Steve Mason - Boys Outside

[Viero_Berlotti]

It's a real grower this. As hit and miss as they could sometimes be I loved The Beta Band at their best and this album is easily the finest work by any of the ex-members to date. The Richard X production seems to be the key here, reigning in any excesses, stripping bare the songs and exposing the emotion. It provides the direction that The Beta Band sometimes seemed to lack.

The album is currently streaming on his website:


http://www.stevemasontheartist.com/

[mobias]

......and this album is easily the finest work by any of the ex-members to date.

I strongly disagree (see avatar)  The Beta Band were a sum of all their parts but as far as Steve Mason goes I think Black Affair was easily the best thing he's done.

[Viero_Berlotti]

I tried with The Aliens and Mason's King Biscuit Time and Black Affair, all good stuff, but for me none of it really stands up to repeated listening. I keep getting drawn back to Boys Outside though I just think it's a more coherent piece of work.

[mobias]

The first Aliens album is fantastic, its just let down quite badly by a poor production sound. It was a real shame they didn't nail that as most of the songs are utterly sublime.  In a parallel universe to this one the first half of that album would have been the basis for the first Beta Band album and the track Rox would have been a total anthem of the 90's but alas none of it was to pan out that way.

[Sam]

Just caught this on the radio as I was driving back from squirrel hunting:

http://youtu.be/eJUJTGUH0mc

Proper lovely that.

[Paaaaul]

I think that song has many brilliant parts to it, but overall it bores the hell out of me. It feels like a pastiche of Mason's previous work, and one with no heart.
I think, sadly, Mason might be someone who does his best work when he's in a shitty place.

[Sam]

Can you suggest some stuff? Don't know anything by him I don't think.

[Paaaaul]

The Boys Outside album is an excellent place to start, or The Three EPs by The Beta Band if you're not au fait with them.

[Paaaaul]

I'm listening to the new album, Meet The Humans, and it's easily the worst thing he's been involved in. It feels like he's trying to get himself playlisted on Ken Bruce's Radio 2 show.
I'm not usually someone to rule an album out on first listen because I prefer an album that grows on me, but there are clearly no hidden depths here - just obvious shallows.

[Hat FM]

yeah i wasn't impressed first listen.  will give it a few more goes though.

[Wayman C. McCreery]

It's alright this new record, but it feels like it's had the life sucked out of it by your fella from Elbow on production duties. There's just no edge to it.

6/10

Pleased to read that Steve's head's in a good place right now though. He's always seemed like a Thoroughly Good Egg.

[23 Daves]

Actually, I really like that single. I can understand everyone's criticisms that it seems rather 70s MOR, but as someone with a soft spot for some material like that, it works well for me. It's just on the right side of interesting, as well as being poppy - there are enough twists and turns for it to be more than just another predictable attempt to resuscitate some old ideas.

Also found out only a few days ago (because he posted on Facebook about it) that an old friend of mine[nb]I don't think we've spoken to each other properly since he moved out of London six years ago, but meh, y'know[/nb], Darren Morris, had a hand in the making of the album. He's usually someone who tends to get drafted in whenever someone wants to do something quite challenging, not MOR. He has a background in jazz improv and tends to be dropped into sessions to spice things up rather than tone them down (not universally true, but often the case). So I'm definitely interested to hear the album now, but slightly put off by the comments above. I'll have to investigate on Spotify or something. He seems really, really proud of his work on the LP.

Always really liked the Beta Band as well, despite finding them fucking frustrating with their inconsistencies at times.