Uh, oh…<\/p>\n
I’m a rock critic, meaning I’m supposed to be a king asshole
\nwhen it comes to reviewing groups and albums. I’m supposed to be
\n(and often am) the kind of person that could find something wrong
\nwith heaven. (And I have the hate mail to prove it – should’ve
\nknown better than to slam Pearl Jam on HitsWorld.)<\/p>\n
Leave it to the Scottish band Del Amitri to ruin my fun with
\nChange Everything<\/i>, an album that is one of the best mixtures
\nof pop and rock I’ve ever heard.<\/p>\n
The opening track, “Be My Downfall,” seems to set the tone for
\nthe album. The acoustic guitar work of Iain Harvie is sparse,
\nsetting the mood for a moving vocal from lead singer\/bassist Justin
\nCurrie. But, just when you think all the songs are going to be in
\nthis vein, del Amitri kicks into a rocker with “Just Like A Man” –
\nand what is weird is that the transition seems to be flawless.<\/p>\n
In fact, the many different tempo and mood shifts on
\nChange Everything<\/i> all seem to flow smoothly. Currie’s
\nsongwriting on this one shows a man who has been hurt badly by
\nsomeone he loved (loves?), and this is his release.<\/p>\n
You need proof? Check out “As Soon As The Tide Comes In,”
\nundoubtedly the best track on the album. The track, sung by a
\njilted lover to his ex just before her marriage, is addictive and
\nmoving. (A desire to hear this track again led me to dig this one
\nout of the legendary Pierce Memorial Archives – the problem being
\nthat my wife had filed it away for me. Memo to the cleaning staff:
\nMrs. Thelen is
\n
\nnot<\/i>
\n<\/b> to enter the Archives unless I am present, dammit!)<\/p>\n
In fact, with the exception of a slightly weaker song,
\n“Sometimes I Just Have To Say Your Name,” to close the album, the
\nsecond half of
\nChange Everything<\/i> is some of the most powerful music I’ve
\never heard. From the opening notes of “The Ones That You Love Lead
\nYou Nowhere” to the instantly-recognizable beat of the first
\nsingle, “Always The Last To Know,” Currie and crew work the
\nlistener into an emotional frenzy that doesn’t stop.<\/p>\n
This is not to say the first side is weak in any way; some of
\nthe cuts on this part of the album are just as strong. “When You
\nWere Young” reminds me of some other song I’ve heard in the recent
\npast, but it does have the unique Del Amitri flavor. “Surface Of
\nThe Moon” takes a few listens to really get into, but is a solid
\ntrack. One track I have not been able to get into no matter how
\nmany times I listen to it is “The First Rule Of Love” – don’t ask
\nme why.<\/p>\n
Scottish bands have always seemed to have a hard time gaining
\nacceptance in America (Nazareth, Big Country, Slade, etc.), but Del
\nAmitri gained a solid foothold with the American crowd with
\nChange Everything<\/i>, and for good reason – it’s a damn good
\nalbum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5641],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-24289","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-del-amitri","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/24289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24289"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/24289\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24289"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=24289"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=24289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}