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Barry Adamson was born and bred in Manchester and
trained as an architect before deciding to give it all
up and become a musician. Playing bass with the now
legendary band Magazine, he was also a founding member
of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, but is mostly
characterised by his 'filmy' albums, and has indeed
been involved in several soundtracks.
This latest offering is unsurprisingly heavily influenced by
film music, and most of the songs follow an obvious
narrative-based storyline. But stylistically,
Adamson's writing on this album owes as much to
Freakpower, Courtney Pine, Goldfrapp and The Beatles
as to John Williams.
In each of the 10 songs, we hear funk,
soul, jazz, minimalism, dance, sampling and
classical writing, all of which are so beautifully
entwined with each other that the result is one of
absolutely outstanding musical writing.
Stand-out tracks include Cinematic Soul (a hopelessly
funky soul-induced jive: "What use is a song / if you
can't sing a-long"), the brilliant Whispering Streets,
the Beatles-inspired That Fool Was Me, and the
incredible last track on the album, Cold Comfort,
which contains a beautiful female vocal and the most
orgasmic final minute of any song written this year.
Only one track seems out of place, and somewhat of a
disappointment: When Darkness Calls has a strong
verse, but no real sense of direction.
The King of Nothing Hill is a classic album, and
eclipses many recent releases in terms of
musical writing and breadth of styles. Definitely
worth having in your collection.
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