Swan Song for Unkle Bob
I used to watch the weekly late night comedy show "Saturday Night Live" lots when I lived back in Canada. I really miss that show; I'm not sure why it's not shown over here. Anyhow, back in those days, comedian Mike Meyers would play a Scottish character from time to time whose signature saying was "If it's not Scottish it's crap!" These days I'm starting to believe that saying. It seems to me that there are a lot of great musical acts coming out of Scotland lately. Perhaps it's something in the water?
There's the Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, Travis and last but not least Paolo Nutini. I stumbled across the floppy haired, Scottish crooner (as the press like to call him) last fall, saw him live in January and it's no secret that I could sing his praises all day long. Another of these talented groups that are part of this Scottish invasion is the band called Unkle Bob. Sometimes referred to Britain's next big thing, their lyrics are deep, meaningful and emotional.
I'm not a music reviewer but one of their songs Swans - a pensive ballad, is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and I'm not the only one who thinks so. It was used on the television program Grey's Anatomy Season 3 Episode 17. How to describe their sound well, their musical influences range from Fleetwood Mac to Van Morrison, Neil Young and many others.
Personally, I don't know who they sound like exactly. To give you an idea what their style is like I'll just say that the first time I heard their song "Swans," I thought of the song "I can't make you love me," written by Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin and performed Bonnie Raitt just because the lyrical content is so impressive. So, if I had to compare their song Swans to something I'd rate it up there with Bonnie Raitt's "I can't make you love me," one of the best written songs of all time in my books. It's just that pretty. Of course, that's not the only song of theirs that's good, there are many others like "One on One" and "I Need a Car," just to name a couple. If you've been living on the moon and haven't heard of them check them out at http://www.myspace.com/unklebobband.
