Album Review: The Guilty And The Innocent, ANDY WHITE

Back in the mid-80s, Belfast-born Andy White was nearly lumbered with the “new Dylan” tag. It served him right for using the name The Ghost of Electricity, and his 1986 Rave On album compounded the problem. But White long since moved out from under Bob’s shadow, bringing an individual voice to about a dozen albums, and collaborations with Liam Ó Maonlaí and Tim Finn, en route to his current base down under. Yet he still can do the finger-pointing bit at the ills of the world with fire and panache. Matters get off to a no-nonsense start with ‘This Is Not A Television Show’, with a sturdy rockin’ backdrop for White’s voice to skate across and remind us that everything on television ain’t entertainment. Not even tall towers burning down. There’s a Bowie-ish, almost dancy, feel to ‘Very Fine People’, and ‘Mean Mofo’ has a Beatlish blues vibe, with White repeating the word “motherfucker” several times. So that’s the Lyric fm playlist sorted. ‘Promises Broken’ is another gritty roots-rocker with a 50s-effect on the vocals, but with more pointed words than were common back then. The pop heavosity in ‘Unheard’ takes on a swagger that recalls The Stunning, but ‘The Peace They Need’ shifts White into folk singer-songwriter mode as he casts his memories back home and the enmity still thriving there. He delves deeper into that despair in the title track, forecasting an apocalyptic scenario in which guilty and the innocent get blown to smithereens and thus end up on the same side. Dead. The Guilty And The Innocent is lyrically strong, although the noise from “the band” often fails to match the fury of the narrative. The overall feel seems a bit dated musically, but the lyrical themes are, often sadly, eternally relevant.  OUT NOW

Rating: 7/10