There's always something slightly predictable about a new Del Amitri
album: you just know it will be packed with yet more examples of wonderfully
written, intelligent, melancholic tunes, yet deep down you also know that no
matter how good they may be, those same songs will probably not propel the
band above the level of success they have achieved in the past.
It's not that Del Amitri have delivered a half-hearted record with Can
You Do Me Good? -- it's actually one of their best and most diverse --
it just seems that, for some reason, the band are destined to remain the
perennial underachievers of UK rock, gaining all the critical plaudits
whilst the likes of Travis, Coldplay and Stereophonics gain all the gold
discs.
Indeed, if a recent interview with lead singer/songwriter Justin Currie
is to be believed, Del Amitri must sell 300,000 copies of this, the band's
sixth studio opus, if they are to remain in the employ of Mercury Records.
Whilst that figure is not an insurmountable target, for a band with a
relatively static fanbase, and that has been inactive for the best part of 4
years, Can You Do Me Good?, to quote one of their new song titles,
may well be Del Amitri's "Last Cheap Shot at the Dream".
The band has achieved a respectable level of singles success down the
years, but of their criminally ignored canon, only 1997's "Roll To Me",
1992's "Always the Last to Know" and 1991's "Nothing Ever Happens" have
managed a measure of crossover popularity. Judging by initial impressions,
the kind of economic impasse that generally leads to record companies and
bands parting ways in such scenarios could be closer than anticipated. The
first single, the Curtis Mayfield influenced, soulful groove of "Just Before
You Leave", squeezed into the UK Top 40 briefly before dropping off the
radar. Hardly the type of reaction the new, improved Del Amitri -- or the
label accountants -- would have wanted.
Despite such inauspicious initial signs, Can You Do Me Good? is
undoubtedly a real step forward for the Glaswegian quintet. A number of
collaborations with hip, contemporary producers such as Commissioner Gordon
have given the band a real modern, sonic diversity that perhaps previous
albums lack, and the various loops, effects and embellishments that flavour
much of the album prove a welcome addition to Currie's latest batch of
consistently melodic and wickedly observant songs about break-ups, failure
and general melancholy.
The vibrant, yet typically morose "Buttons on My Clothes" is one such
tune that could begin a concerted assault on the higher reaches of the
charts, so immediate is its melody, and so contemporary is its production.
Likewise, the heartfelt "Baby It's Me" has all the ingredients of a
potential hit, and "She's Passing This Way" is as beautiful a ballad as you
will hear this year.
Currie's lyrics are once again astutely observed, analysing the damaging
effects of material excess in "Cash and Prizes" and the equally destructive
influence of spirituality in the bitterly caustic "Jesus Saves". Elsewhere,
interesting metaphors for addiction abound in "Wash Her Away", whilst "One
Last Hurrah" and "Just Getting By" are as melancholic as ever.
So, Del Amitri have taken a few chances and delivered the goods in terms
of quality, yet the nagging feeling remains that no matter how much new
ground they attempt to break or how accomplished the new material is, the
fact that Del Amitri remain terminally unfashionable means Can You Do Me
Good? may not be enough to break the familiar cycle of solid, if
unspectacular success.
— 4 June 2002
