“Sometimes a good idea isn’t enough,” sings Jakob Dylan on “Too Late To Quit,” sounding as if he’s referring to his band’s up-and-down success. He goes on, “You’ve got to do the work, so get your ass up.” But Dylan has another poignant point to make: “There isn’t really such a thing as bad luck, yeah, but once I shot an arrow in the sky and it stuck.” Dylan and his Wallflowers took four years to produce the follow-up to their 1996 self-titled sophomore disc and commercial breakthrough (the one that stuck); in contrast, Red Letter Days arrives only a brief two years after the underrated Breach.
Dylan will most likely never re-create the 1-2-3 punch in ’96-’97 when “6th Avenue Heartache,” “One Headlight” and “The Difference” dominated mainstream and alt-rock airwaves. However, “When You’re On Top,” “Closer to You” and “Three Ways” have the makings of adult-alt airplay hits, while “How Good It Can Get,” “Everybody Out of the Water” and “Too Late…” would play well alongside new additions by Petty and Springsteen on retro/classic rock formats. And that’s just the first half of the disc.
With the departure of guitarist Michael Ward (previously with School of Fish and John Hiatt), Days, like The Wallflowers, was recorded, without a lead player in the band. Dylan, Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) and several others step up, but the tracks lack the instrumental edge and soul that, say, Mike Campbell brought to the prototype Heartbreakers.
Bent on finding something hopeful and positive to say in difficult times in “If You Never Got Sick,” Dylan sings, “I’d never get to hold you.” If he meets rejection in the world it’s no big deal, because he already has “Everything I Need.” Something’s gone wrong “Here in Pleasantville,” but life is about moving on, and Dylan’s ready to burn that bridge with these Red Letter Days.