Nick Kelly: "Between Trapezes"
Self Possessed Records,
CDSP00I (48 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1531
The music business is a tough place for a sensitive soul, and for Nick Kelly, singer and songwriter with The Fat Lady Sings, it all became too much of a weight around his spirit. After eight years, three acclaimed independent singles and two well crafted albums, Twist and Johnson, on EastWest Records, Kelly announced that it was indeed over for The Fat Lady Sings, and retreated from the record industry rat race. Low key solo gigs in venues like Whelans on Wexford Street helped him find his faltering feet again, and now he's making another great leap into the unknown with his debut solo album, Between Trapezes.
As with both Fat Lady Sings albums, this record is dominated by the rich, resonant tones of Kelly's voice, as he attempts to express the inner turmoil and sense of alienation which makes his songs ring true, even when they sometimes sound slightly contrived. Kelly lays his tarot cards on the table on the opening tune, Faint Heart: "There are toys lost in my attic/ There is damp in my cellar."
Often, Kelly's imagery gets a little over ambitious, viz. Republic's Iaboured political metaphors, and sometimes the navel gazing gets a bit too fluffy for comfort, but there's an honesty and passion at work here which is both arresting and affecting.
Texas: "White On Blonde"
Mercury 534 315-2 (47 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1641
When the Scottish soft-rockers, Texas, re emerged after a lengthy absence with Say What You Want, they had been all but forgotten, their name having become more associated with a certain homecare chain than with blue eyed country soul. The massive success of the single, however, took everyone by surprise, and put Sharleen Spiteri and her lone star band firmly back on the pop music map.
White On Blonde entered the album charts at Number One, consolidating the initial impact of Texas 1997, and it could well become an Everything Must Go for middlebrows. The band have even recruited the same string arranger who put the Motown gold into the Manic Street Preachers' soul, but they've also put a lot of hip hop ideas in among the retro beats, creating a contemporary white soul album - which makes Simply Red sound like mere carrot topped cabaret.
The influences are apparent: Drawing Crazy Patterns is a swirling ballad in the style of Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin', Black Eyed Boy sees Sharleen doing a supreme Diana Ross, and Say What You Want has a bit of Marvin Gaye going on. But what really makes you sit up and take notice is the cut and paste way that Texas put the disparate elements together, taking a completely opposite approach to the usual smooth, seamless, studio dilutions of many faux soul bands.
Reef: "Glow"
Sony S2 486940 2 (51 mins)
Dial a track code: 1751
Black Crowes 997 anybody? Only difference is, where the Crowes have flown into a cloud of Southern smoke, Reef are a direct hit explosion of retro rock `n' roll, and Glow shines with bright, brash tunes like Place Your Hands, Lately Stomping and Higher Vibration. This album also went straight into the UK charts at Number One, just a week before White On Blonde, proving that when it comes to old fashioned boot kicking rawk, the fans like it in one neat, swift shot.
Various Artists: "And The Craic Was
Good - Traditional Celtic Moods &
Irish Airs"
Debutante/Polygram 553 327-2
(72 mins)
Dial-a-track code: 1861
Proof positive that this "Celtic" lark has gone too far, the latest in a slew of cattle market compilation takes a bunch of old soft rock tunes, middle of the bothar ballads, diddleyeyes and drippy folk songs, and repackages them under a dubious catch all brand name. Look out for a new compilation, Go On Out O' That Ye Boy Ye, featuring Celtic classics like Richie Kavanagh's Aon Fochal Eile, An Emotional Fish's Celebrate (Italian version only) and Oasis's Wonderwall (well, they're half Irish, aren't they?).
