Noah Francis Johnson:
Life and Times:
Last Ten Records:
Out Feb 24th:
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
It's always a pleasure to see a label make an effort with an artist and Last Ten Records have done singer-songwriter Noah Francis Johnson proud with their weighty promo bundle for his Life and Times debut. So weighty in fact that I had to pay for the postage to pick it up from the sorting office - for the most part, I'm rather glad I did.
Far from being a timeless classic in the vein of What's Going On? or Songs For Swinging Lovers, both recorded by two of Johnson's self-confessed heroes, Gaye and Sinatra, Life and Times is at the very least, a humbling yet powerful collection of songs for the hard-bitten and the hopeful. And I'm not a fan of 'heart-felt balladry' or 'sad-face soul' at the best of times but Johnson's assembled a team of pin-sharp musicians good enough to colour in the gaps when Johnson doesn't.
Visibly built like Vin Diesel, and vocally placed somewhere in a territory already inhabited by Lenny Kravitz, Ray Charles, Seal and Michael Bolton, which is probably enough to either have you running to the hills or running to a website to order this, Johnson's a big presence. The songs, however, are far more delicate and personal. Forget any lazy cover versions (well, bar one) or hollering for the sake of hollering, Johnson's past is represented on all but twelve of the songs in varying degrees of emotional outpouring.
He's positively breaking down on Try, a track dedicated to his late father (one of two homages to a man he obviously respects), while on Greyfeather and The Man In The UFO his daughter gains the same degree of adulation. There's no doubting this chap has a rakish set of pipes but perhaps the control switch gets forgotten a few times, particularly on the only cover on here, the Grease anthem You're The One That I Want. No cheesy disco-dancing here, instead the song is slowed right down and turned into a blues-filled aria of sorts - enough to make Danny and Sandy lose sleep during those summer nights, I can tell you.
But, glibness aside, this is a rather impressive debut that should set him up for the inevitable follow-up and live dates.
Life and Times:
Last Ten Records:
Out Feb 24th:
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Far from being a timeless classic in the vein of What's Going On? or Songs For Swinging Lovers, both recorded by two of Johnson's self-confessed heroes, Gaye and Sinatra, Life and Times is at the very least, a humbling yet powerful collection of songs for the hard-bitten and the hopeful. And I'm not a fan of 'heart-felt balladry' or 'sad-face soul' at the best of times but Johnson's assembled a team of pin-sharp musicians good enough to colour in the gaps when Johnson doesn't.
Visibly built like Vin Diesel, and vocally placed somewhere in a territory already inhabited by Lenny Kravitz, Ray Charles, Seal and Michael Bolton, which is probably enough to either have you running to the hills or running to a website to order this, Johnson's a big presence. The songs, however, are far more delicate and personal. Forget any lazy cover versions (well, bar one) or hollering for the sake of hollering, Johnson's past is represented on all but twelve of the songs in varying degrees of emotional outpouring.
He's positively breaking down on Try, a track dedicated to his late father (one of two homages to a man he obviously respects), while on Greyfeather and The Man In The UFO his daughter gains the same degree of adulation. There's no doubting this chap has a rakish set of pipes but perhaps the control switch gets forgotten a few times, particularly on the only cover on here, the Grease anthem You're The One That I Want. No cheesy disco-dancing here, instead the song is slowed right down and turned into a blues-filled aria of sorts - enough to make Danny and Sandy lose sleep during those summer nights, I can tell you.
But, glibness aside, this is a rather impressive debut that should set him up for the inevitable follow-up and live dates.