Martin Briley
One Night With a Stranger
3.75 out of 5
One Night With a Stranger
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
The Salt in My Tears
She’s So Flexible
Dumb Love
One Night With a Stranger
The Salt in My Tears
She’s So Flexible
Dumb Love
One Night With a Stranger
I have a very soft spot for Mr. Briley. His first album, Fear of the Unknown, was highlighted in Trouser Press one month and I found it at a record store. It is one of the 20 albums that are always on a burned disc, playlist, cassette, list, etc.
Briley is a bit of a songsmith. And he hits a home run with the lead single from this album, “The Salt in My Tears” as in “You ain’t worth the…”. He gets a couple stars for that song alone. “She’s So Flexible” is so latter day 70s English rock, it could’ve been performed by Boomtown Rats or Ian Dury or any of those knucklehead bands that littered the underground flexi-disk landscape. “Dumb Love” reminds me of Robert Palmer’s “Looking for Clues” in that the song is good enough on it’s own that it’s not weighed down by being synth-heavy, instead, it’s actually enhanced by them.
There’s nothing awful here. The trouble is, every song sounds reminiscent of something Briley has recorded before. But he’s such a good songwriter (and I understand why he has been in such high demand at times for that skill) that he overcomes his own repetitiveness.
Briley aspires to be Nick Lowe. When he hits he gets close but he can never quite get there.
Briley is a bit of a songsmith. And he hits a home run with the lead single from this album, “The Salt in My Tears” as in “You ain’t worth the…”. He gets a couple stars for that song alone. “She’s So Flexible” is so latter day 70s English rock, it could’ve been performed by Boomtown Rats or Ian Dury or any of those knucklehead bands that littered the underground flexi-disk landscape. “Dumb Love” reminds me of Robert Palmer’s “Looking for Clues” in that the song is good enough on it’s own that it’s not weighed down by being synth-heavy, instead, it’s actually enhanced by them.
There’s nothing awful here. The trouble is, every song sounds reminiscent of something Briley has recorded before. But he’s such a good songwriter (and I understand why he has been in such high demand at times for that skill) that he overcomes his own repetitiveness.
Briley aspires to be Nick Lowe. When he hits he gets close but he can never quite get there.
The album is only available on the box set. So, you gotta sift. It starts after the song "Fear of the Unknown".
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