You Am I - The Lives Of Others

 

Having previously broached the subject of fans unfavourably comparing new artists with the old. The same problem concerns using the artists to their back catalogue or heyday. No matter how great a front man and personality Tim Rogers is, You Am I have to evolve and this may lose some people along the way, but how many of our friends of 30 years ago, do we still bother with now?

The Lives Of Others is the band's 11th album. With that and over 40,000 Facebook followers, it may seem strange for them to be covered by I Don't Hear A Single. But we are long term admirers of Davey Lane, who is still seen as the new kid of the four as if 22 years in a band is new. But this review is more a reaction to the negative reviews over the past 10 - 15 years. 

You am I are still "Big In Australia". Although it is obviously relative to album sales now, the album hit Number 2 in the Australian Album Chart. True, their first three albums were all Australian Number 1 Albums when it took big Sales to get there. The simple truth is that after such a start, it was always going to be difficult to repeat those sales numbers. 

There's also a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario after such a fantastic first album. You either repeat the format to diminishing returns or you move into different areas and get constant grief, not for what it is, but what it isn't. You Am I are a different band now. They are far nearer the Pop side of Pop Rock, but they haven't taken the easy route of Nostalgia and that's to be lauded. 

The Lives Of Others doesn't pretend to be anything other than Pop Rock and it is a great album. Lane is taking a bit more of the vocals and you can tell which are his songs if you follow his solo career. But as always, the band is the sum of its parts. That Rhythm Section sounds as great as it did in 1995. I've played The Third Level weekly since the album's release and that may not be the best song on it.

Rogers's writing in particular seems as splendid as ever. Melodic Guitar is the keyword (particularly on Manliness). Readers Comments is very Daltrey-ish, the title track is all wonderful 60's Psych Pop and Rubbish Day is very very White Album. I'm My Own World Tonight, one of Lane's two songs, is very Jingle Jangle.

The Lives Of Others should be listened to with no preconceptions. Although, very 60's on some occasions and Brit Pop on others, it is the sound of a band reinvigorated. I listen to a lot, perhaps too much, Pop Rock and the majority of the bands I hear would do well to listen to this. Melodic Rock with a lyrical excellence that should be appreciated worldwide, not just in Australia. More than well into their third decade, You Am I sound as keen and fresh as ever.

You can listen to the album here. You can buy the album everywhere. You can find out more about You Am I here.

.............................

I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2020 : Top 10

01 The Corner Laughers - Temescal Telegraph       IDHAS Review

02 Derrero - Time Lapse       IDHAS Review

03 Spygenius - Man On The Sea       IDHAS Review








04 Tugboat Captain - Rut       IDHAS Review

05 Chris Church - Backwards Compatible      IDHAS Review

06 Ward White - Leonard At The Audit      IDHAS Review








07 Paul Molloy - The Fifth Dandelion        IDHAS Review

08 I Do You Do Karate - One Last Job In Mexico        IDHAS Review

09 Davey Lane - Don't Bank Your Heart On It        IDHAS Review

10 Custard Flux - Oxygen        IDHAS Review






.....................

Davey Lane - Don't Bank Your Heart On It

 

Davey Lane's third solo album is an absolute monster. The easiest thing that you can draw is that he is now a solo star, no longer introduced as the You Am I guitarist, but as singer songwriter, Davey Lane. He's also gathered friends and musical allies to add to the variety and what a wide array of genres there are here.

2017's I'm Gonna Burn Out Bright revealed all the signs of Lane's talent. You can read the IDHAS Review here. Don't Bank Your Heart On It nails the message to every door. This is the album that he threatened to make, it is absolutely priceless.

This is a Rock album, but it takes many different paths. Although made by an Australian, it feels very British. Some may call it Brit Pop, but that would be unfair, because it is far more than that. At times it feels more like a History Of Rock, yet remains incredibly commercial at its heart.

The collaborators help give it that impression. The likes of Todd Rundgren, Tommy Stinson, Robyn Hitchcock, Jimmy Barnes and Stu Mackenzie partly reveal the variation present, but that doesn't mean that there is any naval gazing. The songs say what they wanna say and move on. There is no excess. 13 songs in 40 minutes.

