Reviews

When Steve Parsons got in touch and asked us to take a look at his new album, I was instantly struck by the lineup he had gathered together. Independent artists often work on a shoe string budget and have to make do with friends and favours to get their album recorded. Steve on the other hand has called in some professional friends for his latest album, 'Beautiful Broken World'.

Dan Wheeler, a talented musician in his own right, co-produced the album with Steve, and plays guitars. Grammy award winning engineer/producer Julian Kindred, who has worked with artist like Delirious? and Rebbecca St James, mixed the album. Then there are backing vocals from well known British singer Cathy Burton, Hammond organ from renowned musician and producer Mark Edwards, and bass from the experienced Mark Prentice. With a lineup like that, I was definitely interested to find out what this album sounded like.

'Sink To The Bottom' opens the album in excellent style, and straight away Steve's deep voice hits you. It's got that almost Elvis tone to it, or perhaps the Crash Test Dummies (remember them? Mmm Mmm Mmm and all that). The lyrics are well sung, with the memorable chorus: "When you sink to the bottom and the world is not your friend, everybody needs the love of someone reaching out to them".

'Gonna Be There' is a mid-tempo song, with hints of an electric guitar and a great rhythm. Cathy Burton provides some gentle backing vocals, which almost go unnoticed in their subtlety, but when you do catch them you realise how they quietly emphasise the words Steve is singing.

Apparently 'What Shall I Do?' is an old Charles Wesley hymn. I say apparently because I neither know the hymn nor was left with the impression of a hymn as I listened to this track. Lyrically it feels contemporary, musically it feels steady but modern, and vocally it suits Steve's style perfectly.

'One Life' begins with a lovely piece of Hammond organ, played by the uber talented and much in demand Mark Edwards. It reminds me a bit of the beginning of that well known worship song 'We Want To See Jesus Lifted High'. As the song gets going we see Steve at his most animated, varying his tone and volume and really showing his talent. Once again Cathy's backing vocals add an extra layer of enjoyment.

'Prodigal' features world class piano notes in this emotional sounding balladesque song; "And it's never too late, never too late to come home. I'm missing you prodigal". 'Carousel' is about someone searching for something but not really knowing what. "Somewhere, somehow, somebody's watching us" Steve croons in the chorus.

'Dirt' is a 'hairs on your arm rising' kind of song, written about a girl who was bullied at school. "And she always dreams on a sunny day that a prince will steal her away". The lyrics are movingly brilliant, as is the simple piano led music, with some well used strings introduced here and there. Then there's 'New Life Waiting' which has got a bit of a swagger about it, great guitars again and slightly more upbeat than some of the other tracks.

Another old hymn reworked for this album is 'Trust And Obey', performed with a simple piano backing and a beautiful cello appearing quietly in the background. But it's the second half of the song where the true genius of this track really becomes apparent with the introduction of a few additional instruments. There's a carefully used bass, almost military snare and subtle guitar.

Title track 'Beautiful Broken World' closes the album. It reminds me of an early Michael W Smith performance: buckets of well worked lyrics, passion in the voice and enjoyable but not outlandish instruments. It's a song that tells a story. It covers everything from the manger to the cross, culminating in the words "And His blood flows down healing the nations. And His blood flows from the heart of God, down a wooden cross to this heart of mine and it's raising me to life."

These songs have been recorded with incredible skill and craftsmanship. Steve is not only a brilliant singer, he's an extremely talented lyricist. It's hard to fit this album into a well defined genre. I suppose in America it would come under the suitably vague 'Adult Contemporary' category. It's not praise and worship, but it's full of God-references. It's not rock n' roll, but it's full of stand-out guitars and rhythms. It's probably not something that kids are going to listen to, but I know a lot of adults who would enjoy this immensely. It's grown up music, something you can put on whilst entertaining friends and feel smug that you've got a great CD playing that they probably haven't heard of before.

Review by Dave Wood

LTTM Rating 4.5 out of 5 Stars
Standout Tracks
Beautiful Broken World
Prodigal
Dirt