Review:

on 2011-05-16 CharlesMartel Said:

John Watts returns to his brilliant best with this double CD album. It had now been six years since Watts had issued an album under his own name, as opposed to Fischer-Z, and his return as a solo artist marked a positive change in musical direction. The emphasis is now much more on the songs. The result is one of the best John Watts releases in a long time.

Often with double albums, more so with double CD's than double vinyls, there is a lot of filler padding out the highlights. That is certainly not the case with this album. The reason for this successful release is that the two CD's have a markedly different style. The first consists of the more up tempo rock numbers, while the second is more relaxed and, on first listening, thoughtful. It seems as if there was a conscious decision to let the listener choose which CD to listen to dependent upon his or her moods. It is almost as if there were two separate releases, two separate styles, two albums each bristling with some fine music. Separate they are good albums; combined they are one of John Watts best.

As is to be expected, however, both CD's display proof of the amazing song-writing ability of John Watts. The songs are tight and well crafted and the lyrics display a continued understanding of the human condition and the ability to see something humorous in the serious and serious in the funny. It is this quality which has marked out John Watts' songwriting since the earliest days of Fischer-Z and continues to do so.

The songs display the same range of themes as is apparent on his best work. On the one hand there is the very personal "Birthday", about John Watts and his own family at his 48th birthday. On the other there is the mournful, almost despondent "What a Time to Live", a track which in many ways harks back to the earliest days of Fischer-Z, containing lines of such contemporary poignancy as

"Spanish stations still lament
What waging war on terror meant.
O waste of women, waste of men
What a time to live."

John Watts has lost nothing of his ability to draw sharp, pertinent political observations with his lyrics. He draws as much on his own experiences and feelings to produce his music, which stands in stark contrast to the departure he would take with his next album.

What is sad about this album is that the usual sheep-like stupidity of the British mass market record buying public will not get to hear this. Fat, ignorant, corrupt DJ's will pocket handsome sums of money to ensure that the usual dross gets on their playlists (has there ever been a more unfair way of allowing record companies to determine what people listen to?) As such, the talents of people like John Watts will continue to be overlooked while some plastic, manufactured, processed, teenage nitwit mumbles her way through yet another stupid chorus of "shake your funky booty" and the ignorant herd thinks its so cool.
Rating: 8/10