Good taste may never go out style, but John Butler's
undoubted talent could be considered a little dated.
Liverpool Daily Post & Echo - January 26, 1998
By Tony Kenwright
John Butler's debut album was released last year but, with
a series of gigs scheduled
for February, it is being re-promoted by his record company, Chrysalis. Butler plays
The Lomax in Liverpool's Cumberland Street on February 20th, supporting the criminally
under-rated Nick Heyward, and I'm not joking here. Forget the 80's kiddiepop, Heyward
is now a considerable singer/songwriter of considerable prowess. In fact his last show
at The Lomax was one of my Gigs Of The Year". It's a mark of his resrrected credibility
that his new album, The Apple Bed, will be released next month on Creation Records,
home to Oasis and Primal Scream. But back to Butler, who was once part of the
perennial underachievers Diesel Park West. He may have gone solo, but his obvious
affection for the classic West Coast sound of the seventies, typified by bands like
Moby Grape, remains undimmed. His album, The Loyal Serpent, is classic or
dated depending on your point of view but ther'e's little doubting his sincerity and
affection for his chosen musical genre. Butler's has a fine rock voice, even if his phrasing
does at times mimic Dylan a little too closely. If you ignore it's lack of invention
there's plenty to enjoy about the album. Maybe Tomorrow would have been a wonderful
vehicle for Roy Orbison, while Yes I Do, the albums standout track, would have
sounded great 20 years ago and will still sound great in 20 years time.
Q Magazine review by Nick Duerden - Nov
|
John Butler The Loyal Serpent CDCHR 6128 |
 |
.As the singer for Diesel Park West, - for many, Leicester's answer to Moby Grape - John
Butler delivered five highly invigorating albums in seven years. Although each was successfull 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 piqued, 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 paricular, suggests that a little adversity is all
Butler needs to shine.
* * * * (four star rating)
Diesel Park West
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