The Duke On "Call Off The Search" By Katie Melua
Published June 25, 2004
Belfast, for instance, is obviously named after the town in The Northern Irelands when Katie spent a few years of her youth, but you wouldn't know that unless you looked at the inlay. Where is this Broadway that she talks about walking down? Maybe I missed it on the at least numerous occasions I have walked the length of Belfast. Also, "The Bells don't really ring", apparently.
In fact, The Duke would be tempted to suggest that the title Belfast was flung in at the last minute to play up the slight Irishness of the songstress. The subtitle, Penguins And Cats, is much more apt. At least she sees fit to mention the fuckers.
The only stand-out slab of instrumentation arrives in the form of an over-earnest cover of Randy Newman's I Think It's Going To Rain Today. That piano intro is astounding, but when did Newman ever write one that wasn't?
The other cover, The Mockingbird Song, is pleasing enough, but suffers from the over-familiarity of the number. Who can listen to that and not see Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels pissing into a bottle and then the police drinks the piss and then we all laugh.
Sorry, Buddy Holly, but that's just the motherfucking long and the short of it.
There's very little here that doesn't sound like a B-Side from Norah Jones' Fly Away Home. It's like as if it was one of those "Alter-Ego" records, like the one where Garth Brooks pretended to be Eddie Vedder for a while. Maybe Nora decided to get away from all the pressure of being expected to offer up a multi-million selling album by going and making a multi-million selling album.
She looks like Norah, she sounds like Norah, but just like Margarine spread sneakily across a piece of toast in a hotel restaurant, you know damn fine that something isn't right.
This isn't real butter, you scheming sons a bitches.
The heart, the joyous abandon that runs through most of Fly Away Home is absent here. I imagine that somewhere in the offices of Dramatico Records there are a group of professors marking out the next Katie Melua album, crafting and solving any number of exotic sounding equations in pursuit of the ultimate motherfucking easy-listening blockbuster.
The Duke (Aaron McMullan to his parents and the clergy) is a Northern Irish writer, performer and insomniac currently residing in London. He is the creator of Mondo Irlando, wherein his scribblings and hollerings can be found. He is currently working towards the completion of his first novel, and his debut "punk / country / folk / whatever" album has recently been released by Ex Libris Records . You can also pop by His MySpace Page and maybe have a coffee and a biscuit.
- The Duke On "Call Off The Search" By Katie Melua
- Published: June 25, 2004
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- Section: Music
- Filed Under: Music: Jazz, Music: Folk, Music: Blues
- Writer: Duke De Mondo
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man, you guys are brutal.
...think i'll brew up a response.
Unless Katie, and more importantly, her producers, stop taking notes every time Norah Jones lets a half-melodic fart, she won't be taken very seriously either.
LOL! That's hilarious!
But so true. I agreed with most of this. Except I liked the song "Belfast" (though you're right about the title being contrived) - it was pretty much the only track I liked.
This CD does smack of "quick we need our own Norah Jones!" Its dull as dishwater and lacks the nuance and quality of Norah Jonas' debut. I think KM has more in common with boredom on a stick Dido thank NJ. This CD is not bad, just nothing special.
"Where is this Broadway that she talks about walking down? Maybe I missed it on the at least numerous occasions I have walked the length of Belfast"
Just for the record....Broadway is the name of the street area that leads to the Falls area in belfast. So yes it does exist and you wouldve worked that one out if youd listened to the lyrics of the song. Otherwise, an interesting review.
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Oh, this was nice: this could have been playing on repeat for four days and you'd only notice when the stereo leaped into the nearest bathtub to rid itself of the insufferable torment.