LIVERPOOL’S new-wave figurehead is not lacking in confidence. The cover alone on his debut album would be worthy of Roger Dean in his halcyon Yes and Osibisa days. But is this style over substance?
Well, for a country rock album it promisingly bears all the crucial hallmarks. Vincent says he recalls forgotten memories that were too hard to bear, hanging on to situations in a bad way and passing on bad experiences to others. It’s all very Nashville, as is the music, Burns, Heaven Knows and the title track notably.
Current single The Passage is less staple fare and on Riot’s Cry Vincent gets closest to where he should be, apeing Steve Earle. But overall this is pleasant but standard stuff. That may damn by faint praise and undoubtedly Robert Vincent is a talented young man, but in this genre, especially, playing what has been before and what will without doubt come again is no recipe for getting noticed.
• Robert Vincent plays Fibbers, York, on May 1.
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