Ray Wilson - The next big thing - 2004
intro
Let´s be sincere: if Ray Wilson hadn´t been Genesis vocalist in that undervalued “Calling all stations”, this album wouldn´t be reviewed at progVisions.
Maybe Ray tries to prove us (and himself) that he´s part of a songwriters generation a la Dylan or Springsteen, a “working class hero” who wants to show us his most intimate side. But the truth is that Ray doesn´t have that special gift owned by good artists who, only with an acoustic guitar, can offer a fistful of nice songs.
review
The first track –and first single- “These are the changes” (3:36) is a sort of homage to terrorist attack on New York. The song has an hypnotic feeling, with a chorus constantly repeated, while the verses are real speeches and broadcasts. Please don´t misunderstand me but I´m getting a little bit rid of this subject. I understand and I share American people´s pain. But here in Europe there are lots of trees in our forests that have grown with the blood spilled by terrorists in England, Spain, Germany, Italy or France.
The second track is “Inside” (4:02), umpteenth revision of an electric song that was a hymn for “Indie” movement, and also musically supported a Levi´s campaign (very Indie, indeed), and was originally released in 1994 (album “Mind´s Eye” by Stiltskin). Anyway the track is not bad at all.
And that´s all.. if you listen to “These are the changes” and “Inside” you´ve already listened to the sound foundations of the whole album. Of course each song has something different, like the sax in “The Fool in Me” (3:23), or the piano in “Sometimes” (3:27). I only find interesting the emotive “Adolescence Breakdown” (2:54), “The actor” (4:39), this with nice 60´s arrangements, and “The Best Big Thing” (3:57).
conclusion
As I stated, the rest of the tracks swing between acoustic sounds with isolated energy under control, and a “songwriter” who wants to tell some stories and to be pleasant to all kind of audiences.
If you like intimate songwriters like John Wesley or maybe the first (and luckily only) solo album by Steve “H” Hogarth, perhaps you´ll enjoy this album.
Note from the webmaster: Dear Alfonso, you forgot to mention the amazing (live) double album “Live body, Live spirit" from the H band.