REVIEW : Love And War

From the opening bar of album opener ‘For Your Money’, you know you’re about to listen to something truly special. The first track on Daniel Merriweather’s debut long player sets the scene perfectly for what’s to come. With a timeless sound, reminiscent of classic Elton John, Daniel emotes of the negativity he feels for the great city of New York on his arrival. Accompanying a series of seamless chord changes towards the song’s closer, we get a taste of that classic smoky soul voice we’ve paid for.
‘Impossible’ ups the tempo and steps back a decade to when Motown ruled the airwaves, as Daniel makes his romantic intentions clear.
He gives us all a spiritual wake-up call on first single ‘Change’, with a little help from rapper Wade, while ‘Chainsaw’ (a Cathy Dennis co-write) is so wondrously laidback and cool.
That brings us to single No.2 – ‘Red’. Riding high in the UK top ten, this track will easily contend for our ‘song of the year’ – and we’re only in June. So raw, so strong, so emotional, so honest, it deserves to go down as one of 2009’s true musical highlights. It’s so luscious that we seriously may have paid the price of entry for this song alone.
After the break-up introspection of ‘Red’, ‘Could You’ picks up the pace, with a little help from the riff of Mamas & The Papas’ ‘California Dreamin’.
‘Water And A Flame’ brings Adele into the mix to provide guest vocal from verse two – she complements Daniel’s vocals perfectly, delivering an earthy richness.
That’s not to say Daniel’s vocals aren’t earthy nor rich – ‘cause it’s his voice – that glorious, emotive voice that is the glue that binds this incredibly set together.
It’s taken him 27 years, but the boy from Dandenong, in Melbourne’s southeast, has, with a peppering of assistance from Mark Ronson and Eg White, finally realized his dream of a debut album – and we’re happy to say we wholeheartedly agree that it’s a body of work he can be incredibly proud of. ‘Love And War’ is pure class from cover to cover.

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