"In 1965, the great Bob Dylan wrote It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), which contained the immortal image:

When Dylan toured with The Band across the USA in 1974, with the effects of Watergate reverberating throughout the nation, those lines caused eruptions of applause. In these even more troubled times those lines still have great resonance.

Along with the President, Jim Lesses is also sometimes naked! Sometimes I Wake Up Naked is both the title and the powerful opening track of Jim’s debut CD. Jim is a true SCALA veteran. In earlier times SCALA used to issue an annual compilation tape. On A Decent Meal (1990), Jim recorded The Future is Yours, and the 1991 tape, Set The Record Straight featured Jim’s Trivial Pursuit.

The current recording is indeed a document for these cataclysmic times as Jim casts an insightful, experienced and dispassionate eye over a world beset by disaffection and confusion. September 11, 2001, was a major signpost for these times, an epoch-making event for the world of the twenty first century. Jim’s Night Falls Over Manhattan (sung by Trish Smylie), a gentle, poignant and reflective song, looks at that event. Blessed with a lovely melody, there is both beauty and wisdom at work here.

The title track opener is a classic 'list' song (every line starts with "sometimes"), dealing with the doubts, insecurities, contradictions and dilemmas facing individuals. Punctuated by the atmospheric violin of Hugh Gordon, this is a brooding, intense and powerful song. A close relation of the title song, at least lyrically, is Feel The Fear (and make it run). More of a rallying call with its optimistic stance, it’s one of the most rhythmic and catchy songs in the set.

Tuesday Night in The Jungle, Madeleine & The Devil, and Some Mother's Son, are all vivid and relentless in their depiction of individual families and a society in the grim throes of alienation, loss and disaffection.

Although portraying the seething and violent underbelly of our society, Tuesday Night in The Jungle has a gentle swinging tune. Madeleine & The Devil is brooding and sombre, a harrowing account of a troubled and disturbed victim/woman, whilst Some Mother's Son shows a compelling picture of drug abuse, family disintegration and tragedy. If you find yourself overwhelmed by the seriousness of some of Jim’s material you can always play I Want to be Eight Again, a charming and jaunty plea for fun and innocence.

There are a trio of songs with love as their focus, but all with interesting takes on that timeless subject. I Just Want to be With You has the intriguing story of a person marrying into wealth, and contains one of the most famous quartet of words/images in song – "mansion on the hill" (used as a title for songs by both Hank Williams and Bruce Springsteen).

Jane Barr sings the lead on Is This The Promise? a song about doubts, second thoughts and shattered illusions. The best of the three is The Crying Ground, a fine road/man-on-the-run-from-a-femme-fatale song. It’s the theme of countless songs and film noir movies and Jim comes up with some classic genre images like:

There’s nothing left between us but this highway out of town,
And a thousand other back roads leading to the crying ground.

The most intriguing and left of field song is the seven minute The Ballad of Billy Winter, a narrative song set in the American West, and full of the appropriate images and iconography. I always enjoy this style of songwriting (if you do too, check out the late Townes Van Zandt, Tom Russell and Steve Earle who are masters of the genre). I won’t give away the details of the narrative except to say that although Billy Winter was an outlaw, he still believed in the Boy Scouts!

There’s much strength and diversity in this CD. This is mature, reflective and intelligent contemporary folk music. You’ll find passion, compassion, depth and insights into the human condition in these disturbed times. Jim Lesses may indeed sometimes wake up naked. We should all be glad that he wakes up and writes such fine songs."