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Lovers, the debut album from Perth's the Sleepy Jackson, is another fine example of a bright modern pop album that steals liberally from the past, yet presents its thefts with such skill and charm that ultimately, it feels churlish to cry foul. Besides, frontman Luke Steel clearly boasts such a broad musical knowledge that just as you've sussed out the particular ghost he's channelling, he's cast it out and hopped to the next willing spirit. The spectre of George Harrison stalks the swooning, string-laden "Good Dancers", but it's not until right at the end that the debt becomes explicit in a swirl of backward sitars. T
Lovers, the debut album from Perth's the Sleepy Jackson, is another fine example of a bright modern pop album that steals liberally from the past, yet presents its thefts with such skill and charm that ultimately, it feels churlish to cry foul. Besides, frontman Luke Steel clearly boasts such a broad musical knowledge that just as you've sussed out the particular ghost he's channelling, he's cast it out and hopped to the next willing spirit. The spectre of George Harrison stalks the swooning, string-laden "Good Dancers", but it's not until right at the end that the debt becomes explicit in a swirl of backward sitars. The sleepy "Acid in My Heart" is Gram Parsons with a poisonous case of indigestion, Steel musing over the vulture-picked bones of a long-dead love affair as pedal-steel notes curl in the heat of the midday sun. And "Vampire Racecourse" borrows the thudding repetition as perfected by The Velvet Underground's "Waiting for the Man", but fuses it to the glammy, sew-on sequins strut of David Bowie's "Suffragette City". So, does Lovers display an impressive talent? Unquestionably, but sometimes you're left wondering if the Sleepy Jackson have a voice of their own. Still, they're breezily successful at breathing new life into tired old chords, and that's a fine place to start. --Louis Pattison
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Manufacturer: Virgin
Release date: 14 July 2003
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0724359051024 UPC: 724359051024
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