#259
Julu 1 1983
Matthew Wilder
I Don’t Speak the Language
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
The Kid’s American
I Was There
I’ve always thought Matthew Wilder was British. Possibly it’s the blue-eyed soul that was so popular out of there (UB40, Culture Club) that I just assumed he was part of that pack. He’s not, he’s a NewYorker, transplanted to LA who was, eventually, nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Mulan.
I would venture that he hews closer to Elton John on a lot of these tracks, especially on “I Was There”, which John should’ve covered and made into a hit.. He won’t be pegged. Which is also his flaw. He’s so adept at a minor variety of styles that are equally inoffensive, toothless but also well crafted that he doesn’t sound like anything, really. There’s faux-ska, blue eyed soul, pop, disco…it’s a hodgepodge.
At first I was like, “It’s the ‘Break My Stride’ guy! What a tool!” Then the album kept never bugging me and I realized he had made a good one. Not a great one. But it’s very good.
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