My Amazon Reviews: Iain Matthews "Pure and Crooked"

In a voice both pure and crooked
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Ian Matthews got a surge of creativity after the success of his Jules Shear tribute album Walking a Changing Line. Shortly after, this album of mostly new folkish material was released, and it is, in my estimation, one of his best solo albums. "Pure and Crooked" (which happens to be a line from one of Shears' songs on the prior album) is a richer sounding set that WaCL, in as much as the instrumentation no longer favors the keyboards that dominated. "Dominoes" kicks the CD off with a poppy number, something also missing beforehand.

He also sounds deeply entwined to the material, be it the nostalgic mourning of "Busby's Babes," the snarling lyric of "New Shirt" or even a terrific cover of Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street." I even thought he outdid Gabriel's original. Given that Matthews was usually heavy on outside songwriting in the past, it makes the eight self-penned numbers here all the more exciting. This is great stuff, lost when the Gold Castle label went out of business. While Amazon only offers downloads at this page, used CD copies are going cheap. I can recommend putting "Pure and Crooked" in your library.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Eric Hutchinson "Moving Up Living Down"

Pure Pop for Moving People
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Eric Hutchinson is such a talented songwriter that I keep wondering why he doesn't get snapped up by the Jason Mraz crowd. Lilting melodies, great wordplay, more than a bit of smart-alecky tongue in cheek lyrics, but with a sense of warmth many singer-songwriters lack. In the 80's, he would have been gussied up, hitched to a Casio and produced by Nick Lowe. This is pure pop for now - circa 2012 - people. After all, you have to love a guy who sings about how cool he's not ("I'm Not Cool").

Eric as a writer often reminds me of the oft-underrated Jules Shear (but is also an immensely better singer). The best song here, "Watching You Watch Him," kept calling me back to Shear's "Whispering Your Name" as Eric deals with the girl he pines for as she follows the unattainable..."God only knows why I still wait around/Except I hate to see you cry" he moans. He's the Jonah Hill of pop.

"Moving Up Living Down" is limber, good-natured pop. Eric has the soul of a Daryl Hall and the funk-lite of Mraz. He is certainly a better songwrter than Mraz, and "Watching You" should be a smash like "Private Eyes" for its own infectious paranoia. I can also recommend "Talk Is Cheap" and the fun "Afterlife."