Paul McClure - 'Songs For Anyone'

English singer-songwriter Paul McClure is poised to release his new album on January 27th. Entitled Songs For Anyone, the album's 12 tracks have all been written by Paul himself. This is Paul's fourth studio album and shows he is clearly comfortable with his sound however, in my opinion, the album as a whole is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of the strength of each individual track and is missing the spark needed to draw the album together and make it something really special.

My Little Ray Of Sunshine is probably the strongest track on the album. The instrumentalisation is incredibly catchy and will certainly leave you tapping your feet along. My only negative would be that a lot of the lyrics feel like they are repeated frequently and the melody doesn't really change at any time, meaning the track can start to feel a little boring after a while.

I have to say, sadly, I didn't really like the album as a whole. Whilst Paul is undoubtedly a talented vocalist and musician (having seen him live as well I can confirm that!), his talent doesn't really translate very well in this album. He does experiment with various different paces but the overall sound is still the same and, unfortunately, it is a sound that becomes boring after a while, leading to the listener's attention not being fully focussed on each song.

I Could Be A Happy Man, for instance, starts off really nicely and is a track you can imagine will go down very well with a live audience. The unfortunate point comes in the fact that the 4 minute 54 seconds long track is just simply too long. The song's production is led by a solid drum beat and you are left with a distinct feeling that, after a while, the track would benefit from a change of pace or instrumentalisation.

Track listing....

1) Gentleman's Agreement

2) Unremarkable Me

3) I Could Be A Happy Man

4) Don't Take Me Under

5) Everyday Is Mine To Spend

6) Holding A Ten Ton Load

7) So Long

8) My Big Head Hat Of Dreams

9) Yesterday's Lies

10) My Little Ray Of Sunshine

11) A Song For Anyone

12) Lady Flossington

As I have said, Paul is a talented singer, song-writer and musician and I was disappointed that I didn't really like this album. There are a lot of individual aspects that stand strong but, when everything comes together, the album doesn't really shine. It may, however, be welcomed by fans of more folk orientated music, it feels as though that is where Paul belongs more comfortably.