Cherry Ghost Thirst For Romance CD

Yet another one of those indie rock bands arrived in the summer of 2007 named Cherry Ghost and fronted by Bolton resident Simon Aldred, who could have attempted a career as a singer/songwriter but preferred to immerse himself in a band format. Thirst for Romance could have been an album by Richard Ashcroft, except Aldred didn't quite possess that nasal vocal quality, or an album by Coldplay, but he also lacked the range, or by Badly Drawn Boy or Embrace, and the track "Roses" even had a sort of Neil Young feel to it. That was not to say that it was a bad album, but it wasn't sure whether it wanted to be an uplifting album as per the first two tracks, the title track, and "4AM," or depressing like most of the rest of the songs with observations on gritty life in the north typified by the song "False Alarm" and its often repeated line "I'm gonna drag you down with me." There are exceptions to the depression, as "Alfred the Great" sounded like a '70s rock track, and rather out of context with the rest of the material was "Mary on the Mend," a slow chugger that took nearly eight minutes to play out. Aldred co-produced the album with Dan Austin who had also worked with Massive Attack. Thirst for Romance hit number seven in its first week, showing that there was a reasonable market for this type of angst, but within six weeks it had vanished from the chart entirely. ~ Sharon Mawer

The eagerly awaited 2007 debut album from Cherry Ghost. Although many acts on the scene try to align themselves with the latest musical trends, Cherry Ghost have created a timeless album that is definitely rooted in the present but sounds like it could have been released anytime in the last 25 years. Their intelligent songwriting and melancholy approach will appeal to fans of Belle & Sebastian, Morrissey, The Beautiful South and others. 11 tracks including the singles 'Mathematics' and 'People Help The People'. EMI.

Recording information: Ape Studios, Little Neston; Moolah Rouge Studios, Stockport, England.

Personnel: Simon Aldred (vocals, acoustic guitar); Jim Rhodes (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Belinda Hammond, Margaret Miller , Sarah Fletcher (violin); Edgar Jones, Ollie Collins, Jr. (bass guitar); Grenville Harrop, Jimi Goodwin (drums).

Audio Mixer: Dan Austin.

Q (Magazine) (p.84) - Ranked #14 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "Heavy on strings and emotion, his songs also proved to have a winning pop touch..."