On Parole
Described as 'jazz pop rockers' this is Pillow Talk's third album and the follow up to 2002's 'Painful Love'.
I'm really not sure what to make of this album, in places the musicianship is very impressive, particularly on 'The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea', which blends heavier distorted guitars with mellow falsetto vocals and quirky SOAD moments. In other places it's all a bit stupid! Opening track 'Gloves' is unsurprisingly a song about er ... gloves! It's mildly amusing and clearly tongue in cheek but therein lies the problem. The vast majority of this record is intended to be humorous and whilst there are some good song structures ('Muddin' Thuddin' Bike' for one) the lyrics aren't funny, just amusing at best. This all makes it very hard to work out exactly where Criminal Conviction are coming from and virtually impossible to work out where they want to go.
Musically it ranges from jazz to prog rock to indie and reggae. Although you could argue the case for variety, by the end it all gets a bit boring. 'Song For Peace' as the last official track is an acoustic acid folk affair that has potential but the lyrics are awful and I'm losing interest. There is the bonus of a secret track (if you get that far) which sounds like it was lifted straight from Tenacious D.
A real mish mash affair with some competent musicianship and occasional very good song, but overall it just doesn't work as a package and has little interest beyond limited comedy value.