For nearly 40 years, New York songwriter Willie Nile has given his global cult of fans albums unapologetically romantic in their streetwise rock & roll poetics and poignant in their keen, sweeping observations of everyday life's yearning, brokenness, disappointment, and optimism. Children of Paradise is a return to original material after 2017's Positively Bob: Willie Nile Sings Bob Dylan. Nile's sound, equally steeped in roots rock, hooky garage pop, vintage punk, and urban folk music, is readily on offer on this unabashedly political album.
Co-produced with Stewart Lerman and performed by Nile's road band, this set is assembled from 12 unreleased songs old and new, soldered together in the urgency of the era. Cristina Arrigoni's iconic black-and-white sleeve images of street denizens are riveting, drenched in layers of meaning. They are given added dimension and dignity in opener "Seeds of the Revolution" that commences with the words "The seeds of the revolution are planted in my heart," before jangling guitars, crisp snares, and glockenspiel explode, carrying us directly into the unrequited desire for transcendence depicted by Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run for a past generation. In "Don't," Nile echoes the musical rawness and militancy of the Clash at their best with its unforgettable chorus. The impressions of Strummer and Jones linger in the funky rock environmental paean "Earth Blues." It recalls the rhythmic swagger and punch of "the Magnificent Seven" from Sandinista. The title track was written decades ago with Martin Briley but fits this set hand-in-glove with ringing acoustic and electric guitars, chanted backing vocals, swirling organ, and double-time snare shuffle. Nile's images of the young inheriting a ravaged world from their parents and grandparents are searing; they are heartbroken and pissed off at living on the other side of the American Dream. CBGB's gets namechecked in the Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers-inspired "Rock 'N' Roll Sister," that offers a temporary respite from the fractured darkness with jarring garage rock. "All Dressed Up and No Place to Go" invokes the spirit of the Ramones as images of a game show-hosting president, Henry David Thoreau, Aristotle, Santa Claus, Moby Dick, Annabelle Lee, and Don Juan all struggle with one another for dominance in the maelstrom Nile delivers one of his trademark observations of loneliness in the mandolin- and acoustic guitar-driven "Lookin' for Someone." That said, he also understands that a revolution without a love song is not a revolution at all. To that end, he drops the achingly beautiful "Secret Weapon." Set-closer "All God's Children" is equal parts storefront gospel hymn and barfly singalong, unwavering in its hope: "Tell everybody who has lost their way/All God's children gonna sing someday." Children of Paradise is focused, savvy, and resonant; it's right on time. When placed alongside Nile's best albums, it too should transcend the moment and resonate for years to come.
