Album review: GARY HUGHES – Waterside
Frontiers Records [Release Date 12.03.21]
It’s been a relatively quiet period for Gary Hughes, the usually prolific Ten mainman- over two years since Ten’s last album but a whopping 14 since his last album under his own name. Now, on the London bus principle, two appear, a compilation and this collection of ten new tunes.
However the choice of opener subverts usual convention never to start an album with a ballad, and risks alienating the casual listener- the clumsily titled ‘All at Once It Feels Like I Believe’ kicks off with a lengthy piano intro, and is lushly arranged with schmaltzy lyrics. To be fair, nearly three minutes in Dann Rosingana’s guitar kicks in with a sweet solo, a feat he repeats on ‘Electra-Glide’, which although rockier is still led by Darrel Treece-Birch’s piano.
‘Lay Down’ shows off that Gary’s voice at its best is somewhat redolent of vintage David Coverdale and a Beatles- in- psychedelic- phase intro gives way to a good groove and a melodic guitar solo, all given time to unfurl over a generous near eight minutes.
I was a little puzzled by his sleeve note reference to ‘a slice of Anglo-Americana’. However a couple of times he dips his toe for the first time in Atlantic waters (pun intended) with a pair of highly enjoyable songs. ‘Runaway Damned’ which has the heartland influences of the E Street Band and Bob Seger, right down to his more gravelly delivery (others more familiar with his work referenced the young Neil Diamond). And the title track is built on a riff that calls to mind ‘Copperhead Road’ while Dann lets rip on guitar in an angular but fluid style.
The Mancunian delivers his usual elaborate and eloquent lyrics, though other than the evils of social media being dissected in ‘Video Show’ (one of the numbers where his tendency to blandness is exposed) they seem to fall into two categories; the ornately expressed love ballads and the dated trope of the femme fatale on the rockier numbers.
The former are represented by ‘Screaming in the Half Light’ which is a vocal duet with very talented son Scott who sounds strangely similar albeit with a higher register, and ‘When Love is Done’ in a ballad’s more usual position as last song on the album.
The latter include two of my favourites that come back to back late in the album, ‘Save My Soul’ with the chugging feel of eighties ZZ Top and catchy both in its chorus and the bridge, and ‘Seduce Me’, the heaviest number on view with Dann let off the leash for the first time.
The album as a whole is very classy and a good production (mixed and mastered by the genre’s top figure Dennis Ward) gives space for his warm, deep voice that is often drowned in Ten’s more wall of sound arrangements, although the absence of real-sounding drums is felt at times.
Gary Hughes’ writing and singing style has always divided opinion so it may not win any new fans, but this is a varied and bold album. Not all the songs worked for me, but I found it a particularly praiseworthy effort as he offers something a little different from melodic rock’s production line tendencies and it is a real grower worth investing a bit of time in. ****
Review by Andy Nathan
Album review (Decades, retrospective)
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