Elly Roberts reviews
Cerys Matthews: Never Said Goodbye
Distributed by
Rough Trade
- Released: August 2006
- Rating: 6/10
By the sound of things, Cerys Matthews has no intention of being pigeon-holed.
Since her departure from Welsh anthemic popsters Catatonia, the former ladette
has married with two kids, and taken serious control of her solo career.
It’s also rumoured she’s moving back to live in Wales, from the USA.
2003’s Cockahoop was a revelation and massive departure from her pop
songs, as she flirted with country music. Never Said Goodbye is a
totally different ball game. Gone are the southern swampy influences as she
goes off on a totally different tangent, with mixed results, principally
because she’s still learning her craft as a songwriter. One thing remains:
this is very much a Cerys Matthews album – unique, to the extent she’s
passionately Welsh, which brings the inclusion of another beauty, final
song Elen, sung in her native tongue.
Her new incarnation is probably due to the watchful eye of husband Seth
Riddle. Now 37, Matthews’ singing remains as charmingly pubescent as ever
- the innocence remains, though the lyrics are far more philosophical;
occasionally naïve. The songs are a combination of big sounding blasts which
begging as low key such as Oxygen and Open Roads.
Then there’s her finest moments, like the hushed and intimate The Endless
Rain, accompanied by gentle piano and strings, similarly with Blue
Light Alarm with its choric blasts. Morning Sunshine is as close
as she comes to Catatonia, with a more in your face chorus. It’s only
serious low-point is the disastrous What Kind Of Man, while her
vocals struggle to rise to the stirring composition.
It’s a far cry from being an out-and-out pop album because of the lack of
hit single potential, but she comes close with the penultimate funky Ruby
- a remixed version would do the trick.
It’s not an instantly likeable collection, but admittedly, it’s a real grower.
It peaked at No.43 in the official UK album charts, topped the Indie
chart, now dropping to 7.
The full list of tracks included are :
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.