Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott - WISDOM, LAUGHTER, AND LINES.
Great to get a second collaboration release so quickly after last year's WHAT HAVE WE BECOME which was my favorite record of 2014 and one of the best I have heard this decade so far. WISDOM is a little bit less grand than BECOME - Sightly less ambitious lyrics and smaller arrangements (although there is still plenty of studio diversity). Not a criticism though - This is a beautiful record - brings to mind Squeeze/Costello/later XTC/The Divine Comedy and baroque pop as well. Superior to the music Heaton made with The Housemartins and on par with the best records he (and Abbott) made with the Beautiful South. I like every song but the notable ones after a couple listens - I Don't See Them, Lonesome and Sad Millionaire, The Horse and Groom, When Love For Woman Stops. Also all four extra songs on the extended version are excellent especially Real Love which may be the best tune on the record.
Great to get a second collaboration release so quickly after last year's WHAT HAVE WE BECOME which was my favorite record of 2014 and one of the best I have heard this decade so far. WISDOM is a little bit less grand than BECOME - Sightly less ambitious lyrics and smaller arrangements (although there is still plenty of studio diversity). Not a criticism though - This is a beautiful record - brings to mind Squeeze/Costello/later XTC/The Divine Comedy and baroque pop as well. Superior to the music Heaton made with The Housemartins and on par with the best records he (and Abbott) made with the Beautiful South. I like every song but the notable ones after a couple listens - I Don't See Them, Lonesome and Sad Millionaire, The Horse and Groom, When Love For Woman Stops. Also all four extra songs on the extended version are excellent especially Real Love which may be the best tune on the record.
The Chills- SILVER BULLETS
Martin Phillips's (who for all intents and purposes is The Chills) first record in 19 years is spiritually not much different than The Chills heyday and their 1990 masterpiece SUBMARINE BELLS that is pretty 60ish guitar pop but soundwise this is a fairly stripped down low budget affair. The guitars have twang rather than shimmer. However, it's hooky music and in tunes like Tomboy Phillips shows he still has his musical prowess intact plus a songwriting maturity.
Small Faces - THE DECCA YEARS
This may be heresy but I must confess I think at this stage Small Faces were a better band than the Who....Steve Marriott a better singer than Roger Daltrey and a better guitarist than Pete Townshend, the band as a whole - more the sum of its parts than individual freestylers/showboaters, and they really had some great tunes. This collection is everything they did prior to changing labels and making their greatest record OGDEN'S NUT GONE FLAKE. There are a few weak points - didn't realize the Faces had so many instrumentals and they were never a very good cover band but the original songs are fantastic full of desire, anger, celebration, teenage articulation for the society at large. Some faves - All or Nothing, Patterns, In My Mind's Eye, Understanding, among many others. The live at the BBC disc shows how great they were in concert too with the illusion of being out of control but tighter than a duck's backside.
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