Album review: DORIS BRENDEL & LEE DUNHAM – Not Utopia

Sky-Rocket Records [Release date 07.01.13] www.dorisbrendel.com

The late Eighties/early Nineties weren’t a great time for up and coming bands. Many crashed and burned as the major labels applied the brakes to investment in new talent. Liverpool four-piece River City People were a prime example.

Back in September 1991, GRTR’s Dave Randall and I caught the Steve Hogarth revitalised Marillion on their Holidays In Eden tour at the Liverpool Royal Court theatre. The support band were a proggy outfit fronted by one Doris Brendel – The Violet Hour. Their one and only long player – ‘The Fire Sermon’ subsequently found it’s way into both our collections.

Something of a marriage of convenience, The Violet Hour weren’t, however, destined for longevity and the record companies of the day weren’t interested in backing either the singer or the band. As a result Brendel has since pursued an independent solo career that has given free reign to her eclectic creativity.

Listening to ‘Not Utopia’ I was struck immediately by the many similarities to the solo work of Sam Brown. While Brown could carry off anything from Floyd’s ‘Great Gig In The Sky’ to the indie folk of Dave Rotheray’s short lived Homespun project, her own output tended to be mix of pop and rock with distinctive smoked vocals. Both musically and vocally Doris Brendel occupies a not dissimilar space, and listening to ‘Not Utopia’ with eyes closed you could be excused for thinking it could be Brown’s latest offering.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find that both the The Violet Hour and some of Brendel’s subsequent output was produced by Sam’s brother Pete (who also produced most of Sam’s solo work). So the similarities can be no coincidence.

Such is the breadth of styles on display that ‘Not Utopia’ takes a number of listens to reveal all of it’s many facets – from prog to classical and everything in between. There’s echoes of Metallica in the opening strains of ‘No Lonely Girl’, calypso reggae (‘Drawing The Line’), driving disco rhythms (‘Going Out’), whimsical Kate Nash like pop (‘EBay’), and Kate Bush ambience mixed with echoes of Sam Brown’s own ‘Kissing Gate’ (‘Passionate Weekend’).

It’s a somewhat refreshing collection in these auto-tuned days, from a vocalist of rare talent who refuses to be pigeon holed. That may, of course, explain why she remains a well kept secret, and aficionados of the very best female vocalists would be recommended to explore further. I will be. ****

Review by Pete Whalley

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)