Coates – Volume 1 (Album Sampler)
(Falcon City Records)
Now we get sent press releases, CDs, DVDs and other releases on a weekly and sometimes daily basis and we absolutely love it. We know that at Just Listen To This we are extremely fortunate to have PR companies, musicians, venue directors and event organisers give up their time and allow us to have access to their resources. Not to mention the readers around the world who visit our website. Thank you all so much.
The thing is, like most things you can have something which doesn’t click as it were no matter how many times you hear the music or scrutinize the media pack provided. Now Coates (just quickly, it is really difficult trying to Google this gentleman and when you do you get the Wikipedia entry for Sebastián Coates Nion a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Sunderland and the Uruguay national team.)
This Coates has been billed as ‘A West London Troubadour’ singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, talented lyricist and rising star Oliver Coates. I’ll admit I was excited to hear him and what his songs would be about, perhaps he would tell us about the wonder of London or busking on the street. Instead, he told us about a girl holding a gin and tonic during the track ‘Grin and Tonic’ to a backing that sounded a lot like ‘That’s Entertainment’ by The Jam
It is clear when I reach ‘Throw Me Down’ that Mr Oliver Coates has grown up on a diet of nineties acts like Blur and Oasis as well as Paul Weller, The Jam, Squeeze and Billy Bragg. ‘Talk Of The Town’ is an interesting song but it isn’t a song you can sing along to.
His diction is great but unfortunately his vocal delivery doesn’t do the song lyrics justice. If you like nineties Brit pop or the Mod scene then this will probably be something you might like. Granted, he has made an effort and taken the time to create a debut album but I don’t think I will be trying to hunt out future material.
Glenn Sargeant
Coates’s debut album ‘Volume 1’ is released on Falcon City Records on Friday 25th September 2015. On the same day, Coates will be performing a debut headline performance at The Spice of Life in London. Tickets are available here: https://tigmus.com/hotvox-at-the-spice-of-life/the-spice-of-life/127
(Thanks to Rupert Burley at Dynamic Music for help with this review)
