| CD Review - Joe Mac - The Bedsit Glamour |
||
|
||
|
||
|
||
| Review by Dan45 |
||
|
Grantham escapee Joe Mac shows a confidence on guitar and vocals that belies his 19 years of age with his self-produced debut album The Bedsit Glamour. It adds a touch of English folk music to rock and roll, highlighting Joe Mac's undoubted swing and observed lyricism. This set of songs was written and performed by Mac in the last year and it is clear from the start that they have been skilled from various open mic nights, although it's unfair to call this an entirely solo effort: it is encouraged by Chris Yeardsley on organ/keyboards, and even bass on three tracks.
Opening with acoustic inspiration from an old Kinks video with 'Grow Up Let Down Swing', Joe Mac bares his personality immediately. After this excitedly swinging start the record moves into more considered (if not equally bouncy) territory with the title track 'The Bedsit Glamour'. Anyone who has lived in multi-occupancy housing will have no difficulty in relating to his particular nuisances here. The album continues with more lively observations on life in education, and whilst comments on watching bad films in 'Stupid Nocturnal Blues'- which incidentally features some excellent rhythm guitar and piano playing - and disagreements on tea flavour preferences with 'Cheap Tea' are handled with drive and disregard respectively, the poignant 'Rolling Stones Saved My Soul' convinces me in the best possible manner that Shriekback's 'Tench' was always more likely to succeed over 'Let It Bleed' in helping my own recovery from friends absconding.
By far the strongest song on the album, 'Verity's Town' is essentially a shanty, latest in a long line of maritime folk songs. Featuring a lovely and almost hidden melodica sound, it is a song about Mac wanting to leave his old hometown. With lines like "This whole town just needs rewriting... painting into something pretty" it perhaps has more resonance with Ray Davies than Cyril Tawney, but confirms what I always suspected of Grantham. 'Ryan’s Song' sounds remarkably like The Crystals 'Then He Kissed Me', but otherwise is a moving commentary on old friends losing their way. After an infectious shuffle with 'The Nasty Type', Mac stresses about his disillusionment after a disastrous gig on the appropriately titled 'A Good Haircut Don't Make Your Name', and finishes with a fine, fast paced arrangement featuring organ and a surprising Dub breakdown on 'Six Rum Saviour', a tribute to drinking heavily.
In all a bright and accessible set from Joe Mac, even if the ensemble playing is too isolated from solo performance. Ultimately I'm left hankering for more band playing, and the broader full-colour palette that said band can bring, but this should not detract from what is an enthusiastic and deeply personalised debut that is admirable for its confident approach and the strength of purpose that Mac displays in developing his own voice. Welcome and recommended.
|
||
Website: |
||
This page was last updated Monday, 11 January 2010
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Latest Additions |
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||
  |
   
|
     |
  
|
  |
   |
|
|||||
© LincolnBands.co.uk 2004-2007