Steve Cradock - The Kundalini Target

by Malcolm Carter

published: 20 / 1 / 2009

Label: Moseley Shoals Records
Format: CD

Uplifting and strongly 60s-influenced debut solo album from Ocean Colour Scene guitarist, Steve Cradock

Review

Steve Cradock is, of course, best known for his work with Ocean Colour Scene and for being a mainstay in Paul Weller’s touring and studio band for a good number of years now. Those who have stuck with Ocean Colour Scene both live and on record or have just seen Cradock perform on stage with Weller will already know that the guy is one of Britain’s most talented musicians. But this collection of ten original songs will go some way to win a host of new fans. The album kicks off with the only non-original, ‘Something Better’, a Gerry Goffin and Barry Mann song that isn’t an obvious song to cover but it sets the scene nicely for the rest of the album. There’s a mellow vibe that prevails throughout the whole album> It’s the sound of a man who is content with life. It’s an uplifting collection of tunes and those tunes will stay with you. It is, in short, outstanding. There are a few quotes on the CD case. There’s one from Paul Weller as we would expect but a more telling quote from Liam Gallagher. The younger Gallagher says “It’s a modern day George Harrison ‘All Things Must Pass’” and no matter what you think of Liam and his band this time he is right on the money. Cradock’s vocals are not so dissimilar to Harrison’s in fact and he has the former Beatle’s talent for writing sublime, gentle melodies. Gallagher has done most reviewers’ job for them in making that quote. Apart from that one cover Cradock not only wrote all the songs but also produced the album and played all the instruments. With Weller helping out on just backing vocals and adding guitar to one song it’s all Cradock’s own work with the exception of additional backing vocals from Hanna Andrews and Sally Cradock. One of the songs, ‘The Clothes They Stood Up In’ has possibly the best vocal performance of the whole album and Cradock handled the whole lot including the backing vocals himself; it’s a stunning performance of an outstanding song and one which goes some way to prove that Craddock really is a talent to be reckoned with. Although it could be said that the sound and feel of these songs shows Cradock’s love of sixties music it’s a different take to (let’s take an easy comparison) the way The Jam took the sound of bands they loved from the sixties and found a new way of presenting it. Even though the album is so new it’s obvious already that the songs are timeless. They’ll still sound good 10 or 20 years from now; they really are modern day classics. There’s none of the R’n’B sound that Ocean Colour Scene first captured our hearts and feet with and while some of the tracks wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ocean Colour Scene album obviously, there’s a flow to the songs that makes this solo album make sense as a whole. It’s the sound of an accomplished musician putting his heart and soul into every syllable. It’s like every time his fingers touch the guitar strings or drum sticks he creates something special. At least one of the songs is obviously written for his children, ‘The Apple’ even mentions his children’s names but far from being mawkish or embarrassing and despite possibly holding the record for the number of times ‘love’ is mentioned in a song and the fact that it’s got a cosy, warm feeling about it, the song brings to mind The Beatles around the 'Abbey Road' era and that can’t be a bad thing. Everything you could want from a pop record is here. It does what all good pop music should do; it makes you feel good not only for the duration of the album but every time it plays back in your mind. It’ll take you to that better place. Twelve years ago Ocean Colour Scene titled an album ‘Marchin’ Already’ a pun on how quickly the months change. We are not even out of January yet but whether December arrives quickly or the next eleven months drag by, ‘The Kundalini Target’ will no doubt be one of the major releases of 2009.

Track Listing:-

1 Something Better
2 The Apple
3 Running Away
4 You Paint Your Picture
5 On And On
6 The Clothes They Stood Up In
7 Still Trying
8 It's Transcendental
9 Ask The Sound
10 Beware Of Falling Rocks
11 Kundalini's Target