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ALONE WITH EVERYBODY
Richard Ashcroft
(Virgin)
On the CD cover, he could pass for Mick Jagger circa Performance. Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell plays on several tracks. Even his old band's biggest hit, Bitter Sweet Symphony, was built on an orchestral recording of a Stones track. Clearly, Richard Ashcroft has a bit of a Rolling Stones fixation. Oddly, though, the former Verve vocalist's solo debut Alone With Everybody is anything but a Stones clone. Instead or playing rock star, on this slate of mellow, richly produced numbers, the magnetic, shamanic singer recalls a roster of earnest troubadours: Van Morrison (on the pastoral pop of I Get My Beat), Bob Dylan (on the folky ballad Brave New World) and -- believe it or not -- Neil Diamond (on the dark jangle of C'mon People). Mostly, though, on these tracks Ashcroft still has a thing for strings and symphonics. You know how bands often have a big, lush guitar ballad as the last song on their album? This is pretty much a whole album of those songs. Which makes it seem pretty ambitious at times -- and pretty endless at others.
Track Listing
01.A Song For Lovers
02.I Get My Beat
03.Brave New World
04.New York
05.You On My Mind In My Sleep
06.Crazy World
07.On A Beach
08.Money To Burn
09.Slow Was My Heart
10.C'mon People (We're Making It Now)
11.Eveybody