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Elly Roberts reviews
Rough Trade Records
- Released: July 2008
- Format: CD + DVD
- Rating: 6/10
- Vote and comment on this album:
Strokes-man jumps out, again. Career move me thinks?
Normally, Albert Hammond Jr is to be heard as rhythm guitarist with uber-rockersThe Strokes. Now and again, he does his own thing and now dates supermodelAgyness Deyn.
Following his solo debut Yours To Keep two years ago (2006), Como Te Llama? (How does he/she/it call you?) though probably meant to be Whats Your Name?,was recorded at the famous Electric Lady Studios in New York and continues to buildon its predecessor With The Strokes seemingly becoming lazier than ever,it appears that Junior is making a career move statement, trying to hog thelimelight all for himself.
Its a brave move, as hell never eclipse the work with the band he made hisname with. His dad, Albert Hammond was a leading popular ’60s hit maker withsongs like It Never Rains In Southern California and Free Electric Band,though this Albert doesnt seem to have inherited his fathers pop sensibilities.
The outcome here has mixed results from attempting grungy rock a la Neil Youngand messy efforts to sound like John Lennon, with incidentally, Sean Lennonplaying piano on Spooky Couch. To his credit, hes thrown caution to thewind, and thrown the kitchen sink into embracing many styles.
Its downfall however, tracks often dont feel comfortable next to each other.Lisa is a swaying and complex song with some exhilarating moments when the stringskick-in. The album bounces into action with the thuddering and stuttering guitarwhoosh on Bargain Of The Country which sounds, musically, like a BruceSpringsteen track without the wall-of-sound production.
There are some dazzling fuzzy guitar solos which is quite remarkable for arhythm guitarist, his main role in The Strokes. The single GFC, is reasonablymelodic enough to get some attention by mainstream radio playlists. Victory At Montereyis quirky enough to be classified as psychedelic, though the funky basslinegroove keeps its roots in the here -and now. Rocket and You Wont Be Fooledare pretty average, deemed as poor fillers, though the edgy riffs ofBorrowed Time and the cool bass are enough to keep Stroke-sters happy.
Daringly, he throws in reggae splashes on the groovy pop-tinged Miss Myrtle.
File under: Interesting, but never influential.
Weblinks:myspace.com/alberthammondjr /roughtraderecords.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Bargain Of The Country
2. In My Room
3. Lisa
4. GFC
5. The Boss Americana
6. Rocket
7. Victory At Monterey
8. You Wont Be Fooled By This
9. Spooky Couch
10. Borrowed Time
11. G Up
12. Miss Myrtle
13. Feed Me Jack Or ; How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Peter Sellers?
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.