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Elly Roberts reviews
The Sweetest Ache
Shellshock
- Released: October 2004
- Rating: 6/10
- Cat. No: REDEYE003
Track listing:
- 1. Rut
2. Kiss Me, Kill Me
3. Curtain Call
4. The Sweetest Ache
5. Swandive
6. Getaway Blues
7. The Things You Do
8. Fire Eye Land
9. Inevitable Truth
10. Lobotomy
As a debut album this rates as very brave and bold. Music maverick Christopher Rees has an acute sense of emotion and drama.
I might at this juncture, that this will not be everyones cup of tea, butits definitely worth checking out. Commercially, this probably wont be abig success, but Rees will no doubt be applauded by the music press for sucha daring venture.
Melancholic beauty prevails throughout, beginning with the haunting and epicRut. There is however, only so much aching one can endure, and iteventually becomes a tad self indulgent, as found on the title track.
There are clear influences from Neil Young and others of his ilk, likeSwandive, with clues emanating from the harmonica. Breaking the formula is ablistering Blues sojourn complete with bottleneck on Getaway Blues ashe bares his soul. The follow-on, The Things You Do, is a deft 21Century Blues rocker with some outstanding slide guitar by Pete Mathison.
Closing the album, theres a furious cacophonic blitz with Lobotomy,(shades of The Doors The End) which is a slightly disappointingconclusion to what is a meticulously produced first offering.
Weblink: Christopher Rees.co.uk
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.