JOHNNY FOREIGNER - GRACE AND THE BIGGER PICTURE

The first time I listened to Johnny Foreigner’s début Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light, I have to admit that I wasn’t that impressed. A few months later, album highlight DJ’s Get Doubt’s would come up on shuffle and I decided to give the record another chance. The rest, as they say, is history.

I tell you this because on first listen, Johnny Foreigner’s new album Grace and the Bigger Picture seemed a bit underwhelming. But some albums are growers, right? -and I didn’t like the début at first either. I’ve probably listened to Grace about ten times now, and I’m glad that I didn’t review the record straight away because I’ve decided that it is actually a pretty good album. The bad news, however, is that my first impressions weren’t entitely wrong.

So, let’s start of with the bad. Only two of the album’s fifteen tracks last longer than three minutes, and a good third of songs come in under two. While brevity is not necessarily bad, on Kingston Called They Want Their Lost Youth Back and Dark Harbourzz it’s less a case of short being sweet and more a case of the songs sounding incomplete. The former especially sounds like an unfinished outtake or jokey b-side which somehow made it on to the album. Even worse is (Graces), not because it’s bad but because it has the potential to be one of the best songs the band have ever written. It ends after just 39 seconds. It’s still a good song, with some great vocals from Lex and Kelly, but the band fail to fully realise the song’s true potential.

The band also freely admit that the album is united around a “band on tour” concept, and while the record isn’t as clichéd as that may sound it’s hard to escape the fact that the band sometimes feel like they’re repeating themselves, with numerous songs about gigs and parties blending into one.

This sounds like a lot of criticism, but when the songs work, they really work. Choose Yr Side And Shut Up! is a great opener with a really infectious chorus, while Ghost the Festivals ranks alongside the best songs on the band’s début. In fact the first half of the album, which features the previously released (but still awesome) Criminals and Feels Like Summer, is near perfect. The second half isn’t as consistent but still contains some great tunes, including I Woke Up On A Beach In Aberystwyth and epic closer The Coast Was Always Clear.

To reiterate then, this is a good album. Johnny Foreigner were always going to struggle to better the excellent Waited Up ‘Til It Was Light, yet in songs like Criminals and Ghost the Festivals they manage to outstrip many of those on their début. Unfortunately, while there is only one properly bad track here (the aforementioned Kingston Called…) some other tracks sound underdeveloped or unsubtle. The albums hits more then justify the occasional misses though, and I would urge you to go out and buy it. As the music industry collapses in on itself bands like Johnny Foreigner need your support more than ever - to paraphrase Alexei, they’re almost all, they’re almost all that’s left.

7/10

Jed. x