Alone With Everybody - Richard Ashcroft > Reviews > Has Richard Ashcroft grown up...

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Average
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Unmemorable
Value for Money

Advantages:	back to basic
Disadvantages:	sometimes boring

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

It certainly looks like it when you listen to his solo debut 'Alone With Everybody'. The question is: is this a positive or a negative evolution?

To be honest, I can only compare with 'Urban Hymns', The Verve's brilliant and last album (The Verve were/are pretty underground here, and except for 'Urban', it's hard to find their stuff). Starting with the brilliant 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' (the violins!!!), you think everything will be ok forever, but it never gets dull, thanks to the rock'n'roll vibe the record certainly has.

And that is the only problem with the solo material: it has lost the rock... Richard has certainly learned how to make his songs more basic, and you can clearly hear the disappearance of drugs out of his life. He HAS grown up, is now a father, and is - well - quiet, and peaceful. You can hear this in beautiful, passionate songs like 'You on my mind in my sleep', but his happiness sometimes leads to total dullness, as you can discover by listening to 'Brave new world' and others.

So what have we learned? Richard cannot really find the balance; something between rock'n'roll psychedelica and peaceful beautiful songs.