Lucky Jim | You're Lovely to Me

Lucky Jim: You're Lovely to Me

"... you may hear echoes of Neil Young, Lee Hazlewood, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Serge Gainsbourg, Arthur Lee, Leonard Cohen, Brian Wilson, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Ewan MacColl, Phil Spector and many others ..." (Skint Records website)

You may also find traces of nuts.

In fact, almost anything is possible. I say "almost" because the chance of me finding a place in my heart for Brighton duo Lucky Jim is a number as close to zero as makes no difference. I'm not sure whether it's the absurd hyperbole of the advertising copy or the bland indifference of the songs that does most damage. But I'm supposed to be reviewing the single, not castigating the pr dude. So here goes.

Lucky Jim write Americana-style songs that aspire to be any of the above, plus maybe Jim Croce, Jackson Browne or Don Henley. Off the top of my head I can think of a dozen people, just in Leeds, whose least effective songs are still way better - lyrically and melodically - than any of the three on this CD.

The quality of the CD is in the production values. Recording, engineering and all that stuff makes the ghastliness of the songs unmistakable. Every corny line, every clichéd backing vocal and each bog standard string synth part shimmer and gleam like the chocolate wrappers in Woolworths.

The words are so awful that I apologise for offering you some: "You're lovely to me, yes you are / You're the elusive chord on my old guitar" (which painfully has too many syllables to fit the notes) or rhyming "day that you were born" with "no use to any one" are beyond redemption, or even parody. The deadly seriousness of the delivery rules out any possibility that these shoddy tricks are any kind Dylan-style playfulness.

In fact, these songs are so glutinous that I would not be surprised to hear that they have become very popular and that Gordon Graham and Ben Townsend have become major artists. They have an album, from which these songs are taken. The popular music industry is sick and dying on its arse.

Comments

widdop wrote...

This review is so crap I can barely type.

Engineering is part of the recording process you moron - It's like saying 'He's a good driver and turner of the steering wheel'. One of many foolish comments in this god awful review.

I've seen hundreds of bands over the years of all different genres and I'm sick of the 'i'm going to put this chord here cause no one's done that before' music. To me it is refreshing that there are writers out there who are not ashamed to just play and write what they feel even if someone has used G,C and D in that order before.

Because you are a quite obviously a complete 'tard I'll explain it to you in simple terms. It's kind of like a bacon and egg butty, you know exactly what it's going to taste like and you can't wait to bite into it.

If you want to eat sprouts and custard, that's your choice just don't expect any other human to participate.

You have completely missed the point of this song. It's not trying to be anything, it just is what it is and I love it because of that.

I'm particularly disturbed by your comments about the lyrics. Have you even read them? They are quite simply beautiful - You shouldn't comment on things you don't understand. Now why don't you go crawl back into your poster lined hovel and listen to some 'I hate my mum' music, and I'll go and listen to Lucky Jim and enjoy the warm feeling it gives me

Profile | Posted 18th April 2008 at 13:07

Review of Lucky Jim's CD "You're Lovely to Me"