Sorry, Dad, Teddy snubs folk for pop
Break-up album has jukebox vibe
AS THE offspring of British folk-rock royalty, Teddy Thompson could easily have taken the acoustic route himself.
Dad Richard was a founder member of Fairport Convention and mum Linda a celebrated folk singer. His parents’ music is still relevant, too, with Mark Ronson having just covered their classic duet I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight.
But Teddy grew up listening not to folk but to country stars such as George Jones, and rock and rollers like Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers. His own music has often had a distinctive American sheen, and he goes his own way again on a new album steeped in jukebox pop.
Like Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, his first solo album in nine years is a break-up LP.
His regret at the end of a romance is palpable, but he puts a positive spin on his hurt rather than wallowing in self-pity.
London-born Teddy, 44, made Heartbreaker Please in Brooklyn, writing and producing it himself, and his wistful lyrics are imbued with a bright, tuneful bounce.
‘I tend to write sad, slow songs,’ he admits. ‘But even where the subject matter was sad, I’d set it against a soul beat for an uplifting feel.’
He begins by anticipating the demise of a relationship on Why Wait, a southern soul stomper with a brass section that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Blues Brothers number. If he’s upset, he hides his feelings well — at least on the early tracks.
The smoothly sung At A Light envisages his ex being struck by guilt and longing at unexpected moments. Dad Richard adds exquisite guitar on the title track, another buoyant three-minute pop gem. Perversely, the album’s first piece of downbeat music, piano ballad Brand New, features its most optimistic lyrics.
Elsewhere, he ponders his next move on the wry, but pragmatic, What Now — ‘I love living on my own, but I can’t afford the outgoings’ — before channelling the blue-eyed soul of Van Morrison on Record Player.
The sentiments of the latter track — ‘Where are the songs I love?’ — come over as a moan about the state of modern music, but the underlying tune is so sweet it makes even the grumpy old man act tolerable.
This isn’t the first time that a broken heart has come to the aid of a gifted songwriter, but Heartbreaker Please could be the radio-friendly record to reignite
Teddy’s solo career. Over the past six years, he has made a boy-girl duets LP with Los Angeles country singer Kelly Jones and a Thompson family album with Richard, Linda and his younger sister Kami.
He’s now back at what he does best: folk’s loss is pop’s gain.
NICOLE ATKINS conjures up the romance of the New Jersey boardwalk on an album named after the gelati she used to tuck into as a child. The singer and guitarist was raised in Asbury Park, the resort immortalised on
Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., and she shares The Boss’s love of Tin Pan Alley pop. ‘When you’re on the boardwalk, there’s a feeling that anything can happen and that’s what I tried to create,’ she says of Italian Ice.
SHE has put together a formidable band to help out, too, with pianist David Sherman and percussionist Jim Sclavunos, of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds, joined by the Muscle Shoals soul musicians who once backed Aretha Franklin.
Her sunny outlook is apparent from the opening AM Gold, a sultry piano ballad that makes the case for old radio hits as an antidote to despair: ‘Turn it up,
AM Gold, I want to know I’m not alone.’ With her studio band containing indie-rock luminaries and veteran soul men, it’s no surprise her music has a kaleidoscopic range.
Domino opens with a bassline recalling the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive before shifting to a groove closer to Miss You by The Rolling Stones. A retro-pop feel dominates, but Nicole’s songs are big-hearted enough to avoid pastiche.
A touch of psychedelic guitar aside, her cover of Carole King’s A Road To Nowhere stays faithful to the 1966 original. On These Old Roses, she sounds like a torch singer from a bygone age.
‘Music was the heartbeat that kept Asbury Park going,’ she says. And, even though she now lives with her husband in Nashville, she’s a true keeper of the hometown flame. You can take the girl out of New Jersey...