‘Bleeding Edge’? If only. This album treads a well-worn and sadly predictable musical path. This comes as something of a surprise: Parkes has an admirable track record of featuring in a heap of John Peel favoured bands from back in the day (all suitably obscure, of course – Fuzzbird, The Chorus, The Sinister Cleaners and Whole Sky Monitor) and this album, produced by Neil Ferguson and featuring contributions from members of The Wedding Present, Chumbawamba and Cud, is promising on paper. Parkes also maintains neatly-penned and snippy little bog. But unfortunately, his new album is deeply disappointing.
Fair enough, he’s moved on from the 80s indie style. People develop and progress stylistically and lyrically. And while lyrically, ‘Bleeding Edge’ has its moments, musically, it sits in the realm of post-Oasis 90s indie. In short, it’s a bit of a plodder, and it lacks the texture to evoke the distant past, content to hover around in recent history instead.
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‘Brand New Day’ sounds more like he’s struggling to get his backside out of bed, as he yawns on over an insipid and very standard acoustic-led indie backing. The haunting melancholy of ‘Roses/Bees’ is stripped back and finds Parkes sounding more fragile and emotionally raw, and without doubt it’s a highlight of the album.
Elsewhere, ‘Lincolnshire’ is every bit as dull as the county it’s about, and the sub-Dylan jangle and holler of ‘Sleep With Me’ simply fails to inspire – which pretty much covers the bulk of the material on ‘Bleeding Edge / Distant Past...’
John Parkes Online
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