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Elly Roberts reviews
FDM Records
- Cat.no: FDMNIZ002
- Released: December 2005
- Rating: 8/10
Santa was very good to Nizlopi;he gave them their first number one atChristmas. The British pop scene has regularly had ‘freaky’ Christmas numberones. None could have been more unexpected than a song about a JCB.
Why it was such a festive hit is way beyond me. For whatever reason, itcaught the public’s imagination. It appears the timing was perfect, thoughsome clever behind-the-scenes strategies played a big part in the lead up.
Now comes the album, an 11-tracker full of musical surprises – don’t judgethis outfit solely on JCB, as quaint as it is. Beginning of December theywere 33-1 to make it, and they did. The duo, Luke Concannon (singer andacoustic guitar) and John Parker (upright base, acoustic/electric guitar andbanjo) have done things their way, to their credit.
They’ve gigged in livingrooms across the country and done the festivals, then by-passing traditionalmethods of getting a big label behind them by emailing everyone they could -now know as, by ‘word of mouse’. Sony/BMG and Warners were after them withbig money deals, but ‘no thanks’ was the response, opting for an independentrelease.
The single in reality, is the tip of a huge musical iceberg.
Collectively, they’ve created one of the most complex and expansivecompositions this side of Rufus Wainwright’s Want One andWant Two.
Their melting pot consists of hip-hop, 21 century folk, jazz and whatevercomes to mind. The fusion is frankly mind-blowing, though on first listen issomewhat hard to digest; usually the sign of a good album.
A sharp and ‘live’ feel prevails throughout, with Concannon’s vocals adelight as he tackles the multiple genres. Parker’s thumping upright basssteers the rhythm section beautifully, and he’s quite handy on the banjotoo. In many ways the individual songs are staggering with so much crammedinto them. The collection has a genuine homogenous effect, with trackssitting nicely next to each other. Both take it up and down in equalmeasure.
Confidence oozes at every point: they’re quite fearless it seems, and thenet result is a groundbreaking and fascinating album that takes some time togrow on you.
Best bits – Call It Up, Faith, Wash Away, Sing Around it.
Their salad days are well and truly over – the acid test will be ‘difficult’album number two. I like what they’ve done so far.
Weblink:Nizlopi.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Fine Story
2. Girls
3. Call It Up
4. Faith
5. Long Distance
6. JCB
7. Love Rage On
8. Freedom
9. Wash Away
10. Sing Around It
11. Worry
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.