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Elly Roberts reviews
Independiente
- October 2007
- Rating: 8/10
If youve never listened to Eastbourne resident David Ford, youre probably living on another planet.
As if 2006’s Sorry For All The Trouble Ive Caused wasnt brilliant enough,hes gone (and almost) done it all over again, though the angst has mutated into a slighly less agressive format.
The bulk of the album is full of superb torch songs. A vocal crossbreed of JamesBlunt and Damien Rice, theres a clear indication of his asault on the singlescharts is Motown-styled Decimate, drawing heavily on the Funk Brothers ’60sbeats.
Nothing else matches it in terms of popiness, though an uplifting Nobody Tell Me What To Do comes close enough to be an excellent next single. Sorry For All… possesseda great deal of pain, which morphed into anger, whereas, here its a tad melancholic,signalled by the break-up song Go To Hell, as he articulately tackles theanguish, accompanied by swirling strings and jangly bits.
The Damien Rice melancholy returns on power ballad Im Alright Now, yetagain, heartache explodes via huge orchestration and heartfelt lyrics. The romanticdoom is highlighted on Train, as he prepares to leave his lover on ajourney to who knows where.
Requiem is home made pizza of Dylanesque proportions, starting in low-gloformat until it erupts wildly for the close, with some sensual sax tailing itoff. Topping an excellent album, though not quite as good as his debut, butstill very good, a countryfied (steel guitar etc) And So You Fell plodsgently out.
Weblinks:davidford.mu /myspace.com/davidford /independiente.co.uk /david-ford.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Go To Hell
2. Decimate
3. Im Alright Now
4. Song For The Road
5. Train
6. St.Peter
7. Nobody Tells Me What vTo Do
8. Requiem
9. ….And So You Fell
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.