Birth
Birth's one permanent member is appropriately named "DL". Appropriate, because it's an abbreviation of "DULL". Drawing on a tradition of gentle, R&B/soul- influenced rock, this would be fine if it succeeded in fitting snugly into the well-worn niche that lies between Let It Be and Joan Armatrading. It doesn't. Indeed, Gotten Bold's downfall is not in its failure to take into account anything that's happened to music since 1976; but in that its mimicry of its major influences lacks their capacity for invention.
Half of this is Band On The Run part 2, but worse, and by Mother Mammy Friend - one of eight forays into dispassionately sub-standard McCartney - you are feeling distinctly sleepeeeeee. Admittedly, moody opener Last Night captures the spirit to which the rest of the album only aspires. Equally, the aptly-titled Hope demonstrates that talent can be DL's saving grace. But it doesn't save the turgidity of most of his tunes. A well-played saxophone in a subway station can't mask the general stench of piss.
Solair, for instance, sounds like The Style Council covering a bad version of Semisonic's Secret Smile. Yes. THAT boring. More likely to be heard in a quiet pub in the wealthier parts of Cheshire on a Sunday afternoon than... anywhere else; you should play this the night before your next job interview. It'll help you get to sleep, and it won't be stuck in your head in the morning.
25th May 2000