Chicago man doesn’t look backing anger. Just disappointment.
Noise From Words is Michael McDermott’s eighth album, and lovely
it is too. Imaging Bruce Springsteen without all the epic songs. This has many
flashes of the Boss’ modest but majestic Nebraska. His vocal style is quite
similar too.
Chicago-based McDermott’s songwriting is epic in a kind of understated way,
with many of these songs potentially gracing radio station playlists, because
they have just enough commercial edge. There’s not a moment wasted in delivering his
deeply autobiographical and often confessional work such as Country-tinged
Mess Of Things and I Shall Be Healed are book-ending clues of
what’s going on here.
Still Ain’t Over You Yet is a remorseful tale of love lost and longing.
Addiction and recovery are parts of the process, so power to his elbow in exorcising
whatever demons he’s confronted head-on. In short, this is a musical catharsis,
though we don’t get sucked into his problems as it never borders on the
melancholic. We get the feeling of hope being a saviour, which seems to have worked
for him.
Baring your soul can be tricky. McDermott does it without getting bogged down
which makes this such a success, and maybe, just maybe, a little lesson in life
for us all.
There are some achingly beautiful moments on offer like the twin acoustic lead attacks
of All My Love, Just A Little Blue and Broken where you can feel
the pain. The heartache is palpable. In sharp contrast, upbeat The American In Me
shows his patriotic side which has all the qualities of an excellent radio-friendly
single.
1. Mess Of Things
2. Still Ain’t Over You Yet
3. Tread Lightly
4. The American In Me
5. A Kind Of Love Song
6. No Words
7. All My Love
8. Just A Little Blue
9. Broken
10. A Long Way From Heaven
11. My Father’s Son
12. I Shall Be Healed
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2008.
