Danny Vaughn – 'Myths, Legends And Lies' Album Review

Tracklist:

1. The Shadow Of King John

2. Man Or Machine

3. The Missouri Kid

4. The Good Life

5. Last Ride Of The Sunset Men

6. Black Crow

7. Monkeys With Money And Guns

8. Point The Way

9. Deep Water

10. Kelly's Gone

11. Something I Picked Up Along The Way

12. Time Out Of Mind

13. Seven Bells

14. What You Left Behind

Lies, I can deal with. It’s the myths and legends I have a problem with, and the title of Danny Vaughn’s new album put me on my guard from the off.

Myths and legends are built on folklore, tales passed down through generations, which include fairy tales, stories of Greek and Roman Gods and biblical characters. Fantasy, if you like and from someone who has never watched an episode of Game of Thrones, you can see, fantasy is not my thing. ‘Myths, Legends And Lies’ is an album full of stories that do absolutely nothing for me. That’s not to say it’s a bad album, it just does not resonate with me.

It starts ok with the Celtic influenced ‘The Shadow Of King John’. I’m not averse to a bit of Waterboys, and this track is reminiscent of songs from ‘Room To Roam’ by Mike Scott and his merry band, but there it ended.

It is, apparently, the album Danny Vaughn ‘always wanted to make’, and spans songs he has written right through his career from when he was eighteen. They are a bunch of songs that he calls his ‘orphans’ and that he has previously been unable to find a home for. Therein lies the problem. It seems that every song is done in a different style and fit into different genres of music: they just don’t hang together as a cohesive whole.

The album is too eclectic to give it any distinction. ‘Something I Picked Up’ conjured ‘a smoky night club situation’ that Bryan Ferry would have been proud of. ‘Time Out Of Mind’ reminded me of Marty Pellow. ‘Deep Water’ is a big production number with a multitude of horns that I could imagine Dame Shirley belting out. ‘Kelly’s Gone has a Bruce Hornsby piano vibe and ‘Seven Bells’ could be from a musical theatre production.

Danny’s voice is well known in the Rock world and is confident and strong but doesn’t have the distinctiveness of many artists of the genre, and while the songs are sung with passion and

feeling there are no real surprises on the album. The production is good, and I guess that if you are a fan of Danny Vaughn, then you’ll probably want to add this to your collection. For me, it is inoffensive, Rock lite and an all too easy listen.