Building a Beginning
Jamie Lidell
Jajulin Records
Three stars
With Jamie Lidell’s sixth album, Building a Beginning, you will immediately recognise the influence of Stevie Wonder on the British artist.
That's nowhere more true than on Julian, an ode to his baby son that echoes Wonder's own celebration of his daughter's birth in Isn't She Lovely, right down to the inclusion of baby sounds at the end. Some of the best tracks include the funky Nothing's Gonna Change and the slinky Walk Right Back. He gets more self-indulgent on I Stay Inside and Motionless.
Lidell, who plays everything from guitar to clarinet and flute, wrote the album with his wife Lindsey Rome, co-credited on 12 of the 14 tunes. Appropriately, it’s an album about the power of love.
Lyrically, Building a Beginning suffers from a first-person honesty and anguish that should fuel the best soul. Many of the sentiments are vapid, however, like the title alone of I Live to Make You Smile.
Maybe, next time, a little less Wonder and bit more wounds?
* Mark Kennedy / AP
