Now known as Flightcrank (an old brand of BMX bike) this is the solo album from Leeroy, ex member of the Prodigy who left the band in February 2000, sometime around the period when he split from his high profile girlfriend Radio 1 DJ Sara Cox.
It now looks like a calculated climbdown from the heights of celebrity after many years at the top. He has made no secret of the fact that his hair started falling out with the stress of it all. But it's still a surprise that 'Beyond All Reasonable Doubt' is often a quite staggeringly bitter album from someone who's tasted success at the highest musical level. Who wouldn't have wanted to be part of one the biggest bands of the last ten years?
Tracks such as 'Another Year' ("another year and I'm wasting my life away, can no-one hear me I'm crying out in vain") plum almost Smiths-like depths of gloom and doom. Others such as 'Bright Lights', 'Famous', 'Twisted' and 'Get Real' sarcastically attack the foibles of unnamed celebs.
However he displays a schizophrenic musical persona. 'Amazing' and 'Sir Grinalot' are outstandingly up-beat and positive, just when you don't expect it. Still 10 years with the Prodigy would mess anyone's head up. Just look what's happened to Maxim.
The album works best when Leeroy's in his 'break-beat folk' mode. He's got a surprisingly soulful voice, though one that perhaps would never have fitted into the Scream-like soundscape of Prodigy material. He's no D'Angelo but lyrically his subject matter expands refreshingly beyond the limited 'I love you, you left me, you're a bitch' parameters of US R&B.
Instrumental tracks such as 'Inside Out' and 'Take Me Home' are a pure waste of time, just loops for a few minutes that go nowhere but up their own arse. Sorry Leeroy, Liam can get away with this but you can't. The last two tracks see Leeroy switch into rootsical/Finlay Quaye mode to surprisingly good affect. More of this please. A mixed album, in every sense.
