Album Review : The Works - The Wildhearts**** This is a Warner Music 3cd compilation featuring the first half of The Wildhearts career, it includes about half of the albums "Earth Vs. The Wildhearts" and "P.H.U.Q", and some more stuff from the previous compiliation/b-side albums "Fishing For Luckies" and "Don't Be Happy....Just Worry." So why would you buy it ? Well, for a triple cd it's a pretty fair price, Amazon was selling for £13, you get 45 tracks to listen so if you think you might like The Wildhearts because you've heard the odd song or two, this would be a fair introduction to the band. I've got it because I very rarely buy singles, roughly a third of the 45 tracks are songs that have rarely been released elsewhere so for a Wildhearts completist it's a good buy. If you already own some of the more obscure Wildhearts back catalogue releases, you might well want to compare tracklistings before shelling out on this one. It is a real shame though that the sleeve insert contains no information whatsoever on the band, as Dante Bonutto is credited on the sleeve surely a writer with his depth of knowledge of the British metal scene could have put together a short bio of the band ? Or maybe it's just to save money. Oddly, nearly all the writing credits as listed on the sleeve liner are made out to Walls ? Who is he then ? I thought ginger was the main writer, assisted by CJ and the others. Perhaps this is due to legal problems, do The Wildhearts no longer own their own songs ? It wouldn't really surprise me.

Album Review : Market Harbour - Ginger**** For Fans Of - The Wildhearts, John Lennon, So what do you do when the doctor tells you that you've got to clean up your act or die ? In Ginger's case it appears that new found sobriety has turned the Wildhearts frontman into the most productive bloke in rock. He now has his own record label, the past year has seen new albums from Ginger and The Wildhearts, tours, a dvd recording, numerous contributions to various side projects and other Wildhearts associated projects (God Damn Whores etc) and this year we are being promised two Wildhearts albums as well as this solo project. Just imagine if Ginger and the boys hadn't smoked / drunk / sniffed / injected their earlier career into oblivion ? What a legacy this man would be leaving. Enough dwelling on the past though because this is the best, most accomplished solo album that Ginger has released so far. I suppose Ginger has always been a prolific writer, the amount of "b-sides" and various studio tracks which were uncovered to provide material for contract fulfilling album releases testifies to that, and on Market Harbour ginger gives us 21 tracks, they're not all full length songs mind, so I'd not quite call this a double album. Ginger's solo style has mellowed a little since last year's Yoni, Market Harbour doesn't contain much in the way of mosh inducing, foot stomping anthems a la The Wildhearts (although Josser Bank and Attentionette are good and lively), but is does hold a lot of very good music. MH shows Ginger in a more thoughtful, more introspective, more adult mode than he has shown in the past. Songs like Casino Bay, House Of Moths and How Hard Can You Make It are Ginger at his most reflective, his lyrics dwelling on lost loves and possibilities. There is some fabulous songwriting here, almost Lennon-esque in places. Ginger has a muscial sense of humour and displays his broad muscial tastes when blending In My Room (The Beach Boys) to the end of I Knew You (An Amnesis) whch follows from the riotous Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy mash up on Yoni, which is then followed by the quirky and charming You And Me (That's What I Want) with its child sung chorus. Couple Trouble is to and bit minutes of Ginger singing, or is that John Lennon again, with a doo wop chorus, A Malibu Chronicle is just a wonderful AOR rock song, fantastic. I think that Market Harbour stands well above all of Ginger's previous solo releases, this third album (or 4th if you count the singles collection A Break In The Weather) is a fine album, it is beatifully written, played and sung. I will admit that it took me quite a few listens to really appreciate Market Harbour, but it is an album well worth persevering with, it is an album with rewarding depth, maturity and richness.

Album Review : Yoni - Ginger**** First off, what's a Yoni then ? Wiki entry here. Right, well that's rock stars for you, I suppose calling it fanny would only have confused the Americans. Ginger, when on form, is one of the greatest rock song writers we Brits have been blessed with, he seems to effortlessly create catchy rhythms and riffs, sing-a-long melodies, anthems and choruses, he's really good. You know there's a but coming, but, I think he writes better music when he has someone else to write with, and let's be frank, the someone else's have to be The Wildhearts. That's not to say that Ginger can't write decent solo material, and I like almost of all his solo output, but on the numerous albums put out by various Ginger side projects (Silver Ginger 5, Clam Abuse, Supershit666 etc) there are hardly any songs that really compare with the best material he has created for The Wildhearts. Ginger also seems to suffer a bit from lengthy writing, it's as if he doesn't quite know when to stop, there are a couple of tracks on this 12 track album that would be better with a bit of editing, Smile In Denial and the overly long Jake spring to mind. A few of the other 5 minute plus songs would have been punchier with a little trimmed off. That said, and as I said earlier, Ginger writes a good song. Yoni is a more mature album in the most part than Valor Del Corazon was, it fairly drips with well constructed melodies and smooth, AOR tunes. Highlights for me would be When She Comes, Wendy You're Killing Me, Why Can't You Just Be Normal All The Time and the spot the tune happy time mix up of Can't Drink You Pretty. It is a good album, lacking the thrust of The Wildhearts, but still good music. It's probably too far along in Ginger's career for this to have any large scale impact, but there are some tunes on here that deserve to reach a wider audience.