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Elly Roberts reviews
Capitol
- Released: October 2006
- Rating: 6/10
His father John Lennon was one of the 20th centurys greatest musical talents.
Son Sean isnt a chip off the old block, and is more than prepared to say so.Seans follow-up to 1998 debut Into The Sun, which made little impact,is barely groundbreaking. It sees a struggling artist, well not struggling inthe literal sense of course, trying to create his own musical identity.
In the past hes dabbled in various styles of music. Clearly frustrated by alack of commercial progress, he said, “There was long period after thefirst album where I felt disillusioned with the machinery of the industry.Friendly Fire is an experiment to see what it might be like todo music publicly again.“
Making a reasonable effort to address the problem and be credible, whichcant be easy with a surname like his, the lightweight songs are quiteradio-friendly. Hes also played several instruments and produced it, to hiscredit. Dead Meats child-like piano sounds promising, eventuallyresulting in a patchy album.
The closest we get to a daddy Lennon tune is the delightfully wistfulSpectacle. Beautiful saccharine ballad Tomorrow embracing apseudo cabaret ’60s feel, is one of the few real highlights. Having rubbedshoulders with Vincent Gallo, Ryan Adams et al, over the past 8 years, hemay well have also taken a leaf out of Aussie Ben Lees songbook on thehand-clapping happy Headlight, making it the collections best.
The wonderful string arrangement by Eric Gorfain on Marc Bolans Would I BeThe One, turns the tune in to a majestic psychedelic trip, paying duedeference to Bolans gem. Concluding with the magnificent opus FallingOut Of Love, Sean seems to have nailed his niche a la Rufus Wainwright,but up until then, it has no genuine direction or cohesion. Admittedly, itsounds better with each listen.
A bonus DVD contains filmed footage to go with each song, is streamed atthe second weblink below and can be purchased with the CD at the Amazon linkabove.
Weblinks:Sean Lennon.com /Capitol Records.com/Sean Lennon
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Dead Meat
2. Wait For me
3. Parachute
4. Friendly Fire
5. Spectacle
6. Tomorrow
7. On Again Off Again
8. Headlights
9. Would I Be The One
10. Falling Out Of Love
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.