Well this is quite bold – a mix of folk, rock, jazz etc, it’s very in your face so it has to be good. He’s a young guy, it’s all original material, it’s quite a big risk, and it sometimes works.
First track ‘Just Friends’ is a jaunty rollock through an ambiguous male/female relationship, with some Proclaimers-esque throwaway lines and a good ol’ country beat to it.
Both this and the next track ‘Stranded in the Sky’ start with a spoken word bit over the intro, quite funny really, then into the song. His voice is very strong in the mix and while you can get away with being a wee bit out of tune if you’re Paulo Nutini, I think the “live feel” of this might have benefited from a few more takes. Good chord progressions though, and there is some accomplished playing, if at times a bit obvious.
Listening to the full band instrumentation, this would go down well live, and he only gets acoustic and sensitive on our asses once or twice. The title track ‘Drain Pipe Dream’ doesn’t really stand up to close listening and ‘Just a Boy’ tries for poignancy via heavy Dylan phrasing, but doesn’t quite achieve it. Songs about friends (‘Jackie Brotlin’) – “you wear that stupid hat, I can’t stand that” are less than subtle. A female vocalist lends her talents to the several songs with varied results.
And so it goes on, eleven songs in total, including a nine minute closer ‘I Don’t Fancy You Anymore’; (his adventures with the opposite sex are mixed to say the least) – Dylan gets away with a folk song that song, and certainly not on his debut.
The album is over long and flawed although I can’t help admiring this guy’s sheer guts baring his soul (apparently at least) – you really do feel that you know quite a lot about him after listening to this, for better or worse. Will be interesting to see what he does next.
