Album reviews

The Loyal Serpent
As the singer of Diesel Park West – for many, Leicester’s answer to Moby Grape – John Butler delivered five highly invigorating albums in seven years. Although each was successful in critical terms, they barely sold enough to keep the five-man line-up in denim and by 1995, they were being layed out to rest. Clearly puiqed, he’s now poured all his frustrations into a debut album that categorically aims to vindicate repeated claims that not only is he a great songwriter, but a commercial one to boot. The Loyal Serpent brims with an intoxicating alchemy of celtic-like passion, delivered with the kind of religious zeal that recalls early Mike Scott, alongside some profoundly stirring blue-collared anthems that sound like he’s got the E Street Band backing him. The electric Maybe Tomorrow, in particular, suggests that a little adversity is all Butler needs to shine.

by Nick Duerden, Q magazine, November 1997

Worthless Bastard Rock
Held in high esteem for his work with the hugely under-rated Diesel Park West, Butler’s second solo album contains all the high caliber material that you’d expect, and there’s no other current British artist who integrates the pivotal elements of exquisite song writing and laudable performances into such appealing packages.

Perhaps as a conscious attempt to move away from influences such as the Buffalo Springfield and Moby Grape that infiltrates the Diesel’s work, this mainly acoustic collection of tracks nods more in the direction of the Beatles or Dylan. Indeed, Ticket To Heaven has the feel and flair of the latter’s Highway 61 Revisited, and there’s also a stripped-down version of The Singing Life.

Butler has a rare talent that has gone unrecognized for too long.

Quintessential listening.

by Rich Wilson. Record Collector. March 2001

Worthless Bastard Rock
Perhaps if you stick any folky singer-songwriter behind a harmonica, Bob Dylan will come to mind, but on Ticket To Heaven it is especially strong, as John Butler even sounds like Dylan, harmonica or no. Butler’s singing voice fluctuates between Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney, and yet, his voice stays consistent, so how can this be so? Oh, it the phrasing of certain words in certain contexts sounds like this or that vocalist. On My Brother There I thought Bruce Springsteen, but musically of such roots rockers as Gin Blossoms or the like. Unfortunately, there is an awkwardness here, where the bass seems too much in the mix and drums out of time, that mars what is otherwise a good song.

This looseness returns on Perfect Love, which is Lennon-esque in construction, McCartney-esque in theme, and Beatles-esque in sound, especially with the placement and tone of the piano – like an outtake from Sgt. Pepper or Magical Mystery Tour. She Called The Cops is a jangly rocker that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Tom Petty disc…and yes, Butler here sounds like the man in question and yes, again, the band seems a little too loose. Work On It is a blues rocker in a classic mode, a track that grooves so much you almost can’t help but get up and dance a little. Even Demain Peut-etre sounds familiar – the percussive rhythm made me think of Alan Parsons Project’s Don’t Answer Me, but that’s about the only prog or near-prog reference I can make as regards this release. Otherwise, thought, I can’t quite put a name to the song I’m thinking of…something by Springsteen or Dylan I think… maybe a bit of both. It is one of the tightest songs here, though it seems to lose it a little towards the end when guitar comes to the fore but the rest of the instruments to move out of the way to give it room. New Age Winners works as that pointedly humourous track with sing-a-long chorus.

The best track here I feel is the understated The Last Goodbye where with an economy of words Butler expresses a lot of feeling, using a few telling lines to encompass a larger story, of how the protagonist and the one to whom he’s singing got to this point. Ticket To Heaven is rather gloomy in theme, if I read it correctly. She Called The Cops is subtle in it’s own way, told from the point of view of a (perhaps) abusive protagonist whose girlfriend/wife has decided enough is enough.

Overall, the whole affair feels like the band woke up after an all night party, threw on whatever clothes they could find, grabbed their instruments and then started jammin’. But with a title like Worthless Bastard Rock, maybe all this isn’t so surprising, you know, living the bohemian lifestyle of making music during the afternoon, gigging or partying (both) at night, and sleeping in the morning. Of course, doesn’t mean to imply musicians are worthless bastards, but perhaps just those that have a casual attitude towards even that. Which, I should add, doesn’t mean to imply John Butler does, only that there is something rumpled and unkempt about the album.

The production on the album is good soundwise, though the mixing sometimes seems a little strange – the mix is mostly right on Work On It, New Age Winners, and The Last Goodbye (though piano is a little too high in the mix), but elsewhere it seems like the wrong instrument has the attention. Other than that, it is an okay release. Tighter perhaps and I’d have a higher recommendation for it.

by Stephanie Sollow, Progressive World, April 2001