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A transfer from the weblog...
I've had Cowley Road Songs for a week now. I've listened to it at home, in the car and in the presence of my brother, perhaps the harshest music critic in the western hemisphere. I could see him flicking through his own mental music rolodex, trying to work out why he couldn't place its origins. "It's not bad" he reluctantly admitted. If only Doug knew what great praise this was.
So what's it like?
It is 'folky' and 'jazzy' just like he said - but I think this has as much to do with the arrangement and production as anything else. It's the sound a songwriter flexing his recording muscles, being looked after a producer he trusts, who's giving him the freedom to try things out. While the jazz/folk/big band production undoubtedly helps open some of the less well structured songs outwards, the strength of songs such as Ruth, This Civil War and 169 is their simplicity. A good song is a good song no matter what you do with it.
Ultimately, that's what "Cowley Road Songs" is. It's an accomplished collection of well crafted songs by a writer offering grown up perspectives on those perennial topics of love, loss, guilt etc. Those things we think we're jaded of hearing about until they're presented like this, in a refreshingly intelligent way. As a first album, I think it's a triumph. My hope is that as Doug becomes more confident and familiar with the process of recording an album, the delicacy and fragility of his best songs won't be lost in a desire to make them flashier or more impressive.
If you've ever bought a Damien Rice or a David Gray album, if you've ever listened to Harry Connick Jr/Frank Sinatra. If you prefer the more accesible end of Nick Drake's work - buy this album - it's got elements of all of them and something else.
and the David Beckham track is a Real winner...
Congratulations
black suit 1 04 03 05 - 21:40
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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