If you’ve never listened to Eastbourne resident David Ford, you’re probably living on another planet.
As if 2006's Sorry For All The Trouble I’ve Caused wasn’t brilliant enough,
he’s gone (and almost) done it all over again, though the angst has mutated in
to a slighly less agressive format.
The bulk of the album is full of superb torch songs. A vocal crossbreed of James
Blunt and Damien Rice, there’s a clear indication of his asault on the singles
charts is Motown-styled Decimate, drawing heavily on the Funk Brothers '60s
beats.
Nothing else matches it in terms of popiness, though an uplifting Nobody Tell Me What To Do
comes close enough to be an excellent next single. Sorry For All... possessed
a great deal of pain, which morphed into anger, whereas, here it’s a tad melancholic,
signalled by the break-up song Go To Hell, as he articulately tackles the
anguish, accompanied by swirling strings and jangly bits.
The Damien Rice melancholy returns on power ballad I’m Alright Now, yet
again, heartache explodes via huge orchestration and heartfelt lyrics. The romantic
doom is highlighted on Train, as ‘he’ prepares to leave his lover on a
journey to who knows where.
Requiem is home made pizza of Dylanesque proportions, starting in low-glo
format until it erupts wildly for the close, with some sensual sax tailing it
off. Topping an excellent album, though not quite as good as his debut, but
still very good, a countryfied (steel guitar etc) And So You Fell plods
gently out.
1. Go To Hell
2. Decimate
3. I’m Alright Now
4. Song For The Road
5. Train
6. St.Peter
7. Nobody Tells Me What vTo Do
8. Requiem
9. ....And So You Fell
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
