Vinny Peculiar - The Fall and Rise of Vinny Peculiar

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 3 / 4 / 2007

---

Review

'The Fall and Rise of Vinny Peculiar' is Vinny Peculiar's fifth album and follows on from his studio out takes and demos album of last year. This is great stuff. If you are a Smiths fan, you will need this alone for the fact that ex-Smiths members Mike Joyce and Craig Gannon play on it, and it does at times as well share the same magical playground as that great band. It starts off with 'Man About the House', which does not take its name from the 70's TV sitcom, although of course it might do. This is very jangly, and sounds like a trendy combination of the Smiths, James and Gene. It has a strong, well-paced rhythm and is frankly fabulous 'Song to Bring Back a Girl' is like a non-dancey James and has a similar intelligence in its lyrics. Vinny Peculiar is a very clever wordsmith indeed. 'The Greedy Scorpios' is a brass flavoured Britpop number, while' Revolt into Style' is a soft folk pop tale of woe, upon which Vinny's vocals slot somewhere between those of David Bowie and Julian Cope. 'Sorry God' is another jangly guitar number. It is a great track with strong rhythm and words and is worthy of the Smiths. 'Showboating' is Nick Drake like with lyrics as lonely as those of Darren Hayman in the early Hefner, while 'Playing on the Pier' is more Pulp flavoured. 'A Man Afraid' is also as sad as Hefner,while 'Living in the Past' is bubbly, upbeat and jangly, quite 80's in an old school indie way. The haunting 'My Place' recalls Echo and the Bunnymen's 'Over the Wall', but is guitars have more of a cutting jagged edge and are more choppy. It is a bitter love song. 'Mistakes' is gentler and calmer and has some lovely arrangements, but becomes more dramatic towards the end. 'London Train' then ends the album and is as classic as early Aztec Camera. Last of all there is then a hidden track which is a spoken tale worthy of Jarvis Cocker, and which has jazzy rhythms and post rock grooves. A perfect end to a perfect album really...

Track Listing:-

1 Man About the House
2 Song to Bring Back a Girl
3 The Greedy Scorpios
4 Revolt into Style
5 Sorry God
6 Showboating
7 Playing on the Pier
8 A Man Afraid
9 Living in the Past
10 My Place
11 Mistakes
12 London Train

Band Links:-

http://vinnypeculiar.com
https://www.facebook.com/vinnypeculiar
https://twitter.com/vinnypeculiar
https://soundcloud.com/vinnypeculiar
https://www.youtube.com/user/arthurcra

Have a Listen:-