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| Jack Savoretti - Before The Storm |
JACK SAVORETTI – Before the Storm (Fullfill Records)
RELEASE: 4th June
This is the third album by Jack Savoretti but I have to
admit that he is new to me. On the plus side it means that I get to listen to
this album without any prior prejudice. On the down side this is supposed to be
a fresh, new and exciting direction for Mr Savoretti and that doesn’t really
make me want to listen back to his first two albums. On first listen this is
fairly inoffensive, acoustically lead, good time music that would probably work
in the bar scene in an American teen TV series. But then I read that sentence
back and that in itself is offensive enough. I mean, if you like Paolo Nutini’s
album tracks and you’re not bothered about remembering any of the tunes minutes
after listening to the song then this might be up your street.
Savoretti’s voice is pitched somewhere between Paul Young’s
huskiness and the forced sincerity of Nickleback’s Chad Kroeger (and yes, I did
have to look that up) but even I, an average chap, can see that he is what the
girls might call ‘a fittie’. The trouble is that so many of his songs seem to
be self pitying odes to how he doesn’t deserve his girlfriend (Not Worthy) or
the life of someone living rough (Vagabond) and none of it is very believable.
There is also some sub-par lyricism on display; surely Lifetime’s “Now the sun
is bound to go down but that’s alright. It happens every night. Tomorrow it comes
back around and that’s OK. It happens everyday” is from the Rebecca Black
School of Writing Lyrics to Point Out The Blindingly Obvious?
This album does have one or two redeeming features though
which are mainly the interesting instrumental arrangements (Take Me Home) and
the production quality which gives some of the songs a beautifully expansive
quality. Overall though, this album has left me with one overriding feeling and
that is the feeling you get when you’re in Primark and they start playing
popular hits over the stereo except that it’s not quite the original version and, even though you never even liked
the original version, it still irritates you until you put down that £3 duffle
coat and shuffle off to TK Maxx. It’s not a terrible feeling but it can
properly ruin your Saturday.