Verden Allen CD: "20 Year Holiday"

Sleeve and track listing

Angel Air SJPCD110.

Review

This, the third solo album by Verden Allen, is something of a mixed bag. Recorded in his own studio, he plays all the instruments himself, thus making it truly a solo effort. For once it actually works, with the drums, bass and guitar actually sounding workman like. The result is a more consistent and better sounding album than its predecessor.

Standout tracks for me are Do You Want Me 2, 20 Year Holiday and All The Feeling Has Gone. But for every good track there is one that is just average, such as Wheels (too many cute sound effects for my liking) and Flat Out (too one-dimensional for my taste).

The keyboards are up front in the mix, as is to be expected, but at times Verden's vocals are buried in the mix, making it difficult to make out the lyrics. Another criticism would be that there isn't enough variation across the album, with few strong hooklines to allow tracks to stay in the memory for long.

Not as good as his first, but certainly better than his second, if you like Verden and keyboard-dominated music this may be for you.