by MeBHank » 18 Mar 2017, 03:51
Be fair, gents! It seems we're criticising Hank's latest work before we've even heard it!
Some might find a track's selection rather obvious and therefore somehow disappointing, but how much nicer is it to see a track listing boasting famously rich melodies than one filed with market research-chosen tat that's been pretty much forced on Hank, such as happened with 'Guitar Man' (I'd like to throttle the person who pushed him to record You're Beautiful, Patience and Light My Fire). In the past some tracks have been saved by Hank's ability to come up with new riffs and classy improvisations.
I felt far more enthusiasm went into making 'Hank' than 'Guitar Man'. I get the impression Demon Music Group are far more flexible and co-operative than Universal. In one of Hank's recent Facebook videos he made a joke over the word 'personal', repeating it over and over again, saying how personal this album is to him because he was recording tunes that mean a lot to him. What a far cry from 2007, when he had to explain the track selection process on television as an excuse the bewildering inclusion of songs that were already crap (even with their lyrics)!
I liked 'Hank', but I already prefer the track listing here. There are some great choices for instrumentals on this album, and no real duds ('Hank' did have a couple). I'm looking at the list and I can't see one piece that immediately leaves me cold. No-one's yet mentioned that there's a high percentage of tunes that were instrumentals originally: a third, in fact. That speaks volumes.
This may well be Hank's best album for a long time. I cannot bloody wait to hear Theme from 'Poirot'!
J
Justin Daish