Mamas Gun: Routes to Riches
Mamas Gun: Routes to Riches
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Monday, 28, Sep 2009 05:36
Candelion, out September 28th.
In a nutshell...
Enigmatic, fun yet recognisable debut effort.
What's it all about?
After a well-received single in the form of Pots of Gold last summer, Mamas Gun have taken their production values skyward by working with Jack Joseph Puig of U2, Black Eyed Peas and the Rolling Stones fame to produce this bombastic, in-your-face offering.
Who's it by?
Mamas Gun, fronted by Andy Platts - a man whose name completely belies his appearance - is a particularly exciting prospect. Aiming to bring soul back into the British psyche and have fun along the way they hope to please on both live and recorded fronts. They're also named after the famous Erykah Badu record for good measure. Bam.
As an example...
"You are the music in me girl/Everything beautiful and true/All of the wonders of the world/Never compare to you." - You Are The Music
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Pretty doubtful, but it would be silly for them not to get a nomination somewhere.
What the others say
"There's so much to Mamas Gun's sound. Ultimately, Routes to Riches is an excellent pop album, a surfeit of riches in itself." - Andy Johnson, The Line of Best Fit.
"That album is standard Stevie Wonder-ful 70s Moog-funk, reminiscent of Lewis Taylor only not as experimental or, frankly, good." - Paul Lester, Guardian
So is it any good?
As soon as you play this album for the first time, you'll wonder where it's been all your life. The enigmatic performance of Andy Platts - who seems to be pushed as the leading light of the band despite the great work of his bandmates, who are arguably more talented in their abilities - is something that can't really be denied.
Despite it being promoted as a soul-fest, it's really more of a pop album with soul influences. This isn't a bad thing. It's enjoyable and easy to dip in and out of.
Pots of Gold, a single released last year, gained a lot of great feedback for its dulcet tones and falsetto vocals. The lyrics themselves demonstrated something which certainly carry through to the full album: a genuine level of emotion, even though most are understandably about women, what with it being so goddamn soulful.
It's stuff you can remember, sing along to and generally enjoy, perhaps in a car journey to and from work as it becomes dusk. You generate romantic scenes in your head when listening to it.
Certain songs demonstrate a real likeability; the single, You Are the Music, is a genuinely beautiful effort as it embraces classical strings. Other similarly slow-paced songs, such as Chasing Down Shadows, exhibit a certain swing element to them, though Andy Platts is able to genuinely command the vocals to give a slight change to the norm.
It's hard to find a song to dislike in the entire bunch, though there is a generally common thread in all of the offerings. There's a few you may shrug to, though they all generate the same slow head-swinging reaction.
Longevity, though? Well, that's a different matter for Mamas Gun.
There are a lot of songs on here that you could expect to be used on one of those cliched montages at the end of an American film akin to High School Musical or Shrek, where everyone's dancing - most notably the first song House On a Hill. It's that kind of celebration music - fun and bouncy but only the kind of thing you can see yourself fully enjoying two or three times before feeling a little too guilty - or silly - to put it on.
There's a lot of hype being generated for this band, most notably from their own agencies - it's clear they believe Mamas Gun have a lot of potential. It's true, they do, but it's only because the same formula has worked before.
Want a more polished version of this CD? Buy something like Jamiroquai's Synkronized. You only have to hear You Are the Music , Let's Find a Way or Psycho Territory to get Vietnam-style flashbacks of Black Capricorn Day, Soul Education and Falling, which were much more accomplished and were around ten years ago.
You won't be disappointed by Mamas Gun, though you'll be a little foolish to think they're original. Stevie Wonder, Jamiroquai and a little bit of John Legend is evident, and all three are better at doing their own thing than Andy Platts and co.
A more original direction for the next release - something more edgy, more cutting - could push this band to a much more deserved future of success. They have the talent, they just have to use it more uniquely.
6/10
Matt Gardner