| | Hamell On Trial Mercuroyale: The Best Of The Mercury Years CD Hamell On Trial Discography of CDs
"Like Billy Bragg With A Bad Attitude"
Personnel: Ed Hamell (vocals, guitar); Eric Bazilian (electric guitar, saxophone, piano); Susan Voelz (violin); Brian Wolff (horns); Phil "Wif Skill" Nowlan (piano); Goatboy (organ); Randy Cantor (Mellotron); Jeff Cole (keyboards); Andy Kravitz (drums).
Audio Mixer: Carl Beatty.
Recording information: Above The Electric Lounge, Austin, TX (1995-1997).
Photographer: Jill Greenberg.
Mercuroyale: The Best of the Mercury Years is a nice set culled from Big as Life and The Chord is Mightier Than the Sword, the two records Ed Hamell recorded under the auspices of Mercury Records. There's nothing new here, but perhaps its release was a good coincidence for the U.K. label Evangeline, who released this collection, seeing as Hamell On Trial (Ed Hamell's chosen moniker) offered up his best work for Ani DiFranco's Righteous Babe label just under a year after Mercuroyale: The Best of the Mercury Years came out. Mercuroyale is currently the only way to find Hamell On Trial's acoustic, punk-ish material from the era, making it the only option for the new audience Hamell surely found with the Righteous Babe tag backing his earlier work. There's not a bad track on the set; it features the clever spoken wordplay on the likes of "Blood on the Wolf," and examples of Hamell's excellent melodic dexterity on "Brother Franklin," equally well to showcase the intriguing juxtapositions that made Hamell On Trial an interesting artist to watch from the get-go. ~ Gregory McIntosh
Q (1/03, p.136) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...By turns bile-filled, weary and mordantly witty..."
Uncut (01/03, p.138) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...There are black comic moments here..." Mercuroyale: The Best Of The Mercury Years Music Hamell On Trial Mercuroyale: The Best Of The Mercury Years Songs | 1. | Blood on the Wolf |
| 2. | Sugarfree |
| 3. | In the Neighborhood |
| 4. | John Lennon |
| 5. | Brother Franklin |
| 6. | Big as Life |
| 7. | In a Bar |
| 8. | Vines, The |
| 9. | Open Up the Gates |
| 10. | Harmony |
| 11. | Red Marty |
| 12. | Z-Roxx |
| 13. | Dead Man's Float |
| 14. | Confess Me |
| 15. | Meeting, The |
| 16. | Get in the Game |
|
Mercuroyale: The Best Of The Mercury Years Review
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The former lead singer/guitarist of Squeeze originally released this debut solo album back in 2001. For the Japanese edition, 4 bonus tracks have been added to the original tracklist: "By The Light Of The Cash Machine", "Sunday Breakfast Treat", "This Is Where You Ain't (Now That's What I Call Mate Version)" and "Parallel World (Piano Version)".
Personnel: Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Andy Metcalfe (piano, keyboards, bass, programming); Stephen Large (clavinet, organ); Chris Holland (organ); Hilaire Penda (bass); Jim Kimberley, Simon Hanson (drums); Ben Jones, Nick Harper, Chris Braide (background vocals).
Recorded at 45RPM, London, England.
THE INCOMPLETE... is the 2001 solo debut from former lead singer/guitarist of new wave pop group Squeeze.
Japanese edition features four bonus tracks: "By the Light of the Cash Machine", "Sunday Breakfast Treat", "This is Where You Ain't (Now That's What ...
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With 2006's RUDEBOX Robbie Williams moved from adult-alternative pop-rock to unabashed dance-pop. It was a welcome change of pace, given the lackluster nature of the album's predecessors. Part bouncy club set and part new wave rave-up, RUDEBOX finds Williams sounding freer and more fun than he has in a long time. The synthy, hip-hop robo-groove of the title track that opens the album wastes no time getting the party started.
One of the album's pleasant surprises, however, is its sense of variety. For starters, Williams chooses an intriguing array of covers, ranging as far afield as Manu Chao, the Human League, and My Robot Friend. "Kiss Me" is 1980s-flavored dance music with a dash of disco, whereas "The 90s" is a dreamy downtempo tune that has Williams recounting his days in the boy band Take That. RUDEBOX missteps a time or two, but overall it is a breath of fresh air in the artist's discography.
The careers of most music celebrities are like passenger ships, able to steam along nearly indefinitely without the least chance of modifying course. With his work of the 21st century, Robbie Williams appeared to have set himself on a course that was guaranteed to keep him working for decades, remaining important to thousands of fans, but never varying from the type of adult alternative singer/songwriter material expected of him. Then came Rudebox, which proves he's not that simple -- or at least, not that satisfied with himself. It may be a good album because it says little about his inner life and emotional troubles, which are unceremoniously dropped in favor of hyper-sexualized or sarcastic dance music and ironic laugh-getters ("Make your body shake like you stood on a land mine," "Dance like you just won at the Special Olympics"). It may be a good album because it has some of the best productions of his career, usually amped-up electro-disco from the duo Soul Mekanik or goofy hip-hop soul from Mark Ronson (which makes him come across as Justin Timberlake at some points and Gnarls Barkley at others). It's certainly a good record in comparison to its two predecessors, which suffered from a lack of vitality. (For example, while 2005's Intensive Care desultorily attempted to rewrite the Human League's "Louise," Rudebox simply covers the song, with much more feeling.) Compared to Escapology and Intensive Care, Rudebox is not only ...
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