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DVDfever.co.uk – Alain Clark: Live It Out CD reviewElly Roberts reviews
Warner Bros. Records
- Released: April 2009
- Rating: 6/10
- Vote and comment on this album:View Comments
Old school soul for the 21st century. Yummy.
Dutchman Alain Clark is one of Warner Brothers main priorities for this year. Its easy to see why. Handsome Alain has been making waves in his homeland for some time and has double-platinum status in Holland.
Having grown up in a musical family his father Dane (whose got a great voice too, heard on duet Father & Friend) once fronted a nine piece band, so young Alain became aware of old school soul from an early age, listening (or probably just hearing way back them) to the likes of Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett et al.In many ways Clark is a reincarnation of Terrence Trent DArby, even down to the singing technique.
So, over 20 years after DArbys commercial demise, what does Clark actually bring to the table? The clue I suppose is in the old school tag.Back in the day, the 1960s, Soul music was combination of belting out a great song to dance to, or on the other scale, one to rip your heart out.In most, part Clark has almost achieved both on this debut, which bodes well for the future, though he does have some way to go in my opinion.
All the songs are self-penned, with the odd collaboration here and there, which is great start. This puts him in a better position than Lemar and even Seal. His voice is silky smooth; however it lacks any real identity or character which made the greats, great. Yes, the songs are sweet and cute even, but I cant hear any real pain or agony, synonymous with great songs of the past, which is the market hes competing with. There again, soul, real soul is virtually dead, so he has no direct competition, except from the likes of say Raul Midon. That said, Clark has been a very good student of soul, taking cues from the likes of Stevie Wonder on Shes The One and This Aint Gonna Work and legendary gospel / soul exponent Al Green on Head Over Heels, even extending to southern soul in places on the brass-laden Go There, which brings one of his best vocals on the album, though he really pushes himself on Live It Out where he finally displays some heart-wrenching angst.
For Hold On, he goes for a Motown feel and beat similar to a Funk Brothers rhythm swing.Not all the tracks are good, as theres the odd duffer like the limp Fell In Love, a squiggy saccharine ballad.The standout track is the simple and emotive All You Gotta Change where he accompanies just a piano. Having stripped away all the instrumentation of previous tracks, this reveals the guy can sing beautifully, though it lacks any character.
The verdict: A lot more to come, for sure.
Weblinks:alainclark.nl /myspace.com/alainclarkmusic /youtube.com/alainclarkewb
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Blow Me Away
2. This Aint Gonna Work
3. Father And Friend
4. Hold On
5. Fell In Love
6. Go There
7. I Dont Wanna Change The World
8. Live It Out
9. Shes The One
10. I Need You
11. All You Gotta Change
12. Father and Friend (Radio edit)View 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.