Buy this album from our CD Shop Billy Griffin – Like Water
(UK Expansion, 2006)
1) Like Water 2) All The Way To Love 3) Forgive Me If You Can 4) Livin’ Déja Vous 5) Oxygen 6) Weak 7) Be Unto Me A Lady 8) Oblivion 9) It’s Bad Karma 10) Joy And Happiness 11) Sincerity 12) Like Water (Reprise)
I have sat on this album some considerable time before I decided to review it. It has taken quite
a number of plays for it to sink into the old grey matter. Not that it’s a bad album at all
– far from it – but I wasn’t too sure what to make of it. Firstly I found it pleasant enough,
inoffensive but certainly not remarkable. Then I left it for a week or so, and decided to
play it again, as if with a fresh ear. The more I play it now the more I love it. It is a consistent
set of smooth grooves, the kind that is safe territory indeed for readers of this website.
I had found it too pedestrian, I suppose, and had hoped for the greatness of his work with
John Barnes and Leon Ware. Although we don’t have this exactly, what has
occurred to me now is that this album has an incredible capacity to captivate. It has been
a "slowly slowly catchee monkey" album on me, and today I have more than a handful on my
iPod and have become ingrained in my mind as being synonymous with the gorgeous hot sunny
weather we’re experiencing right now. So, a few weeks in I am very relieved that I held
my counsel and had not given this album a negative or downbeat review. Every track is classy
and worthwhile.
I have some definite favourites which I have relied on the past week or so, and so I will zero
in on these in particular. "Livin’ Déja Vous" is a sweltering creeper of a tune; its beat
may be programmed but infectious and the synths that Billy utilises are almost ambient in effect.
His vocals are as wonderful as ever, and the chorus line very much of what we would have
expected on his Columbia albums back in the 1980s. Simply magnificent if not understated.
The balmy "Oxygen" also harks back to an earlier style that we know and love.
"Be Unto Me A Lady" also has that hot summer day appeal, and it has definitely accompanied
me wherever I have gone recently. Such a lovely tune, this, and augers well for the rest
of what is to come. The following song is a real killer.."Oblivion" is exactly the kind of
classy track that we would want Billy Griffin to be laying down today. His style is stamped
all over the tune, and his vocal delivery is simply magical. I defy anyone not to love this
track – even if it takes a few plays for it to sink in!
Got any songs which you have bought recently, that when you play them make you sigh,
close your eyes and say "oh, yes"? That is exactly what "It’s Bad Karma" does to me. Such a
gorgeous rhythm, and a top-draw performance from Billy. Likewise can I sing the praises for
the stunning "Sincerity" with its haunting melody and magical key riff. This is another
song I can’t really get enough of.
Track 12 is a reprise of the titled opening cut,
"Like Water". Far from being short in length it is almost 4 minutes long, and is for
me a superior and abridged version that has more meat on the bones. It is true that
there is no "Believe It Or Not" on here, but these really are tracks that cut the mustard
and I am sure I will be getting a lot of pleasure out of them for many years to come
– especially if we get any really hot summers! An essential purchase.
- Barry Towler
Buy this album from our CD Shop
