Cat Elliott

Grange Road Album - Praise & Reviews

Michael Pipe - Music promoter and live venue owner and music reviewer  :   since 2002 

www.entshed.co.uk 

So the first full CD release for Cat Elliott has landed with a thud; all 15 tracks of it! That in itself is quite a rare thing these days, (when many cds have around 8-10) and to add to that this CD was first released as a very limited edition, signed and numbered to just 50! I am very honoured to have in my hand number 02 of 50, so let’s pop this into the CD player and see what we have here. 

While its loading up, its a real joy to see the booklet has all the song lyrics and not only that but in a nice size print so you can follow the tracks with ease, and following them is highly recommended as Cat’s lyric skills are in no short supply here. The CD opens up with a cracking upbeat and fun track called “Big bad scallywag“, then the journey continues with track after track opening your ears up to quality work, with titles and subjects close to many peoples thoughts right now. “Fake News“ is a great example here of that. What also strikes me here about this CD is the pure quality of the mixing going on across the instruments and the vocal, and the clever lyrics and the subject matters of the tracks. 

I was no way putting this down or taking a break, as I sat here hearing tracks I did not know but was taken in by for sure. The funky "Madam Anna“ got my feet tapping and is one of many real gems here, then at the other end of the scale you have “Young Love“ - a track with what feels like a deep meaning and one lots of us can relate to, which is stripped back to just strings, piano and vocals. From there you move onto “Romance Junkie“ fun yet serious undertones which showcases a lots of lyrics sung at speed yet very catchy, yet agin you move onto a different stye with "Morse Code SOS”. I love the drum beats in this track! By the time you reach track 10  “Grange Road“ the title track to the album, you have been taken on a real journey of  Cats various styles, then comes what feels a bit more like what you would expect from a  solo singer songwriter… but nope, it also has the added theme that runs deeply through this CD; catchy. We then move onto “ Demons” which, as per title, is a deep mellow haunting track. So we are now on the home run of this album with “Extraordinary  People“; a track that makes me think of Kate Bush in its delivery and style. No bad thing some might say, including me!

“Forbidden Fruit” comes next, with its’ long musical intro of strings and acoustic guitar. Then the lyrics bounce in. A simple track in some ways, but I love the musical backdrop to this one in particular.

Now we reach the last two, and feeling sad that I know this musical journey is coming to a close, but also feeling grateful that we got 15 tracks to enjoy! “Jilted Bride” comes in at 14, and with a title like that I guess it opens your mind up into whats behind writing a song like this? This song takes a different direction to pretty much everything else here - a slightly Caribbean or salsa beat feel, a story to follow, the pain…. 

And finally, here we are at the last track, “Starving Heart“ which is a deep song with vocals taking the main lead here to end the journey. 

The Verdict..

I am left wondering a few things on reflection here with this album… 

How? How can something so special have been created in such a short period of time? How do you follow this up? Well thats a problem for another day I guess! How do you take this complete sound out of a studio and into a solo show? But finally I am left with the feeling that this is something rather special, and something I would truly recommend to anyone who will take the time to truly listen to it, maybe even with the track notes in front of them. This for me is not a CD to just pop on in the background, as you will not get the the real quality here without the extra attention this  album deserves. 

Score! 9/10 or 4.8 / 5 Stars :)