Wesley Stace

One Last Heist

Pravda Records

Wesley Stace was born in Hastings, Sussex, in 1965, and educated at the King’s School, Canterbury, and Jesus College, Cambridge. He released 17 albums under the name John Wesley Harding before switching back to his birth name for more recent recordings, including 2021’s Late Style and the monumental limited-edition Secret Series, for which he revisited his entire discography for new solo releases. He has also published four novels. Wesley’s Cabinet of Wonders, his variety show based at City Winery in NYC, continues to sell out. Since its inception in 2009, the show has become a virtual who’s who of contemporary performers, writers, and comedians. Wesley has been joined onstage by Lou Reed, Rosanne Cash, Iggy Pop, John Prine, and Bruce Springsteen, among others. He has performed on late-night talk shows and been featured in films and television. Wesley’s songs have been covered by other artists, from Graham Parker and Josh Ritter to Kelly Hogan and Tanya Donelly.

Wesley has twice taught a songwriting course at Princeton University with poet Paul Muldoon. He has also taught creative writing at Swarthmore and Fairleigh Dickinson University. He has written and reviewed for the Times Literary Supplement, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

One Last Heist was produced by Wesley and David Nagler and recorded and mixed at Studio 1935 in Philadelphia’s historic BOK Building by Peter Rydberg. The core band includes Wesley, harmonica and vocals; David Nagler, keyboards, guitars, and backing vocals; Eddie Carlson, bass; and Stephanie San Juan, drums (David Byrne). These backing tracks were supplemented by stellar guitar from Joe Gore (Tom Waits) and Justin Mazer (Bob Weir), extra drums from Patrick Berkery, and backing vocals from Chris von Sneidern. The bells and whistles — string quartets, clarinets, flute, flugelhorns, etc. — were contributed later by friends all over.

Wesley opens with the title track, “One Last Heist,” as he sings, “There’ll be one last heist, before I finally retire, I want one more payday, one last awayday, before I hang my holster by the fire. There’ll be one last heist, I’ll have my fling. One last fandango, a climatic tango, roll credits and let everyone sing. And I’ve got to get out, Oh, I’ve got to get free. My reactions aren’t what they used to be. There are kids lining up, they all got degrees, once that was me.”

On “Penelope,” Wesley chimes, “I hope that you feel the way I do, I’ve got no evidence, just my common sense. I’m glad were finally through with the voodoo. I was off the map, time and space collasped, but now I’m free. And it’s just you and me, Penelope. She sang songs as she spun upon her wheel, but you get nothing back, if your magic’s black. Through her spells and sorcery were real, I had the antidote, a goodbye note, and was free. Why did you wait for me? Penelope.”

“A Funny One” features Wesley as he chants, “On, you’re a funny one. You saw me coming, and I knew that you’d give me a run for my money. You said look in my eyes can you see your demise? I said no, are we playing I spy? That’s when I realized that you’d hypnotized me.”

On “Hanging Up the Sickle,” Wesley groans, “Please don’t be afraid of me, anymore, I know you didn’t expect a knock so late upon your door. I’ve tracked men down in deserts and orts unknown and here you are in front of me. The heir to my throne. Tonight we’re gonna party, yeah, just you and me alone. Cos now I am retiring which means somebody’s hiring, and I’m hanging up the sickle,” as Wesley says goodbye to his devilish side.

“This Knowledge Dies with Me” features Wesley as he moans, “I wrote you a letter, awhile ago. I haven’t heard back from you yet, I hope you received it, I wanna know, I have recently changed my address. I have some thoughts for you gentlemen, concerning the mystery, I keep myself hid, I live off the grid, and this knowledge dies with me.”

On “Get It in Your Fingers,” Wesley wails, “When you can’t get the rhythm, the chords to the songs, and you know you can’t fake it, just playing along, you want to play the barres, bu the strings just buzz, it’ll get instinctive if you practice because you gotta get it in your fingers…and now I just can’t get it wrong.”

“In Our Own Time” features Wesley as he howls, “I can wait and wait, I’ll stand in line all day for a date, or a word or a rhyme. You say I’m too patient, but it’s no crime, to do it in your own time.”

On “I Say Lots of Things,” Wesley belts, “I know the cure didn’t work for you, I said that if you died I wouldn’t sing. Sure I said there wouldn’t be a coup. Oh baby, I say a lot of things. I know I said that we should go to war. Oh baby, I say a lot of things. I know I said that I was single, yeah, but I say a lot of things.”

“Not My Speed” features Wesley as he bursts, “It all seemed so perfect, the night that we met, Rein ne va plus, just as I placed my bet, there was so much at stake, and I knew you liked me. Let’s watch a movie, I said lets be friends, but you wanna fast forward to get to the end. Slow-burning romance, is the stuff that I need, maybe you’re not my speed. You’re not my flower, you’re not my weed, you’re full of caffeine, not my cuo of tea, and I wanna get high…now time passes slowly, the grass overgrown ‘She travels fastest who travels alone’, engraved on your headstone, covered in weeds, Oh, you were not my speed.”

On “Thoughts and Prayers,” Wesley cries, “It’s always someone else until it’s you, it’s somewhere else till it’s in your house too. It’s just a rumor unconfirmed, until it’s true. They’re someone else’s kids, until they’re yours. Till they bomb you it’s someone else’s war. So many facts and so much evidence, but you need more. And so it’s thoughts and prayers, but the Lord can’t fix, the law down here, It’s up to you, and you are just too scared. So spare us all your thoughts and prayers.”

On “Hello Dead Horse,” Wesley croons, “Hello dead horse, can I flog you again, I will use force, I need the money of course. That goes without saying. Hello dead horse, can I rise you anew. I’ll whip you round the course without remorse. Cos it’s your fault too…Hello dead horse, just one last heist, let’s reconnect. Let’s resurrect! It worked for Jesus Christ. Hello dead horse.”

One Last Heist is the big payday. This heist began with frustrations about the one before, because Covid was a scruffy time and it just couldn’t be done the way they wanted. So the prime motive here was to go one better: to arrange the songs first, then record them as a band, playing live in the studio, with room to relax a little. The sound is expansive, a far cry from Wesley’s strummy folk-rock records of yore. This time everything swings. This album comes highly recommended.

Richard Ludmerer

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