Oliver Clark - Warming Up The Pipes
Review
by Lisa Dib
The smooth-as-buttah Oliver Clark is back with his latest lascivious ode to ladykind, "Warming Up The Pipes". Clark
dons the gold and velvets to bring you a disc chock-full of modern
golden oldies, more 'soul'-oriented than his previous effort, "Ten
Thousand Kisses". Put your love hat on, kids; it's gonna get moist.
We open with Best Lover in Town which borrows more than a cup of sugar from Sugar Pie, Honey Pie by
The Temptations. Clark's Goulet-cum-Neil Diamond burr is as smooth as
the velvet of his suit in this ode to euphoric Motown. It's super cheesy, but in a delightful way.
Hit Me With Your Love
utilizes some excitable horns and backing vocals to build to a
guitar-led chorus. If my stereo had a pelvis, it would be thrusting it
at me. The song drips with sixties pop and soul, especially in Strung Out on Love's call-and-response chorus. A gentle sixties love ballad follows in A Lady Like You ("A lady like you needs a man like me…") and drips with pretty keys and Neil Diamond-esque charm.
Ooo-err! Back Door Baby is next, complete with jazzy wikka-wikka guitar and cheesy keys, followed by the sixties pop of Come On Closer – all gold rings, flared suits and game-show host smiles.
Short Skirt Girl
brings more of the sixties vibe in, with a sort of dancing girl vibe.
Felicity Shagwell comes to mind; an ode to cute and sexy lasses in
mini; or, rather, one that Clark has his eye on, in particular.
Standout track is Sick With Love;
Clark’s downy vocals aching from love lost (“Comin’ down with a fever,
baby…”) in a slow, sensual manner. The lyrical content of this track
falls further into ‘comedy’ than Clark usually resides (“Someone get me
to a doctor/ I’ve got kidney pains…that means I’m missin’ you,
baby…”). I mean, only in the realm of musical-comedy could you use the term “love poisoning”, right?
I
heartily recommend jumping on the Oliver Clark train (not like
that….dirty bird) before next year’s Comedy Festival comedy so you can
nab tickets to his ever-hilarious shows. That way, you can be all, “Oh,
you’re just now getting into Oliver Clark? I’ve been into him for
ages”. RATING: 4 out of 5
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