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Liam Carey reviews
V o l u m e # 4 1 9 M a r c h 2 0 0 3
SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH
What happened, Mick? After a four-year sabbatical following the distinctly average Love And The Russian Winter, Mick Hucknall a.k.a. Simply Red return with Sunrise, the first single from his/their eighth studio album Home (out next week). Since the unprecented success of 1991’s Stars, which topped the year-end bestsellers list twice in a row, the lad has basically fluffed it.
Life (1995) had the epic Fairgound to save it from total failure, while Blue (1998) included some nice cover versions, but then came Love And The Russian Winter; the nadir of a once imperial talent, evidence that Hucknall was in danger of squandering all he had worked so hard to achieve. His label, Elektra/Warners, then declined to renew his contract, and it’s on his own label simplyred.com that Sunrise and Home have appeared. Anyone hoping for a blazing return to form will be disappointed; Hucknall’s recent inability to construct memorable tunes of his own is no nearer to resolving itself.
Sunrise appropriates the Hall & Oates classic I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do), using its unique rhythm and structure but singularly failing to place anything so much as a proper engaging song over it, and even more depressingly doing so in a style that De La Soul patented as far back as 1989 with their infinitely better daisy-age gem Say No Go. Is this third-hand drivel the best we can now expect from Simply Red?
Meanwhile, Daryl Hall and John Oates make a comeback themselves this week with the single Do It For Love. It’s their first new material since 1997’s underwhelming Marigold Sky made absolutely no impression at all on the UK record buying public. Advance reports of Do It For Love and its forthcoming parent album are promising, however.
COUNCIL COLLECTION
It was 20 years ago this month that Paul Weller emerged from the ashes of The Jam with his new project, The Style Council. Misunderstood and largely underappreciated at the time, TSC notched up an impressive catalogue in five short years, Weller’s unbound creativity expressed through a variety of musical genres and some of the best lyrics he’s ever composed. There have been many Style Council compilations since they disbanded in 1989, too many in fact, but The Sound Of The Style Council (released this week) at least offers something other than just another trawl through the hit singles, magnificent as they all were.
Choice album cuts such as Man Of Great Promise, It’s A Very Deep Sea and Headstart For Happiness rub shoulders with outstanding B-sides (Ghosts Of Dachau, The Paris Match) and the finest singles (You’re The Best Thing, Speak Like A Child, Shout To The Top). Quite who this collection is aimed at remains a mystery, since any fan will already have all these songs on CD, but on content alone this is the finest representation of a fascinating chapter in Paul Weller’s career.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
Britpop. A case of the Emperor’s New Clothes, a cynical and exploitative phenomenon, or a genuine era of resurgence within British music? This week Live Forever, a new film directed by John Dower, looks back at the mid-90s music scene in this country; a time when Oasis, Blur and Pulp ruled the roost, and dozens of lesser lights that “rode in on their coat tails”, as Sleeper‘s Louise Wener candidly reflects. “They were the big three. It was like Bagpuss. The mice on the mouse organ – that was the rest of us”.
An obligatory tie-in CD – Live Forever: The Best Of Britpop – is also available, cobbling together just about anything by home-grown acts from the era, including bizarre choices such as Massive Attack‘s Protection. How fitting that a promising wave of fresh British guitar pop, hijacked by a greedy opportunistic industry and hyped into oblivion by an all-too-willing media before dying through its own bloated self-indulgence, should now find itself “celebrated” in such tawdry fashion. Furthermore, everyone connected to Britpop seems extremely keen to distance themselves from it and debunk the myth that it was a golden period, compounding the sense that like New Labour’s promised “Third Way”, Britpop was merely a grand illusion, a mass deception, and sleight of hand on a large scale.
TOMORROW’S HITS ARE YESTERDAY’S NEWS
The madness continues. Ever since the UK music industry hit upon the idea of issuing new releases to radio and television stations up to six weeks in advance, it’s been only a matter of time before a high-profile single found its popularity on the wane prior to reaching the shops. First-week sales have long been the priority for labels keen to secure the highest possible chart entry position, but now through their own practices they have a new problem.
The Liberty X vs. Richard X splice’n’dice Being Nobody, tipped for the #1 spot when initially premiered last month, is in danger of shooting its load too far in advance, as blanket exposure has already dulled public enthusiasm. The original retail release date of March 24th has already been brought forward to this week, but even that may not be enough to help its chances. With the Comic Relief-assisted travesty by Gareth Gates likely to continue selling strongly, a #2 debut – followed by a precipitous tailing off – looks the likely fate for Being Nobody.
FUTURE SOUNDS
The best music on the horizon:
- THE CARDIGANS – LONG GONE BEFORE DAYLIGHT: Eagerly-awaited follow up to 1998’s Gran Turismo features a more acoustically-based approach than the angular electronics of its predecessor.
- DIXIE CHICKS – LANDSLIDE: Belated UK release for this outstanding cover of the 1975 Fleetwood Mac song, written and originally sung by Stevie Nicks. The Dixies do it justice, their harmonies soaring in all the right places and Sheryl Crow‘s remix keeping the necessary subtlety.
Page Content copyright © Liam Carey, 2003.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.