Andy Bell - Non-Stop review

There is much anticipation when the lead singer of a well-known band releases music on their own. Out of the band’s context and often with a different producer, the results can be comparably similar, wildly different or, if you’re lucky, magical. While comparisons to his active role as one half of Erasure are inevitable (they’d have to be) Andy Bell—one of the world’s most underrated vocalists—has captured the magic on his second solo album, the sublime Non-Stop. The secret here, besides Bell’s ability to always create a hummable chorus, is his willingness to experiment with his vocals.

Collaborating with veteran pop producer Pascal Gabriel (who also co-wrote the album), Bell distances himself from his work with Erasure music partner Vince Clarke by deliberately making a tight set of full-on club tracks. Erasure, who are highly regarded for their mid-tempo balladry, skillfully balance their song craft between the ballad and the occasional disco stomper, but are mainly regarded as a synth pop duo. Bell even went so far as first releasing the album’s first two singles, “Running Out” and “Will You Be There?”, under the pseudonym Mimo but due to a someone else legally owning that name, had to settle for his own. It is easy to see why he’d want to do this: musical typecasting. In today’s rather predictably fickle music world--where everything gets compared to everything else—the mere mention of the name Erasure could arguably make the lazy critic pre-judge this. And that’s a shame, since Non-Stop is so listenable and accessible and above all, different.

“Running Out” kicks things into gear immediately as Bell’s vocal starts out partially distorted and the beat quickly joins him and his other grand skill—his undeniably catchy choruses—drops and watch out. This formula is evident on each of the album’s ten tracks, and the divine recently-released single “Call On Me” is no exception. “Wasted time to pass away the midnight hour/smoking on the inside of the bar/went to save the robots, they were everywhere/Ronnie saw a man shot in the head,” Bell cryptically announces as a delicious chorus swirls around him and then later his voice actually turns robotic. It is another great track and we’re only two songs into the album.

The eloquent bridge of “Subject/Object” reminds me of Erasure’s cover/collaboration of Spark’s “Amateur Hour” (which is a compliment) but is very much its own grand creation. Assumed next single “Say What You Want” is equally thrilling, and Gabriel is quite adept in helping Bell produce the music to match the mood: the beat simply never wavers. For my money, the last album that consistently begged for the remixing treatment like these songs are was Madonna’s Confessions On A Dancefloor, and it isn’t surprising that Bell has stated Madonna’s willingness to distort her vocals was an inspiration to him. It seems to be about what vocal style works best for each song. The fore-mentioned “Will You Be There?” is a great example with Bell’s addictive humming leading to his overdubbed vocal effortlessly marrying the addictive chorus.

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Comments on this article

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Cal

Nice review - thanks. However, "Cosmic Climb" is not a cover of the Madonna demo - its a new song written by Andy Bell & Jon Collyer, it just has the same title.

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