Post by The Curmudgeon on May 21, 2008 1:47:46 GMT 2
For a limited time only! Things The Curmudgeon actually LIKES - part four!
It's that time once again, faithful readers. Time to stop attacking the wretched dross available on this site and embrace the very best things that makes The Curmudgeon NOT wish hot, burning death on everyone on the planet. In short - its a time of celebration. And hey - YOU'RE invited.
Want to know a secret?
Well, I wasn't actually going to review this album. As part of my limited series of positive reviews, (of which there is now only one left to go), I had selected something else awesome, groovy and scrumptious. And it was only upon chance that I came across this CD.
For you see, this isn't a "new" album, but it IS new to Amazon. Opium has been around for a while but has, until now, been nigh on impossible to get hold of. In fact, I was only able to get my hands on it at Matt Berry gig (got it signed by the man himself too - result) and so its a nice surprise to see that now more people can buy it whenever they please. Question is - SHOULD they?
Oh, Hell yes.
An introduction, first, of who this Matt Berry person is. British viewers of decent comedy (i.e - not Catherine Tate) may perhaps know Berry from the likes of "The Mighty Boosh", where he regularly stole the show as Dixon Bainbridge, or as Todd Rivers in the simply magnificent "Garth Marenghi's Dark Place", and you will probably remember his rich, booming voice. Now, imagine THAT voice singing, and you're only half-way to realising the genius behind "Opium".
According to the sleeve-notes contained with this record, Berry first came upon the idea of combining spoken word with music when he was listening to a recording of a Shakespeare play and heard his brother's Led Zepplin records playing through the wall.
And so Opium was born; a comedy album of lengthy spoken tales of hangmen, hookers and failed chat-up lines, combined with some genuinely great songs that veer from catchy pop, "black magic reggae" to heart-breaking ballads.
Reading the words "comedy" and "album" in the same sentence would usually be enough to have me on the next website by now, as joke songs usually have as much shelf-life as their first listen. But Berry's voice is so hypnotic, and he really is such a skilled and effective story-teller that you will listen, and laugh, every time. Anyone who owns this record who hasn't found themselves saying (in Berry's classic style) "I'm just a cheap phony, in a cheap nightclub drinking cheap WHISKEY" best check themselves into a morgue - they are legally dead.
It's quite a feat to have straight-faced comedy moments and put them in an album next to genuinely moving pop songs like "Reach For The Ground" and "One More Hit". Berry could have phoned in these performances, relying on his trademark voice to get easy laughs, but instead he makes them poignant, effective songs - in short, a number of these tracks could have been big hits if they were coming from someone else. Matt Berry may be a funny guy, but he's also a decent singer, an excellent musician and a great songwriter.
It's a deliberately dated sounding record, combining today's humour with the music reflecting a long gone era. And it works perfectly. Anyone who can combine a story of a prostitute, belching and stinking of booze ("I could smell GIN") with a surprisingly gorgeous love song has to be commended.
It's an odd, difficult to pigeon-hole album, but a great one nevertheless. Take the plunge, buy "Opium" and see for yourself.
And that, good reader, is Part Four in my list of the great and the good. And we only have ONE more positive review to go before I delve back into the sludge pile. But what could it possible be? Only one way to find out..
