The Dustjackets - L P Hartley

Hear The Track Here

My list has got seriously out of kilter this month, and this is one of the tracks that have suffered. I get the feeling I should have reviewed this a lot earlier but better late than never. The Dustjackets are a new name to me, although it does feature someone called Colin McSloy whose name rang a definite bell. Cowboy Dream (The Ballad Of Johnny Cash) (June 2007) was by Colin McSloy and by the looks of the review I wasn't much impressed with this lacklustre country track. Although it had all the required elements to make a good track, it didn't quite punch its weight. Still that was ages ago right? Things could have changed.

The Dustjackets got their name, apparently, because they wanted all the songs to have a literary bent. In this case, being an ode to early 20th Century English writer, L P Hartley. As it turns out, the tune (song even) is much more poppy than - I must admit - I was expecting. Mind you, the beginning isn't all that much, so its best to listen to the first chorus because that's where the track really gets into its stride. There is an element of home recording about the track but its very poppy feel - coming from the acoustic guitars and the girlie backing vocals - help it get through.

There's a great Beatle-ish feel about the track that, I suspect, enabled it to worm its way into my affections. Can't say that I ever suspected that a song about a long dead writer would sound so good but you learn a little every day. Although the track zips along at a reasonable clip I ended up feeling that it could have have a bit trimmed off it, and certainly getting the intro properly set up is a must. Other than that this is such a great little pop song that most people won't notice my little quibbles. I'd download the sucker if I were you because once it gets in there, you'll want to hear it again, and again...

Rough but excellent pop song. Highly Recommended.