Review:

on 2011-03-24 CharlesMartel Said:

I found "Stream" to be much better than its predecessor, "Kamikaze Shirt", on first listen, but after a long while and several listens to both, I have come to the conclusion that I marginally prefer "Kamikaze Shirt" to "Stream". This is perhaps because, in the case of the former, there was that one identifiable track which hooked me and drew me into the rest of the album. That is lacking on "Stream".

As regards the good things I can say about the album, on the positive side, the hooks are getting stronger and John Watts' own musical ability is coming much more to the fore than on his late eighties outputs. As ever, the lyrics are superb and have been the saving grace throughout his career. Once again, he returns to controversial topics to form part of his repertoire.

Among the highlights is the single, "Protection" which delved into the murky and depressing world of child exploitation. Once again, Watts showed his ability to take on politically and socially relevant issues and deal with them in an open and frank discussion. It has been this trademark quality which has always drawn me to his songwriting.

This album is a welcome continuation of quality for yet another makeover of Fischer-Z. Having said that, by now John Watts and Fischer-Z had become interchangeable. With each album it was almost as if a decision had to be reached in Watts' mind as to whether it would be a solo album or a group album. The decision is in some ways irrelevant. The collection of John Watts' entire output needs to be viewed as part of a continuum to gain a true appreciation of his musical development. The differentiation between band and solo musician is not something which can be discerned by listening to the music alone and should be discarded in any overview of his work.

The main reason for this quality appears to be a style of music making which originally motivated John Watts' musical vision and with which he feels most comfortable. Although he made a number of quieter, slower numbers in his career, he never seems fully at ease with them, especially as his voice grew deeper as he aged. Gone too were the frenetic rockers of his early years. What we are left with is a fine collection of songs, rock for sure, softer than many, but definitely not MTV oriented. Each one represents a vignette of life as the writer experienced or perceived it. A potted history if you like. This was the ground on which John Watts stood strongest, and this fact shows through in "Stream".

The downside of this is that Watts appeared to have settled somewhat complacently into a pattern. "Stream" was the last of three albums which saw Watts and Fischer-Z on a musical plateau. In some ways there is very little to distinguish them from one another. Yet without the other strand of Watts' genius, innovation, he slips too easily into a rut. The initial signs of that are evident here. It would come as no surprise that his next two works, as a solo artist and as part of Fischer-Z, would be much more experimental and much less accessible than his work at this point in time. Needless to say, it was not a turn which I was able to appreciate as much.
Rating: 7/10