On My One

Poor old Jake Bugg; cool name, dinner with Cara Delevigne, ‘3 years’ on the road, ‘400 shows’ and all ‘lonesome on my one’.  You’d have thought at 22 he was totally past it, based on some of these lyrics!  

Bugg is singing mournfully to a talentless late forties something who loves vinyl and most music but has no sympathy for the ‘shattered dreams’ of an awesome songwriter who has blown Glastonbury away three times already (and is headlining the John Peel Stage this year). This album is fine, a little cluttered in respect of styles from my perspective but it contains the right feel and enough rhythm and excitement to keep you going. ‘Ain’t No Rhyme’ is surely a hip hop aberration that fell through the editing process, it just doesn’t fit, anywhere, but the rest of it is perfectly fine. ‘On My One’ is a classic Bugg song as are several others but the consistency, say of Ed Sheehan, is emphasised as you wander through the album. The middle is a bit of a ‘skip’ but the album finishes well, ‘All That’ is lyrically my stand out song, ‘Hold On You’ is another throwback lope-ing track that I really like.

Overall, I’m all in for buying this, most likely on vinyl; it’s growing on me and after the Dylan ‘Fallen Angels‘ fiasco I am happy with a bit of safe music here (is that a damning statement?).

On My One ****
Gimme The Love ***
Love, Hope and Misery ****
The Love We’re Hoping For ***
Put Out the Fire ****
Never Wanna Dance **
Bitter Salt ***
Ain’t No Rhyme *
Living’ Up Country ***
All That ****
Hold On You ****

Album – On My One
Artist – Jake Bugg
Download These At Least- All That, Hold On You, Love Hope and Misery

Source – Tidal
Player – iMac
Amplification/Output – Audio Pro Lv33e
Released – 17 June 2016
11 Tracks, 33’31”