Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 28/04/08
Label: Island

With guitar bands having now plundered the 1980s for inspiration (and, for the less shameless, source material) for nigh on five years, it was surely only a matter of time before dance and pop took note and followed suit. The writing, after all, had been on the wall for several years as endless TV commercials for one old skool/'90s dance compilation after another confirmed that the barrel had been well and truly scraped with an escape tunnel being steadily dug beneath it.

And yet, paradoxically, it's still possible to go forward by looking even further back. If it worked for indie's more angular wing then surely the concept would translate from one genre to another. As proved by "Blind", Hercules & Love Affair's magisterial slice of disco hedonism, the rummage through the past can yield bounteous dividends. Likewise Sam Sparro's achingly fabulous single, "Black & Gold", a collision of delights for the head and heart that ticks so many boxes (Cross-generational appeal? A groove in its heart? The soundtrack to an evening of distinctly carnal and un-vanilla pleasure? Check to all) its stamp on 2008 is assured.

So, with its pleasure-seeking credentials firmly in place, does the eponymous debut from Sam Sparro, an Australian via the States, bring anything to the party apart from an own brand of Chardonnay and a bottle of poppers? Well…yes and no. It's a mixed bag certainly and while nothing else here scales the heights of the single that's made his name thus far, there are plenty of moments of pop confection steered with a degree of sophistication to suggest he's more than a one trick pony.

"Clingwrap" and "21st Century Life" somewhat ironically use Wham's '80s sensibilities to induce a brace of hip thrusting, while "Sick" evokes the spirit of Vince Clarke just at the moment that Yazoo announce their imminent return. All well and good but Sparro's plundering of the decade that time forgot could also do with a tightening of quality control. "Too Many Questions", for example, aspires to replicate the aura of a Caister Soul Weekender but ends up sounding like something that would be happier in a high street disco.

Nonetheless, there is certainly enough of Sparro's own identity indelibly stamped across this debut, thanks largely to his salacious croon that remains honey sweet throughout. Moreover, you're left with the feeling that this probably isn't the last we've heard of Sam Sparro.

    by Julian Marszalek