Charty Chart Chat
Until recently, 2002 seemed destined to be remembered as the year the music died. Many of the hyped critical releases have passed by this reporter with little interest or sympathy. […] Then a little package from Halifax's Hopeful Monster landed on my desk a couple of weeks ago and I'm in love, well, maybe just very very happy and sappy. Multi-instrumentalist Jason Ball with the help of Paul Aucoin has made the best solo pop album since Todd Rundgren's amazing tour-de-force, Something/Anything. The self-titled release skitters through many different styles: pop, new wavey electro-pop ("River Reflective") cool Bacharachian piano-pop ("Daily Electric") and spacey-pop — all this in just the first two songs. Throughout this album I find myself singing along to lyrics like "I want you so bad I damn myself to hell" from "Goldmine" and banging on any surface to "Stars Are Photomagnets" and "Cobra Wings." This is my favourite album of 2002 so far!!
By Chris Burland
