Too Many Movies

I would hesitate to describe this album as lightweight but it does have a lightness of touch and feel that places Shelley's often humourous songs a long way from the verbal invective of, say, Elvis Costello's more barbed material. The cartoon cover, in fact, is a fair indication of the good times to be had within.

Recorded in studio locations as diverse as Busby, Scotland and Brooklyn, NY, Too Many Movies utilises a selection of players and producers without losing any cohesion. Teenage Fanclub and Radio Sweethearts drummer Francis MacDonald has played a key role here, not only co-producing and playing on some of the tracks but providing the vehicle for its release via his own independent label for its UK release.

There is a West Coast feel to some of the material that defies the location of the recordings. Add to that, a nod to the country rock movement of the late Sixties in 'Lisa Marie' and 'She's Not You' - both of which feature the pedal steel guitar of Malcolm McMaster - and you have an album that is never in danger of boring. There's even a smile-inducing lounge instrumental in 'Sluggo', though the surfer pastiche 'Surfer Joan' - ironically enough, recorded in California - lacks the necessary harder edge and bigger wave.

But it's the closing track that best sums up the album. 'That's Where The Plaque Is' is a sweet, addictive song boasting a chorus that is both memorable and instructive. How many albums have you got that feature songs about dental hygiene?

Too Many Movies never takes itself too seriously but for all that it's mainly a well crafted and enjoyable album that is hard to place in today's prepackaged and predetermined world of pop. It is neither manufactured nor manicured - and all the better for it.