Experience - Ronnie Richards

Advantages: mature, inventive, beautiful and emotional
Disadvantages: really can't think of any!

...Richard Butler is best known as the charismatic rasping voiced singer in the Psychedelic Furs. After 25 years fronting the band this is his first solo album, and those expecting simply inferior Furs tracks are in for a wonderful surprise. All the songs are co-written with Jon Carin (often a member of Pink Floyd over the past 20 years or so) and all, without exception, are beautifully constructed, grown up, mature songs. Smooth keyboards and rythmn tracks slightly disguise extremely clever songwriting and some devastatingly heartbreaking lyrics. Both men lost their fathers during the prolonged making of this album and a sense of personal loss and longing permeates the album. But there is also hope and light at the end of the tunnel and despite the occasional depressing lyric this is not a doomy album in any way. Every song leaves... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Highly inventive. Amazing.
Disadvantages: None.

...Since 1995, Richard Devine has been tearing down and then reshuffling sound. He is a master of the experimental genre, alongside Joseph Fraioli, a.k.a Datach'i. Since his fist Ep (Lip Switch, Warp Records / Schematic), Richard has always incorporated an aggressiveness to his compositions, not as destructive as his fellow musician and friend Aaron Funk (Venetian Snares), but with more of an operatic power behind the corrosive facade. Devine's compositions are unique: he considers sound as a living architectural entity, and tends to shape music that defies the amount of detail most artists put into their arrangements. Cautella was released in 2005 under Sublight Records. It contains 14 tracks, which amount to 55 minutes approx. The inlay and cover art are breathtaking, sculpted by digital artists Keepadding. Helix Stair Helve... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Superbly played, written and sung - and what a variety of moods
Disadvantages: None

...When Richard and Linda Thompson's marriage and professional partnership hit the rocks in 1982, both went solo - Richard had done so once before, after leaving Fairport Convention at the start of the 70s. In my view, the result was the best of his long career to date. He had a first-rate band behind him, consisting of three of his former Fairport colleagues, with folk stalwart John Kirkpatrick on accordion and concertina, and sax players Pete Thomas and Pete Zorn. Add Richard and his often underrated but incredibly potent lead guitar, and you've got an amazing rock'n'roll meets Cajun outfit. The songs were equally incredible, some of them naturally reflecting the traumas of his personal life at the time. "Tear Stained Letter" ('My heart was beating like a song by the Clash, it was writing cheques that my body couldn't cash... Read review

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