He haunts me still as well. I just went in my shed and saw I still had the stool he'd sit on when washing cars (he could have won awards for the inside of the door well)I enjoyed this. It is Pink Floyd-lite, and doesn't have quite the same drama or intensity to it. But it is also less intrusive, and calmer. It is easy to get drawn into an expectation of another PF album, but once I shed that burden, it stood on its own, and the mood really came through. The voice neither makes nor breaks it, but there are some great instrumental passages. Favourite song was Waves. Could have done with a bit less is more in terms of length of album, but it was quite a good album to work to. And yes that is different from 'background music'. Unfortunately at times I couldn't quite remove the association of Deid Derek, but that's what happens when you read reviews before listening to it. A 7.5 from me.
You really thought this was over-indulgent? I thought it was just noodling about, not overwrought or self-important. A little boring I’ll give you though.Not a Pink Floyd fan so i had my doubts about this.
Sadly my doubts were confirmed
His voice bugged me,just didn’t seem to change his style on the songs he sang on.
Maybe just as well there were loads of instrumentals to make this recording better.Nope nothing startling there.In fact as the record went on the sax really annoyed me.
1978 a great year as well.
Never again.Over indulgent boring nonsense 2/10.
I’m in the middle of my second listen and I’m thinking you’ve perhaps saved me a load of typing.There’s nothing offensive about it and it’s perfectly listenable to, it just doesn’t resonate heavily with me. There are quite a few PF reference points and so perhaps unsurprisingly it has that same ‘I get why some people like it but it’s not doing much for me’ feel.
It’s a little bit thin for an entire album and I felt confused at times; he seemed to be in and out on the plaintive breakup front. Similarly, he alludes to some jazz leanings but then backs off. So, I felt it meandered without purpose or intent at times, or maybe I just didn’t understand the intent. It sounds slightly exhausted, perhaps the psychodrama of PF and then his own marriage breakdown left him in a place where my perception of its thinness is an accurate reflection of what he is trying to convey? In which case he’s done a good job but it’s not a mood I would particularly want to visit too often. Maybe it's simply a musical decompression on his part.
Ultimately it feels like an album he’s made for himself, if not for therapeutic reasons, then simply because he can. There’s no harm in that, you could argue it is somewhat self-indulgent, but he had the means to do it and there’s no law against it. I just found myself wanting to put something more satisfying on after I'd listened to it, whether it was Sonny Rollins for the sax or Tracey Thorn's Love and It's Opposite for the breakup/domestic drama songs.
Given some of his influences and qualities, I was just a bit disappointed that it didn’t do more.
5/10
Get well soonI hope @journolud will forgive me the shorter than normal review. Returning from holiday and now having to fight off a nasty virus, I’ve been in a fatigued state these last few days. However, my mood seemed to match the music and I found listening to it quite soothing. There is no edge, no pretence and it’s a well put-together album. 7/10.
@Coatigan - if you could do the honours with tomorrow’s changeover, that would be great.