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Elly Roberts reviews
Atlantic Records
- Released: August 2008
- Rating: 4/10
- Vote and comment on this album:
Male version of buddies Adele, and Lily Allen.
Below all the shiny production, the 24-year-old North Londoners debut lacksany major invention of the genre, reggae.
By day, Natty was a studio engineer at Sphere Studios in Battersea whohad dreams of making it big.
The debut single, July, has proved popular with significant airtimeon BBC Radio 2 nothing else matches it. Nattys influences are wide rangingfrom Bob Marley to Marvin Gaye to Neil Young, not that youd know it fromthis collection.
Combining key elements of reggae Adele/Lily Allen style, he throws in subtlecomponents of hip hop too. Much of Man Like I is geared towards radiofriendliness, but ultimately unchallenging.
It is however an easy listening album, though most of it is quite forgettable.It major problem is, there arent enough good quality songs. Its best bits arethe jaunty and simple Hey Man, and should he edit a swear word, wouldmake an excellent next single. The Ska-styled She Loves Me sees himreally hitting his stride, whereas the stripped-back ballad Revolutionworks beautifully because of its simplicity.
Bedroom Eyes takes some time to get going but its a pretty cool trackwith some neat direction changes.
Then theres the middling songs such a beat-heavy Cold Town and stutteringand limpless Stoned On You.
Nattys default button is getting bogged down in dire songs such a wanderingBurn This Place Down which is self indulgent in the extreme. Theresa knack of making this kind of track work, which a fledgling Natty hasntcracked yet.
On Last Night hes trying too hard to do a Lily Allen, his chum, anddull closer Say Bye Bye could have been left on the cutting room floor.
File under: Needs to do better.
Weblinks:nattymusic.com /myspace.com/natty4d
The full list of tracks included are :
1. July
2. Cold Town
3. Stoned On You
4. Revolution
5. Badman
6. Burn Down This Place
7. Hey Man
8. Bedroom Eyes
9. Last Night
10. Coloured Souls
11. Say Bye Bye
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.