This album is dedicated to Andy's daughter Martha and in Memory of his son James who died as a baby. The latter event clouds everything about this album in a cloak of sadness. I'd like to say I hope that Andy and his family find a way of overcoming such a terrible event. I have no idea how I would cope with such a tragedy.
The best thing about this album is the trumpet playing throughout that comes in and out and has a gorgeous muted feel to it. It's at the fore of the opening tune Who's Gonna Be Sorry, but the problem is that for a song that should be angry it's just meek and mild. Actually, this is the problem throughout this album which sounds like it wants to be Steely Dan Light while trying to be a less offensive Ben Folds Five.
On Get The Boys Round, the general wallpaper feel of the album is rippled by some nice guitar that makes me listen to it and ignore anything else on the tune. Takin' Aim is almost like the Ben Folds Five meets the High Llamas in a fight for who can sound the mildest and least offensive.
|
Alpha Female has some decent lyrics over some pretty inoffensive wallpaper jazz before Tick All The Boxes just passes me by.The album closes with what should be a fantastically angry song Brave Little Soldier about his baby son dying shortly after birth but is instead a slow mordant song wherein Andy gives us the awful details of his son's birth and death and apportions blame to the hospital staff who didn't do enough to save him. A tough song to listen to and it must have been even tougher to write and perform. Yet when he should be spitting bile it sounds rather meek and mild which is odd.
This album although made to be easy listening is anything but. Find out more at Andy Fleet online
|
