#143
1985
Feargal Sharkey
Feargal Sharkey
Genre: SynthPop
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
A Good Heart
You Little Thief
Ashes and Diamonds
Let’s get this out of the way: Sharkey’s voice has more vibrato in it than Beth Hart and she was warned off trying to have a mainstream career because of it. Didn’t stop her. And that didn’t stop Feargal. (Although his is the kind of quiver that does make me a little seasick)
Right from the top I immidiately think of the disaster that was Captain Sensible’s solo record and what a misstep that was. And yet, this one…isn’t.
The first track is written by…yep…Maria McKee!
And from there he makes the correct move by singing a Benmont Tench tune before he gets to his own stuff. Smart, Fearful, smart. Also, it’s kind of weirdly neat since McKee was dating Tench and wrote that song about him.
But then Sharkey lets loose what is an obvious next step for The Undertones singer. It’s steeped in Motown but with Dave Stewart at the helm it has crunch. Sometimes it sounds like Sharkey fronting Eurythmics. Other time it sounds like a bizarre, cartoon version of Peter Gabriel. Both of them work for me.
This is a solid effort and completely unexpected.
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