THE PERISHERS - Notorious

Nettwerk

12 song album with the emphasis on the songs, delivered by a vocalist who sounds distinctly like Tom Petty after a nose job, in other words he's got the same lilt and style but way less nasally, although it's not all like that since, as early as "Carefree", he reverts to this more Kim Mitchell-on-valium styled vocal. There's a distinctly Max Webster-meets-Tom Petty styled tint to the songs although they tend to be more keyboard driven than guitar-led, with more of an expansive ballad-esque quality to them, the presnce of organ giving the songs concerned more of a UK seventies feel.

The range of paces and styles are quite varied, within this kind of stripped down ELO-meets-Petty styled eloquence, many of them taken at a slow-mid tempo and telling tales of love, loss and emotional turbulence in general, all very personal no doubt, but you fail to receive the necesary dose of angst that the singer is trying to shell out to his listening masses.

That said, it's probably a good album if you like any of the aforementioned acts, although a rock album it most certainly is not. Nearest it gets to rock is a slight AOR quality to some of the choruses, but if anything, this is more mainstream-meets-Americana than anything. Well recorded, produced, played, sung and arranged, there's no denying its quality, merely its sustainable interest factor is open to question.

Andy Garibaldi