mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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people move on
People Move On Ex-Suede guitarist Bernard Butler’s first solo album. With layers of keyboards and guitars he delivers a pop-album, maybe not timeless, but certainly not dated or difficult. Kinda like Oasis without the loud guitars. People Move On holds a good mixture of pop songs and ballads, with the ballads slightly weighing over and always delivered in a nice package. It’s hard to point out any particular influences except for the traditional and usual ones, even though the opening “Woman I Know” sounds very much like Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac’s “Albatross”. However, that is probably more due to the mix with echoes on the drums and slow bending guitars in an arrangement and a mix with a lot of air and space rather than a melodic or harmonic similarity. Other than that, Butler manages to combine his influences into something very neutral and pretty unoffensive (in a good way). The only thing that could turn off the general radio listener is the strange guitars and sound chaos towards the end in “Autograph”. The lyrics often deals with Butler’s life as a pop star, ‘do you know just how many hands I had to shake’, ‘do you think I remember every place I’ve played’ but also personal and warm feelings. The melodies are generally so strong that he could have sung about apple pie recipes for all I care. The main complaint against this album seems to be the vocals, but I don’t find them irritating or weak in any way. Perhaps there are moments where you wish he would be able to back up his singing with a little more strength, but that isn’t a big problem. Besides, this is pop, not rock and I think the vocals are fine throughout the album. People Move On, and songs such as “Not Alone” and “You Just Know” in particular makes it clear why Suede used to be great but isn’t any more. Butler manages just fine on his own, and Bret Anderson and the other members of Suede clearly needs him more than he needs them.
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