badger72

The first shock was that it didn't have Brown Eyed Girl. That song more than any other was responsible for me avoiding Van Morrison for decades.

The second shock was there was no Jackie Wilson says. The song that made we want to listen to Van Morrison.

The third shock was that it was absolutely shite. That blaaach voice tone is awful.... sounds lIke his tounge is hanging out of his mouth like a dog while he sings. Beside You is just a drunk wailing over an acoustic guitar and flute. And not in a good Tom Waits way.
The only time the album comes alive is The Way Young Lover do, where the horns and strings provide a lift of excitement away from that exhaust voice wail. Apparently these were ocerdubbed later to Morrisons displeasure which speaks volumes.
The sound of the album is pleasant, the upright bass, the acoustic guitar are all interesting and then that timeless oaf starts wailing away. If only this was an instrumental album...

At the start of Obby fucking Dobby, I was ready to ditch this turkey and leave a two word review simply declaring "Pub Rock". However as it played on and after much consideration, I thought this was unfair and decided to rewrite the review. It now read "Shite Pub Rock."

However, the rule of having the listen to the entire album means I heard Run Through The Jungle and I was engaged me once again. There was something 13th Floor Elevators in the overloaded guitar. I got this vibe with the first track, Ramble Tamble but the vocals kinda killed it. That song starts of magnificently then gets turned into a early 50's rockabilly song sung by some dope gargling rocks. Fortunately coming up the the 2 minute mark, the band take the mic away and go back to guitars and it really fucking soars for a few minutes but unfortunately the calculous clown ends up back behind the mic.

This is then the pattern, some wonderful muscular rock which is ruined by a pub singer and drags the whole enterprise down to some really proficient bar room band.

Now I know nothing about Creedance. Much like those one hit wonders you hear about on Todd In The Shadow, CRC are Bad Moon Rising to me so it is a suprise when Wikipedia tells me this is their 5th album. Now maybe being album number 5, with the generally god awful covers, they were just sitting back and leaning into what I unshakeablely presume where their bar band roots. Who knows but I know for sure, I certainly don't care to find out.

The exception on the shit covers front is I Heard It Through The Grapevine which they managed not to destroy but flag up as a missed opportunity for the aforementioned Elevators - the heavy drum and bass break at the chorus are just waiting to be soaked in Roky Erickson and Stacy Sutherland acid fuelled reverb waves while Tommy Hall's electric jug punctates the space between.

Who'll Stop the Rain is a divergence and a pretty little, if empty, distraction it is.

Run Through The Jungle is as good as this record gets. But it really sounds like a sketch of a Black Angels song. After that it is Ramble Ramble. The entire thing is very unessential. When the cover My Baby Left Me, there is no doubting why she left.

While that god awful cover alone should make it 0/5, My Baby Left Me pushes it up on 1.5/5.

Well, George Michael, great singer, yeah? Really. It seems to me the bar is set a little low to say he is a GREAT singer. Certainly good, absolutely inoffensive but great?

Anyhow, I listened [insert without prejudice joke here] and it was ok. What was baffling was there were 6 singles from this?! Before I listened to it, you could have literally put me in front of a firing squad and I couldn't have named any beyond Freedom. A couple of hours after repeated listens and I couldn't do much better.

And why is it whenever a pop artist wants to be taken seriously they slow everything down and go heavy on the ballads? It is not like the artist people will call serious are known for their ballads.

This was ok. Freedom is an obvious standout and nothing comes close. The rest is fine, if clearly unmemorable

Before Elvis In Memphis, there was Dusty and this is wonderful stuff. A perfect Sunday morning album with it's easy listening soulfulness. Just a little lovin kicks things off wonderfully with it's tounge in cheek sexiness. The Sweet Inspirations backing vocals really help elevate the music.

This was heading four a solid 4 until a horribly misjudged cover of Prince's The Beautiful Ones caused it to all come crashing down.
And it started so promisingly. Riding on the delightful vibe from the mid 80s Hip Hop underrated gem, Hey Dj by The World Famous Supreme Team, Honey is a joy. This high is kept up by Butterfly.
Clearly Mariah is an amazing singer but her vocalising is not overpouring. It really pisses me off when amazing vocalist oversing. The mastery and display of technique overshadows the song. Less is more.

That is not too say she don't vocalise! More unusually to these ears what she does is use her voice to replace Instruments so in the sounded which would be your normal guitar, bass, keys etc. Mariah voice is all over the mix, humming or cooking where a synth would be or ambling though the tunes where a lead solo should be. A song like the Fourth of July at point sounds like the only other musician is a drummer keeping time with a snare as a multitude of Maria's fill up the speakers. It is not always overpowering but it can be a little much and it helps make the album increasingly seem a little one dimensional at times. This is broken counter intuitively by Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise) with some of the heaviest beats on the record which revived the album while Mariah lets loose with some wide-screen wailing. And it really works.

Then comes the Prince cover. At the start, it calls back to the original so strongly that I almost thought I had somehow changed records and that is its ultimate undoing because it fails to compete on almost any level. The nadir is when co-vocalist Dru Hill approaches Prince's impassioned cry of "Do you want him..." with the enthusiasm of someone asking "Do you want fries with that?". Given that obvious external Prince reference point, the whole song is overbaked and empty compared to the original, and worse, so is the album. Mental running through the tracklis and the scope, the depth, imagination and just down right fun of the purple on just isn't there.

However, it is probably unfair to compare the two because until those two world collided, Butterfly was doing ok. It did however, break the spell the album was just about keeping that had me overlooking faws. It is definitely a little one note pacing wise, and the overload of voices in the soundscape didn't created enough uniqueness between the songs but it was still a strong album that I would certainly listen to again but I'll be stopping at Butterfly reprise

Dr Hill