Ever the wise guy, the Colester, star of a recent dotmusic webchat and 'unplugged' session, returns with a new album named after his occasional backing band... The Negatives.
This is Lloyd's first 'real' album since '95's 'Love Story' thanks to an acrimonious divorce from his old label and setting up a largely self-managed DIY approach to his career, kept alive by sporadic Negatives shows, several blinding acoustic solo tours and the release of another greatest hits package, 'The Collection', a couple of years ago.
So to 'The Negatives', a gloriously written, performed and produced (mainly by Stephen Street - Blur, Cranberries, Morrissey) eleven song set that contains some of his best work and opens with the words 'excuse me could I use your pen, I have mislaid my own'. Welcome back Lloyd. Delicate guitar figures give way to washes of Telecaster and a re-assuring backbeat.
'Impossible Girl' manages to encapsulate Lloyd's lyrical storybook style - all spurned, beautiful girlfriends, with singalong choruses, delicate strings and guitar solos that don't overstay their welcome. It includes a knowing Only Ones reference too.
'Man On The Verge' boasts a Robert Quine solo that even orginal Commotion Neil Clark would be proud of, while one of the newer songs here, 'What's Wrong With This Picture', sees Lloyd in full-on Bobby Goldsboro vocal mode while a synth picks out a whale song reprise over some great rhythm playing. A highlight.
And these days the ex-Commotion leader isn't afraid to reveal his famous sense of humour either. 'Too Much e' anyone? It's a dark, compressed, fat-snare bit of fun with distortion on eleven and Keith Richards on guitar at its fade (possibly). Likewise 'Tried To Rock' raises a smile for those of us who recall Lloyd's leather bike-boy phase in the late 80s - here topped of with a cool Cole solo that Marc Bolan must surely have written for 'Electric Warrior'. There's even a whispered Marc vocal if you listen closely.
The hypnotic 'That Boy' is simply a beautiful song, with a great lyric, beautifully sung. It deserves to be a massive hit. Sting would have killed for it - and for the Anne Dudley string arrangement. Cole's comeback is sealed with the subtle thrummed melancholy of 'I'm Gone'. He'll be back again soon.
Great guitar playing, songs of sex, alcohol, broken hearts, women, lost youth, disrobing and endless blue skies. Terrific stuff indeed.
