Much More Than Much Love

After his last album was quickly consigned to bargain bins everywhere, it’s disappointing but perhaps not all that surprising that the eccentric Mr. Quaye’s new offering mainly seems to be aimed at the mainstream rather than make any attempt to regain the maverick spirit of early gems such as ‘Sunday Shining’ and ‘Even After All’.
Opener ‘Something to Say’ tells about his mindset at the moment (“With regrets come consolations/Oh yeah, living from this moment on”), and from there on in it’s mainly sunshine, flowers and lollipops all the way, as the not so much bad as just plain old bland laid-back love songs roll on by.
To these ears, the man who used to think he was Tricky’s uncle is still at his best when he matches his distinctive voice with some cool reggae-dub rhythms, as he does occasionally here on tracks such as ‘Face To Face’ and ‘Pearls Of Wisdom’, while the lyrically interesting ‘Overriding Volunteer’ and album closer ‘Overcome’ will also manage to stab you out of slumber. The William Orbit/Beth Orton aided single ‘Dice’ shows he still knows how to conjure up a decent and catchy pseudo-spiritual song, but too much of ‘Much More than Much Love’ ventures into ultra-glossy Lighthouse Family territory. And the country-tinged ‘Lovers Return’ is way too close to Daniel O Donnell for anybody’s liking.