ALBUM OF THE WEEK - 28/12/2000

King Curly (ABC Music/EMI)

Popular music doesn't have to be about teenage sexual fantasies or adolescent chest-beating. On their first album Sydney's King Curly deliver an adult 'pop' music, which moves through several moods and shades over the course of its 11 song journey. Musically King Curly try to give each song its own sense of purpose, from the quasi-dramatic 'Me And My Back-Shed' to the cabaret-schmalzy 'Family Man'. Lyrically the songs sit between the melancholy and sardonic. Depending on your mood you can find the words slightly shallow or tongue-in-cheek amusing. The single 'I Wish I Was A Girl' is the prime example. Obviously love isn't going smoothly for the narrator. If he was a girl he'd go out with a guy like him, and of course if he was a girl he'd be a girl like his girl. King Curly's album is produced by Karma County's Brendan Gallagher who performed a similar tight rope act with Jimmy Little's 'Messenger' album. Listening to that album you're enchanted by Jimmy's take on those Australian rock classics. Sometimes you wonder whether Jimmy's completely missing the point of those songs. That's not a criticism. That's the atmosphere of that album, and this one. There's a quandary, a confusion, an unknown element present, which you need to tackle as a listener, and depending on your mood on different days depends on how you hear the album. Sometimes you'll find it clever, other times you'll wonder whether you're being fooled

Track Listing

Ed.Nimmervoll