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DVDfever.co.uk – God Help The Girl: God help The Girl CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Rough Trade Records
- Released: June 2009
- Rating: 10/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Glorious pop. Hooray!
Albums like God Help The Girl dont come along very often, so grab it.This project, which has been going on for some five years, has been a complex business. Firstly, Belle and Sebastians Stuart Murdoch needed a singer, so, as you do, you run a competition to find one, or more, online, and ads in papers and shops.
The result of this musical story is quite stunning in as much its what pop music has been missing for about a generation, or even two come to that. It seems to pick up the bits (and fill the gaps) of the halcyon days of pop in the sixties, that the 70s, 8os and 90s missed out on.Murdoch eventually settled for nine different singers, all young ladies with potential glittering careers ahead of them, like Catherine Ireton in particular.
Also on board is The Divine Comedys Neil Hannon who knows a thing or two about classy pop tunes, a 45 piece orchestra conducted by Rick Wentworth (Withnail & I fame) along with other Belle and Sebastian members.
Apart from the 60s Doris Day feel in places, this sumptuous album could fit nicely alongside your Tamla Motown, Beautiful South, Mamas and Papas and chamber-pop heroes Antony and The Johnsons, collections. Comparisons with the latter style can be heard on the string heavy Pretty Eve In The Tub.
Thrown into the mix is an all too short just over a minute jaunty instrumental A Unified Theory which Dave Brubeck fans will identify with.The hippified ballad Hiding Neath My Umbrella , and a gorgeous one it is too, with swirling strings and ivory tinklings by Stevie Jackson, features the combined singing talents of Stuart Murdoch, Catherine Ireton and Celia Garcia, making it one of the stand out tracks here. Thing is, theyre all so good.This is followed by an exquisite cover of B&Ss single Funny Little Frog, from 2006. Brittany Stallings vocals are amazing.
Murdoch couldnt have chosen a better muse in Hannon who leads Perfect As A Hipster. The melody and girl harmonies by Ireton, Garcia and Alex Klobouk are reminiscent of the trick deployed by Wall-Of-Sound exponent Phil Spector.Dipping into the West Coast sound, the honeyed Californian pop of Ill Have To Dance With Cassie draws heavily on the Mamas and Papass universal appeal, with Ireton giving arguably her finest performance.
Its a tough call, honestly, choosing the best track because theyre all well written and performed, but Im compelled to say its the John Barry-esque Come Monday Night that wins, hands down.
The verdict Ab Fab.
Weblink:godhelpthegirl.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Act Of The Apostle
2. God Help The Girl
3. Pretty Eve In The Tub
4. A United Theory
5. Hiding Neath My Umbrella
6. Funny Little Frog
7. If You Could Speak
8. Musicians Please Take Heed
9. Perfection As A Hipster
10. Come Monday Night
11. The Music Room Window
12. I Just Want Your Jeans
13. Ill Have To Dance With Cassie
14. A Down And Dusky BlondeView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>
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.