So where do you start to describe the songs? The best way is not to and let listeners discover them for themselves. I've gone partly down this route by embedding no songs, encouraging you to hopefully listen. There is something here for everyone, but as a whole, the album is a top notch listen.

The Garage Rock of I'll Set U Free, the rock and roll singalong that is Affection's Walkin' The Wire and the call and response of Don't Bank Your Heart On it are just three examples of the direction hopping. Then there is the sleazy Glam of Gotcha Money On Yr Mind, the big anthemic rock of Never Coming Back Again, which is in The Motors territory and the wonderful Orgone Box like Psych Pop of Some Other Wonder.

The more straight ahead songs complement the adventure rather than leading it. There also has to be a special mention for the wonderful, Todd Rundgren aided, Acceptance which is really dancey with a killer chorus. There really is so much to enjoy here. This is an album that deserves repeated listens for decades to come.

Don't Bank Your Heart On It can be bought everywhere and it should be owned. It is on all the streaming sites for a listen if my words don't convince you. You can follow links from here.

...............

Davey Lane - I'm Gonna Burn Out Bright

I've always been a You Am I fan, they are ensconced firmly in Indie Rock and where as that can be a bit ten a penny over here, it's less so in Australia which as always done bluesy grit rock and Power Pop and more recently singer songwriters and an edge towards Country.

There's no doubt that when Davey Lane joined as Lead Guitarist, first appearing on 2001's Dress Me Slowly, the bands sound got bigger. It also departed more from the template with hints of Psych and Power Pop at times. They had found themselves one hell of a guitarist.

So when Davey Lane's first solo album was muted around 2014, there was the usual worries of great guitarist going solo. I dreaded it would go all Big Boy Rock, particularly with his time spent in Jimmy Barnes's live ensemble. There's also a worry that band members who go solo, try to show how much talent that they've got and how they are so different than their band. Most end up over produced messes.

The resulting Atonally Young was far from that, there was variance, it was different to You Am I, but it nodded more to Beatlesque Pop and late 70's New Wave Stiff Records than Guitar Extravaganzas. Perhaps having been a one time addition to the Crowded House live band, should have given us all a clue.

Atonally Young was crowd funded and made for 15 grand and it sounded as though it cost much more. Even more impressive was a Covers Disc that was part of the Crowd Funding Project. The covers were inspired, a mixture of The Beatles, Nick Lowe, Todd Rundgren and even XTC's Earn Enough For Us.

So we arrive in 2017 with Lane's second solo album and it's even better than that debut. Overall it's firmly in the Clever Pop Department, with lots of hints of Psych and certainly far more keyboards than you'd expect.

The opener, I'll Forget Yr Name is all riff, with a chorus that hints at Supertramp's Logical Song. It's like an update on Mid 70's Pop Rock or Martin Rushent getting hold of a UK late 70's New Wave outfit. It's a stormer.




She's A Timebomb is like a psyched up Cheap Trick. A Lesson In Cause And Effect is Feeder type Brit Pop, I'll Set U Free is like Small Faces on LSD. Sinking May is pure Roddy Frame fronting The Motors.

The whole feel of the album is poptastic, wonderfully melodic. As a Psych Pop fan, I love it when the album veers that way and both the early Floyd like Komarov and the trippy Hit The City are wonderfully so.

At times, Lane's voice is very similar to The Orgone Box's Rick Corcoran, a real compliment. That really works on the brooding meandering Headley Grange, the only time the album slows down and it still morphs into a Brian May type Guitar solo.




The only downside is Witch In My Mind, which does seem forced, a Nile Rodgers type groove that is a bit plastic funk. However this is a minor quibble and after all this goodness, you'd expect the album to end on a high and boy, does it. You Had Me On Side is anthemic, it starts as a sort of lounge affair, rocks out and then ends as a soundtrack to an 80's Industrial Wasteland Film Soundtrack. A corking 8 minutes plus.

If you'd have said to me at the start of the tear that a guitarist from You Am I would be vying for my album of the year, I'd have laughed at you. As we reach the end of July, I'm Gonna Burn Out Bright is certainly doing that. It's a wonderfully cohesive effort, plenty of variance, but demonstrably melodic.

Well done that man!