As any former addict can tell you, the twelve steps of any drug or alcohol rehab program are only the gateway to recovery; the real treatment starts when one learns to move forward productively and not be perpetually compelled to look back and see how they're doing. Eventually, the hope is that the patient will be able to start over, wise enough not to repeat past mistakes and educated enough to not have to make sure they're on the straight and narrow every step of the way. Living proof of this process successfully completed lies in Hugh Dillon. It took derailing his first band, The Headstones, with drinking and drugging excess for the singer to admit he had a problem, and that's where the long, hard road out of hell began. Dillon put music down for a while and established a new career in film and television which kept him in the public eye initially, but has since successfully elevated his stature to that of a sought-after personality and character both in Canada and the US. He worked hard, cleaned up, and Dillon's twelfth step was the foundation of the Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir in 2005. Even though it was good to hear the singer revisit his roots with a set of Teenage Head-sounding rock-punk, it was obvious that The High Cost Of Low Living was recorded for the singer to prove to himself that he could; it wasn't a stretch for the singer, but the album illustrated that music was still a possibility for a straight and sober Hugh Dillon. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't ideal, but it was the twelfth step.
Works Well With Others is the often-illusive (for many recovering addicts) thirteenth step, and the first mature work in music for Hugh Dillon. There are elements of the raucous (but not heavy or angry) early recordings of The Headstones peering out from around the edges of songs like “Ten Feet Tall,” “Radio Plays” and “My Mistakes” as well as the personnel and more experimental side of HDRC (“Reel To Reel”) but that's to be expected as, collecting every side of himself, Hugh Dillon brings listeners up to speed on who he is now on Works Well With Others.
As wide-reaching as the record is, there is a particular focus on this album that's easy to find; it's not a desperate attempt to recapture a market share, it's something that the singer felt capable of, comfortable with and simply wanted to do. On close observation, listeners can almost hear Dillon relish in getting back on the horse and riding on songs like “Ten Feet Tall” (which sounds as potent as any of the songs on Picture Of Health), “Ignore That Call” and the hoarse whispering of “Don't Be Fooled.” It's confident and strong – even through the ballads – and doesn't at any point succumb to the darkness that The Headstones reveled in or the comparative novelty of HDRC (the closest Works Well With Others comes to that extreme is in “Reel To Reel,” which sounds like it could also have come off of Tim Armstrong's last solo outing). In each case, Dillon remains dry-eyed and stoic to the point of almost taunting listeners to fall in with him and give him an excuse to cut loose and get rowdy but, each time it gets close, the singer pulls back and teases his audience some more. It's a tantalizing listen and fun to hear Dillon comically teeter on that line he's walking, but an equally gratifying one when, as it ends, the singer emerges still on the wagon.
That tease that Dillon plays with and so well here is the hook that will get listeners familiar with the singer's story to come along, but just that group would make for a small audience on its own. It needs more to get new listeners and, perhaps knowing this, plenty of strong songs have been included here that can draw interest from the uninitiated and that's the key that gets the album over. You might be familiar with Hugh Dillon, you might not – but anyone can find something here that they can take away as their own. Works Well With Others successfully re-ignites the fire under Hugh Dillon but, this time (and the songs on the record prove this too), he won't be consumed by them.
Artist:
www.hughdillon.com/
www.myspace.com/hdrc
Watch:
Hugh Dillon interview on The Hour with George Strombolopoulis.
Album:
Works Well With Others is out now and available on Amazon as a Canadian import. Buy it here .
