Paolo Nutini [2009] Sunny Side Up

[01] 10/10
[02] Coming Up Easy
[03] Growing Up Beside You
[04] Candy
[05] Tricks Of The Trade
[06] Pencil Full Of Lead
[07] No Other Way
[08] High Hopes
[09] Chamber Music
[10] Simple Things
[11] Worried Man
[12] Keep Rolling



amg: When Scot singer/songwriter Paolo Nutini issued his debut album in 2006 — all of its songs were written before his 18th birthday — there was no doubt, despite his youthful demeanor, that he was the real thing. He stood out from the 21st century plague of the young, confessional songwriting throng because of his unusual depth, canny melodic sensibility, and homemade but taut production. His singles, "New Shoes," and "Jenny Don't Be Hasty," were wrapped in rock & roll classicism and bore the attitude of Dion's "Teenager in Love" and the romanticism of Jonathan Richman's "That Summer Feeling." With Sunny Side Up, his sophomore effort, Nutini makes a giant leap forward. Not only has he moved a few levels north in terms of his use of harmony, melody, and broadening genres, his lyrics have gotten bolder and more sophisticated. With the help of Ethan Johns, Nutini has taken huge chunks of America's (and Scotland's) pop and folk pasts and reshaped them in his own image; he's all but left his previous identity behind.

Nutini recorded and produced the original sessions himself with his band the Vipers — Donny Little, Mike McCaid, Dave Nelson, Seamus Simon, Gavin Fitzjohn, and Fraser Speirs — and Johns added some production details and did a load of mixing. In addition, there are guests that include a string quartet, the legendary Rico Rodriguez of the Skatalites and Specials, and ?uestlove of the Roots who helps out on the album opener "10/10." Though this cut is not the single, it is one of the grandest moments here. As an opener, "10/10,'" is indispensable: a ska heavy soul beat with blazing brass is laid down, as Nutini delivers a vocal that is the perfect meld of Louis Prima and Bob Marley. Its lyric captures the solid swaggering joy and braggadocio of the street with a melody that screams "party time." "Coming Up Easy," is one of the set's featured tracks and as such, with its soulful Memphis-style Hammond B-3, Duck Dunn-style bassline, and fat horns by Fitzjohn, is a killer breakup track, but with a lyric that could have been written by Nick Drake. It's tight, tough, and moving. The set's first single is "Candy," which opens with an Omnichord by Johns (who also plays mellotron and another guitar on the cut). This one feels a lot like John Martyn. It's not an ape, but since both were Scotsmen, the lineage is there, and both borrowed from American blues and folk heritages as well as their Celtic ones. This is a gorgeous, if unlikely, single with acoustic guitars weaving around the mix like water falling around Nutini's Scottish brogue. It's a love song of the first order without an ounce of sap, and containing a poetry so impure it could only be pop music. The rest of Sunny Side Up holds water, too. It's remarkably consistent as it embraces Scottish folk ("Tricks of the Trade,"and "Worried Man"), swing jazz ("Pencil Full of Lead"), early rock and doo wop ("No Other Way"), calypso soul ("High Hopes"), skiffle-style country ("Simple Things"), and even late-'30s style crooning ("Keep Rolling"). All of these stylistic indulgences could have turned up as a mess, a bad mash-up or still worse, an album full of songs that were longer on style than they were on substance. That's not the case; it's almost unbelievably sophisticated, flows easily, and feels whole, finished. This one leaves its generational competition in the dust and is wise beyond this songwriter's years, and to be frank, leaves his own previous identity as simply a bedroom balladeer to history.
(amg 8/10)

Procol Harum [2003] The Well's On Fire

[01] An Old English Dream
[02] Shadow Boxed
[03] A Robe Of Silk
[04] The Blink Of An Eye
[05] The VIP Room
[06] The Question
[07] This World Is Rich (For Stephen Maboe)
[08] Fellow Travellers
[09] Wall Street Blues
[10] The Emperor's New Clothes
[11] So Far Behind
[12] Every Dog Will Have His Day
[13] Weisselklenzenacht (The Signature)



amg: On their first album of new material since 1991, The Well's on Fire is a return to form for Procol Harum. The band has shed most of the production gloss that dated The Prodigal Stranger and gets back to a beefier rock-based sound, resulting in their finest album in nearly 30 years. By the time you get to the chorus of "An Old English Dream" (the album's first track), you know you've locked onto the classic Procol arsenal — capable of packing plenty of keyboard, drums, and guitar punch. The band is comfortable and unashamed to be working within the classic rock idiom, and their unique blend of progressive and R&B influences is still evident. The playing is tight and lively. "Every Dog Will Have His Day" shows they haven't lost their sense of playful humor, while truly revelling in bouncy R&B rock. Some songs — like the regal "A Robe of Silk" and "The Emperor's New Clothes" — are more than respectable throwbacks to Shine on Brightly and Home-era material. Matthew Fisher's unmistakable rock organ will undoubtedly have listeners experiencing nostalgic flashbacks. The album isn't merely a nostalgia trip, however. "The Blink of an Eye," a message song about September 11, adopts a more modern R&B-laced adult contemporary groove, as does the "The Question." "Shadow Boxed" breaks the mold a bit with a strong up-tempo staccato pulse (it's almost danceable), and "The Wall Street Blues" rocks out over a clever blues piano riff. "So Far Behind" makes a grab for modern rock pop grooviness, but is still at heart a typical Procol rocker. On tunes like "This World Is Rich," a stately, emotionally powerful Brooker piano ballad, instead of trying to sound too commercial or go for a carbon copy of their classic sound, the band is adept at blending the new with the old. Knowing nods to the past do abound, from Fisher's organ to the "Repent Walpurgis"-style prog rock instrumental that closes the album, "Weisselklenzenacht." It seems as if Procol is finally acknowledging its "elder statesmen" status among the pantheon of classic prog rockers, and is comfortable with the role. Keith Reid's lyrics may not be as obscure as the old days, but they remain heady and full of social conscience, and on "The Emperor's New Clothes" he recaptures his sense of drama and poetic acuity. Gary Brooker's voice is aging like fine wine and shows no signs of wearing out. "The Vip Room" is a fine blue-tinged rocker featuring guitarist Geoff Whitehorn, who fills the shoes of ex-guitarists Robin Trower and Mick Grabham competently. In short, the band plays with a renewed sense of purpose. With the core of Brooker, Reid, and Fisher intact (sadly, B.J. Wilson's dramatic drumming can never be replaced), this sounds like the Procol Harum you're used to, and is arguably their best album since Exotic Birds and Fruit. Rarely do you get the sense that a band with this much road behind them still has legs. While Procol Harum may not claim a whole lot of new fans with this outing, they should be able to corral many older fans back to the fold, and they have demonstrated that they're capable of making relevant music again.
(amg 8/10)