One of the joys of doing this thing is coming across something unexpected. Amongst the connections that bring a lot to here are surprise submissions and amongst the good, the bad and the ugly, a gem can emerge and here is one.
Dan Parker is a New York Therapist who teamed up with Alan Weatherhead of Sparklehorse and more fame and has fashioned a great Pop Rock debut album. I initially came across him via a submission for the Listening To This Week submission as a growing amount of potential album releases are.
The result of that is that the title track appears on tomorrow's weekly episode. The album is very American fayre, Petty-esque at times. It is a little gentle, but splendidly arranged and performed, extremely melodic with highly memorable choruses.
There is a linking theme about the human condition, but that is more in the background as the songs take centerstage. At times, there is a feel of Jeff Lynne's Armchair Theatre album, but there are also some wonderful Country instrumental interruptions.
Unhinged, for instance is particularly Petty with a wonderful twang, but also adds a surprise violin / fiddle run. LFF is much more melancholic and particularly moody, but it breaks into a magnificent mellotron run and again adds a cracking twang.
My Friend has another big production, this time more 80s with a rockier guitar arrangement that makes you suspect that Parker could rock out if he needed, he just doesn't wish to. He makes you wait until the very end for the rockier Sorry I'll Try and that excels. It gets very Jeff Lynne at this point.
Lidocaine is the big number and that brings together everything that Parker is great at. I Can See The Moon is a wonderful debut, beautifully written and arranged songs. This is the sort of album that used to be released at well, not so much these days, so you notice when something is top notch and this is.
You can listen to and buy the album here. The album is also available on Vinyl.
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Amazing review, Cheers
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