Liam Frost - We Ain't Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain (Emporer Jones)
2/5
By: Stephen Maughan
Oh dear, do we have to do this? I'm sure Liam Frost tried hard, but this just doesn't work. If you can get beyond the terrible album title (yes, I know it's taken from a Charles Bukowski poem, but to quote Shania Twain, 'that don't impress me much') and the first song where Liam sings something about “little hearts and cheating hearts” and his “soul being on fire”, you are doing well. If you are a Martha Wainwright fan (for they do exist) you may well buy this album for the track she joins Liam on, 'Your Hand on Mine'. That, along with 'Skylark Avenue' and 'Leading Lights and Luminaries' are the highlights in an otherwise stale album.
The problem is that you can't help feeling Liam Frost is trying a little too hard. His bellowing singing style above a gentle rock background somehow reminds me of both Mika and Meat Loaf, especially on ‘Shipwrecks’ – “sensations like that can bring a girl to her knees when you lay with dogs and fleas, oh-oh-ooooh!” croons Frost on that one. He is saved by going straight into 'Sykland Avenue', a bitter-sweet acoustic pop tale of his boyhood in Manchester, that wouldn't be out of place in the next Now That’s What I Call Music compilation.
Still, it’s not enough to save a rather tedious album, which is far away from the likes of beatnik poets and song writing greats that Frost aspires to. It has some sweet piano playing, and a few nice moments here and there, but they are far too few and far between to get heard in an already overcrowded singer songwriter field.
Artists in this article: Liam Frost
Your Feedback
Login to post your comment