Miles Kane – 'Change The Show' Album review

Tracklist:

1. Tears Are Falling

2. Don't Let It Get You Down

3. Nothing's Ever Gonna Be Good Enough

4. See Ya When I See Ya

5. Never Get Tired Of Dancing

6. Tell Me What You're Feeling

7. Coming Of Age

8. Change The Show

9. Constantly

10. Caroline

11. Adios Ta-ra Ta-ra

The wall of sound is alive and kicking! This album is the best Soul/Psychedelic/Pop/Easy Listening/Rock 60’s album that wasn’t made in the 60’s you will ever hear. Miles has gone away for a few years to live in the US, come back to the UK and proven himself to be a soulful crooner while retaining some dark themes in his lyrics, dealing with the fact he’s getting older and turning into a combination of Roy Orbison, Scott Walker, The Beach Boys, Prince (I definitely heard a Paisley Park vibe creeping into some songs) and at one point channelling David Bowie. It is quite simply a work of genius and an album you need to get into your life now!

There is a consistency to this album that is tremendous, there is no weak link, no song you want to finish so you can listen to the next one. Instead I found myself hoping that every song would keep going.There is such an upbeat vibe to the sound of the songs but there is clearly a conscious decision to deal with some really difficult thoughts and themes. There’s even a bit of political comment in the title track.

This is not a 60’s pastiche, it’s genuinely well written, beautifully sung with some tremendous brass, Hammond organs and lyrics that make you want to find a lyric sheet and spend hours pouring over it trying to work out just what he means!

'Tears Are Falling', the opening track, hints at just how special this album is, it sucks you in, it makes you want to hear more but you also don’t want it to end. I kept thinking what song does this remind me of, the answer is any number of 60’s and 70’s classics, it even has a touch of Marc Bolan to it.

'Don’t Let It Get You Down' has an urgency and drive to it while still having a smooth vibe to it that makes you wonder why no-one has written this song before, it even has bongos in it! At no point does anything in this, or any other song, sound like it shouldn’t be there, it’s all perfectly judged and beautifully crafted.

One of my favourites on the album is the third song, which features Corrine Bailey Rae, 'Nothing’s Ever Going To Be Good Enough'. It has a wistful feel to it, that suggests they both know they are not going to make it but still has you rooting for them that somehow it will be enough.

'See Ya When I See Ya' sounds like someone else, I’ve spent hours trying to work out who without success, if you can work it out please put me out of my misery? It’s yet another slice of perfect music.

If 'Never Get Tired Of Dancing' doesn’t make you want to get up and dance then you may have no taste for music, it’s the perfect song to get up for on the floor and throw yourself or, better still, someone else about with ridiculous amounts of enthusiasm to the point that you won’t be able to walk the next day.

'Coming Of Age' could be a long lost Roy Orbison song, at the point when he realised he was starting to get older.

I could go through every song on this album and tell you how brilliant each one is but there is no point, just believe me when I say that if I didn’t know better I could easily be easily believe that I had put on a classic 60’s album (with some 70’s influences by mistake instead of the new album from Miles Kane).

Miles has just put a marker down of the standard other artists need to reach to be in the end of year lists of the best albums of 2022. I suspect he will take some shifting from those lists. If he is then this is going to be a golden year for music.

I love this album, I can’t think of the right words to persuade you to listen to it but wish I could, I know it’s now on repeat in my house, if you are willing to open your mind and listen to something a bit different but still incredibly relevant and joyful this is the album for you!