I’m a big Lloyd Cole fan and he rarely delivers a bad album. He likes to give the impression he’s one flop away from giving it all up and just retiring to the golf course which puts a certain amount of pressure on his fanbase to make the effort to give ‘the new record’ a proper chance to succeed! Thankfully, it’s hard to ignore the brilliance of ‘Violins’ the song that Lloyd Cole issued as the lead ‘single’ to promote “Guesswork”, his eleventh studio album. I was initially expecting an long-player full of electronics but it’s more varied than that. ‘The Afterlife’ is brilliant and hypnotic and ‘Night Sweats’ also impresses with a classic Cole delivery (and lyric). Not everything is quite as immediate and longish songs like ‘Remains’ and ‘The Over Under’ see Lloyd take his time over some fairly slow melodies, but it gives him and the listener a breather and offers Guesswork some vital light and shade. The wonderfully titled ‘The Loudness Wars’ brings things to a satisfying conclusion. Cole sings beautifully throughout.
Buy this record and keep him away off the golf course!
The Fat Angel Sings 