Danny and the Champions of the World - Hearts & Arrows (Album)
Danny George Wilson’s ninth record is almost unbearable.
Lyrically, this is Cliche City. The album opens with people “talking in the street” about “a wanted man”, the second tune stars Billy and Jeanie, Danny’s “gonna leave this town tonight” on song three, someone’s a “pawn in a dirty game” in song four.
Want some more?
Halfway through the album Billy makes a second appearance, a drummer plays every beat of Danny’s heart in track seven, “the boys are back looking for a fight” on track eight, Danny needs “shelter from the rain” on track nine and he’s “gonna set fire to the city” by track ten.
And there are fourteen tracks on this thing - three of them are bonus tracks - and mostly four to five minutes each.
Musically, this is middle of the road, long-winded, alt-country Springsteen derivation. It’s like Jon Bon Jovi without sex appeal or John Cougar Mellancamp without the starved optimism.
And it keeps going and going.
For a man covered in tatts and proudly strapping a valve amplified Strat, Wilson comes across as just a little emasculated. His vocal range is limited and his voice is nasal and small.
The songs are based around the folky voice-and-guitar tradition from which Wilson’s sound grew. Unfortunately for the five members of his backing band, this leaves them with very little space for ‘play’.
Guitarists, backing singers, keyboards, even a sax player. This could have been epic.
Perhaps Wilson put it best when he said “I’m so fucking bored of ‘new folk’, and the trendiness that surrounds it, everyone pretending that it’s 1971 again. Forget 1971,” wait for it... “This is 1976: Just great rock’n’roll.”
Pretty sure Born to Run was released in 1975...
