Dean Friedman

Songs For Grownups (Eagle)

so this, at 48, is as good as it gets, a Dean Friedman album to review – his first in yonks, it seems – on one of the gloomiest, darkest weekends of the year. Not alone that, but, being a double album, there are two of them. The thought of this poisoned chalice was leavened slightly by a certain Hot Presser telling me how he was going to set up his co-presenter on a national radio station by volunteering him for backing vocals on ‘Stars’, Friedman’s hit from another time.

I digress, though. Much to my surprise, Songs For Grownups is an altogether listenable, sometimes quite beautiful set of 28 songs which run the emotional gamut from pure lust to regret to acute observations of domestic minutiae. A song for instance like ‘Saturday Fathers’ is totally convincing, the false conviviality of meeting your kids being contrasted with the pain of not being with them for the other six days. ‘Don’t Marry That Boy’ is a word from the wise, hoping as my old friend Martin says that she doesn’t make the same mistake once!

Seriously, folks, there is much to enjoy on Dean Friedman’s comeback album – good songs absolutely fabulous musicianship – stuff that really impresses. On the debit side, his ability to come up with a cloying lyric has not deserted him, and his overuse of alliteration in several spots pisses me right off, but I’d have to say that listening to this album – yes, I’ll listen to it again – wasn’t an entirely unpleasant experience. For fans of the genre, though, it’s worth checking out.

Oliver P. Sweeney