We all know Huey Morgan, slick front man of Fun Lovin’ Criminals, BBC Radio 2 & 6 DJ, TV Dog trainer extraordinaire.. He’s left FLC behind for an album with ‘Huey Morgan and The New Yorkers’. He’s still backed up a group of friends, including FLC drummer Frank Benbini. So what’s different?
This is a AA release starts with ‘The Way it Was Before’. Huey’s raspy vocals are quite Tom Waits like, there’s no shortage of F bombs in this mid tempo track which is driven by a nice rhythm section and bass line. The track is a look at society and how things have changed, always interesting to see people’s points of view.
The second track is ‘Fall on Me’, something completely not what I thought I’d hear Huey Morgan would make. It’s a definite country track, complete with slide guitar and laid-back backing vocals. This is the kind of stuff, you’d expect to hear in some weird bar or truck stop in middle America. Lyrically though, this tells the story of a man away from home and getting a letter from his loved one. Maybe a hark back to Huey’s marine days and a saved gem from then?
This is a definite departure and shows a different side to Huey. Having listened to his BBC Radio shows and the kind of artists he plays, it’s not beyond the stretch of the imagination to see where his ‘solo’ influences come from.
Both tracks are taken from Huey Morgan and The New Yorkers’ album ‘Say it to my Face’ and while there are points in the two tracks where you can point to, perhaps, FLC similarities, it definitely isn’t FLC. Enough here to entice me to check out the album.