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SmithsMcAlmont and Butler
"I have to tell you
what's been going on
since youve been
gone, since youve
been gone,well,
things theyve
changed but not
much for the better"
"whatever it was
that you couldn't stand
about me...yes I do feel
better, yes I do, I feel
alright, I feel well
enough to tell you
what you can do, with
what youve got
to offer"
So
hey this is probably the best singer / songwriter
partnership since Morrissey / Marr. Their ownly
album pictured left, is an increadible affair. They
have now split up, if only they could have stayed
together a little longer...doh !
Well, unfortunately I do not have a biography for McAlmont and Butler, so if anyone out there does, please post it to me.
Basically Bernard Butler, was the lead guitarist in Suede, however he left the band, and set up McAlmont and Butler, with David McAlmont, who together with his formidable voice, and increadible personality gave the perfect accompliment to Butlers sublime guitar work.
Here is the NME Review of the album.
When David McAlmont (vocals, lyrics) and Bernard Butler (guitars, keyboards, composition) got together in late 1994, ex- Suede man Bernard Butler's name was well-known and David McAlmont's deserved to be. The flamboyant singer has a thrilling three-octave-plus voice, as sensual as any human-derived noise had a right to be and his falsetto makes Mariah Carey sound like Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. David McAlmont had applied these gifts to a so-so album recorded under the name Thieves but later released under his own surname.
Unlike David McAlmont, Bernard Butler is neither black nor gay, but he does understand soul music and the big, glamorous, hipsway statement. The duo's debut single, Yes, was simply perfect in every way; it throbbed like an early '70s Marc Bolan/T. Rex number, soared like a sugar- coated Stylistics track, grooved like Gimme Shelter and sounded, in places, as if it was about to pass out under the weight of its own pleasure. The full, five-minute version-which opens this 11-song album-finishes with a round of applause.
Almost as good, the new single You Do-here in its maximum whack of seven-and-a-half minutes-is a brown-eyed ballad of outrageous excellence, with ludicrously audacious singing from David McAlmont and two long, typically bug-eyed guitar solos by Bernard Butler, one in each channel.
Sound Of McAlmont Butler arrives just as the partnership is dissolving. An 11-tracker comprised of Yes, You Do, the eight B-sides from their various formats, plus one unreleased track (The Right Thing), it's a restlessly diverse 56-minute listen that's understandably overshadowed by the two singles. There is, as it happens, one other killer song-Disappointment, where old-style Suede meet a heavy, Hot Chocolatey soul pulse that soon kicks into a staccato Jimmy Page-type riff. The rhythm section-Mick Tedder (bass) and Makoto Sakamoto (drums)-conspire with their employers to take the roof off.
The rest is merely good. What's The Excuse This Time? could be Prince, thanks to David McAlmont's kittenish vocals. The Right Thing, with Bernard Butler back on slide guitar, is a late- '60s blues rock jam session. There's a doo-wop waltz called Although and a pretty hoary old raunch-up entitled Debitor.
The end of the McAlmont & Butler partnership was rumoured to have come recently, abruptly and sourly. In fact, all of these songs were recorded in one long burst several months ago, as was the agreement. The pair are currently promoting You Do and may-oh, let's hope so-work together again one day.
Q Rating: 4 Stars (out of 5)
Reviewed By: David Cavanagh