well, this is a review of the latest in a rare breed - solo albums from a member of the sadly long since gone band Frankie Goes To Hollywood. it will not take you very long to work out that of course i'm going to encourage you to go off and buy it! hopefully my comments below will show why you should, and indeed persuade one or two of you to invest in it, if you can find a copy!
A Lo Minimo is Nasher's third solo album since he resumed a more or less full on music career around the dawn of 2000. his first two, Ripe and Le Grande Fromage (the latter containing an absolute gem, Top Of The Pops Again) were well received, popular sounding yet clearly personal albums. i wouldn't wish to bog down this review with they whys and whatnots of Nasher's return to music so late post-Frankie and all that, but you are welcome (and indeed encouraged) to read some insightful interviews and reviews at his website.
this new album departs from the "popular" sound of his previous albums, but retains a clearly personal touch. the fact that a "popular" sound has been dropped for this outing shouldn't suggest that the album is not easy to get into - far from it. the minimalist sound (note - not strictly speaking acoustic) is intriguing, as is the cheeky "borrowing" of the drums off Bowie's Five Years on the opening track.
that said, it's hard to advise you of any one particular stand out track on the album. at the great risk of offending Nasher, there's no one song that stands head and shoulders above all others. happily, however, there's no bum notes or weak tracks - there is never a wish or desire to hit the skip button at any point. if, however, you are not compelled to buy the whole album yet and want to hear one or two tracks, i believe some sites allow you to buy the songs one by one, in particular CD Baby. if you feel like sampling, i recommend you buy and "download" (is that the right term?) either Airplane and/or in particular Black Eyes. try either of those and like them then congratulations, you will pretty much enjoy the whole album.
the best compliment that i can give the album - and this is intended as one - is that it's my new "background" music, and has been for the week or so that i have had it. no small thing that, considering i am also sat with Bowie's Station To Station reissue, as well as the new Manics album and Freebass, the latter i hope to post a review of soon-ish. A Lo Minimo has become my first choice for play on an evening when i am sat reading a paper or writing away, and indeed was on repeat play last week in the car, when the car still quite liked the idea of working (see previous post). as other albums which have held this place on my stereo have included Marillion's Misplaced Childhood and The Who's opus, Tommy, it is not like the album is in bad company.
now, if i have convinced you to give Nasher's new album a try, getting your hands on it could be tricky. Nasher has his own label, Babylon Pink, and so far pressings of the album has been limited. i was fortunate enough to be able to order it from Amazon, but they seem to frequently be out of stock. The previously mentioned CD Baby is the place to go to purchase one of these "digital copies" of it, and you might get the CD there too.
Update : for those of you in a country where apple will sell you songs as well as equipment (unlike here), you can also get the album or tracks from iTunes.
for the more adventurous of you, or at least those of you connected to the grand social network thing, you can of course contact Nasher directly. as well as details of this album, and indeed his upcoming (and very tasty sounding) autobiography, you can go there to get details of gigs Nasher's doing.
although of course any musician or band would love to have a record that is popular as, and subsequently sells, anything around a fraction of what his former band did in the 80s, Nasher's clearly long past caring about that side of it. he's a man who loves music, and loves making music for those who enjoy it. if you're a bit tired of the music scene being dominated by sub-one hit wonders who have been on a tv talent show, or whose reputation and presence seem to vastly exceed any actual talent, then giving A Lo Minimo is what will wake you up - the sound of a man enjoying making music just to be enjoyed for what it is.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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