Album Details

• Artist: Feargal Sharkey
• Album: Feargal Sharkey
• Label: Virgin
• Year of Release: 1985
• Original Release: 2007
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: charlesmartel on 2011-08-27

"You Little Thief" was the single from the album which enjoyed some minor commercial success. It is an up-tempo jazzy number which provides the sole highlight of the album. Most of the rest of the album does not rise above the seriously mediocre, the exception being "A Good Heart" but that is only just above mediocre. As for the rest, just forget it. There is nothing here of any interest to hold your attention.

There is no hiding the fact that this is the same Feargal Sharkey. That quivering voice is unmistakeable. I can understand Sharkey wanting to branch away from the Undertones and I can also understand him wanting to something so completely different that he would not be seen as just the former Undertones front man. Sadly, in this case, doing something different from the sublime work of the Undertones meant doing something which is irredeemably bad. If he had hoped for a long and illustrious career he sorely miscalculated with this album. If you want to kill your career permanently you could do no worse than issue something like this.

The problem is that to achieve what was undoubtedly his intention, you have to have substance behind the music and this has no substance. The difference therefore has become solely one of quality - the Undertones were good and this is awful. Besides, his voice is too distinctive for it not to be associated with the Undertones. Like many, I bought this on the strength of his previous work. And I am sure that, like many, I have barely listened to it since then and never bought anything else he did. In fact, I am not even sure he did anything else after this for I never came across it.

So what was this, another once great band ended by the ego of the solo artist allure, or a man who could not find his feet or his direction without the influence of those who had risen with him to the pinnacle? I'll let you make your own choice as to which ending is the best to this particular story. I know which one mine is. Hardly surprising that Sharkey faded from view pretty quickly after this and moved into the commercial side of the industry. Recently he resurfaced on a government commission looking at the arts and is now the mouthpiece of one of the British organisations combating downloading, BRM. Hardly a fitting end to the man who once shuddered:

"I wanna hold you, wanna hold you tight/ Get teenage kicks right through the night"

It seems old punks never die. They don't fade away either - they morph into respectable members of the establishment. Some even make commercials for f****** butter for chrissakes!

User Reviews and Comments

on 2011-11-15 tosnob Said:

A good heart these days is hard to find/
true love/
the lasting kind

How does it get better than that?!? lol
Not Rated