rock into a beguiling whole. Featuring just eight tracks and clocking in at forty minutes, the emphasis is very much on quality over quantity and origins will delight fans who have been waiting for the next instalment from the recently-reactivated band. In typically contrary fashion, the band also adopted a unique method of recording as they threw open the doors of each of the four recording studios to a live audience, even inviting them to participate by providing backing vocals. The result is a truly inclusive album that blurs the lines between creator and listener and the results are inspired.
Opening with the mellifluous melodies of fade to light, the recent single that showed exactly how well the band’s recording process worked in practice, the track sees Dan Reed and his band deliver a gorgeous pop-rock song that benefits greatly from the multi-layered vocal harmonies lent by the audience. With a lush mix that sounds simply incredible, strings, guitar, bass and drums are all rendered with remarkable clarity and power. The second of the two songs tracked in Manchester, the re-recorded Ritual (originally from 1987) sees driven, funky bass, taut drums and rich synth lines pulled together in a manner not unlike latter-day Genesis. It’s a giant, funky, pop-rock anthem with a guaranteed sing-along hook, although the spoken-word passage does date it a tad. Moving to New york for the next pair of tracks, the Dan Reed Network offer up the upbeat right in front of me, a slightly rockier piece with funky bass underpinnings and sweet lead work. It’s followed by a fan favourite from the 1994 self-titled album, forgot to make her mine, which sees the band having a blast in New York’s famous Power Station, giving the down ‘n’ dirty funk work-out a rocking make over complete with massive, stadium-sized drums and grinding bass riff.
Next up, we head off to Portland for shameless, a complex tale of that details the type of relationship that burns with intense heat, regardless of the preconceptions of others; all dealt with, of course, in typically melodic style. A harder-edged song with a great central riff, shameless joins forget to make her mine as an album highlight. The second song recorded in Portland is a special DRN song that many fans say has helped them through rough patches. Let it go, reimagined by guitarist Brion James as a soul track, sees the band’s home-town audience lend their support and the result is an emotional rendering of a classic song. The final two songs see the band tracking in Stockholm, the tough rock of one last time a note of thanks to those who have stood by the band as their career has had them travelling the globe for months on end. The album ends with a re-recording of Rainbow child, a huge success in Sweden at the time of its release in 1990 and an obvious choice for the live audience to tackle. It brings the album to a suitably heartening end, not least thanks to Brion’s elegant solo.
A unique album, the concept of recording new tracks and old favourites alongside a live audience, and across four different cities, is a refreshing one and yet, amazingly, the end result is remarkably coherent and well-structured. Long-time fans of Dan Reed Network will love the new tracks and old favourites alike, and the quality of the package is simply astonishing. In such a turbulent period, uplifting music is increasingly hard to come by, and the Dan Reed Network are a potent antidote to the self-absorption that so often comes with difficult times. Origins is a wonderful, inclusive album that captures the spirit of the Dan Reed Network perfectly. 9
