Dave Stewart -‘Blackbird Diaries.’ (Proper Records)
Not since the most recent Toploader album arrived on my desk…oh, two months ago, have I felt such trepidation about reviewing an album…
I should clarify: as a child I loved the Eurythmics, the band that Stewart was one half of throughut the Eighties with his ex-girlfriend, Annie Lennox. Even now, there are still Eurythmics songs that I will defend to the hilt ‘Sweet Dreams,’ ‘Beethoven’ and ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’ to name but three. Savage was one of the first albums I ever bought.However, the bits of Stewart’s solo career I had heard previously were not impressive. And this album feels like a pointless exercise.
It’s not an awful album, but it is painfully dull. In over thirty years in the business, Stewart has demonstrated that he can write tunes. So why has he produced this boring album? The album features contributions from Stevie Nicks and The Secret Sisters (the latter who released an album a few months back that I think is really good), yet the vocals here are used almost in parody. Stewart’s voice does not help matters -it’s reminiscent of Bob Dylan using autotune, and does not add to my enjoyment of the album.
The one redeeming feature of this album is the duet with Martina McBride ‘All Messed Up.’ Other than that, it is hard to see (m)any redeeming features on this record.
*1/2
Blackbird Diaries is released on Proper Records on June 27.