Around the time
Catherine Wheel
turned ten, the band dropped a bassist, added a "the" to their name, and released a turkey. When they broke up, shortly thereafter,
Rob Dickinson
's first solo album was only a matter of time (five years). Once the disappointment in the lack of adventure on
Fresh Wine for the Horses
washes away, it becomes apparent that
Dickinson
spent at least part of his time away becoming a sharper songwriter.
songs, at their very worst, could be overwrought and insufferable, but
keeps it all in check, avoiding doe-eyed self-absorption and addressing a "you" with more frequency than ever. (Rest assured, he did not learn the latter move from
Coldplay
.) Structurally, this is a fairly conservative set of songs -- at least when compared to the likes of
"Fripp,"
"Car,"
"Girl Stand Still,"
and
Adam and Eve
's more exploratory passages -- that covers a lot of the territory heard in
's past work, plus strings galore. After
"My Name Is Love,"
a soaring introduction that smartly stops just short of saying "here is the anthem!," the album settles into calm contemplation, only to give way to a second half that throws in a couple rockers that strut and snarl with as much ease as
"Broken Head"
"Broken Nose."
One of these songs, along with the closing
"Towering and Flowering,"
is a resuscitated turkey-era
CW
leftover that is, perversely enough, spectacular. Throughout,
's in better voice than ever while adding plenty of sweet background harmonies. Given the way his old band departed and the amount of time it took to materialize,
is better than most could have expected. Fans who favored
's more left-of-center moments will be unhappy that
is more into refinements than innovation here, but an album full of mostly great songs is an album of mostly great songs. ~ Andy Kellman