---

Russell Crowe & 30 Odd Foot of Grunts

The third album from these guys confirms that this is no vanity project but a serious contribution to the music world.

Gone is the pub-band production. This has polish and depth. We can forgive a couple of questionable balances between the vocals and rhythm tracks. Harmonies are tight and there are some great new textures in the sounds.

Conversely, listening to this CD transports any die-hard fan to the comfort zone. The band has played many of these tracks before, and the new ones draw from familiar sources. Getting used to fresh material can sometimes take time, but this album gives instant gratification at the expense of originality, which is no bad thing.

Russell Crowe has prefixed his name to the band's, confirming his status as the driving force behind the project. He's still cramming two pints of lyrics into a half-pint glass of melody, but the overall feeling is one of cohesion.

Wendy Dougan's execution of the packaging design is extremely well conceived, but it's a shame nobody told her when they changed the order of play. Also a pity to loose the thought provoking front-cover enjoyed on all the band's previous outputs.

"Painted Veil" is a remarkably moving opener, which pulls us by the hand through this collection of musings of love, pain and passion.

The collaboration with Chrissie Hynde on "Never Be Alone Again" unfortunately does the band an injustice. Her distinctive sound and effortless delivery does not sit so comfortably within the rest of the track. It is one of seven tracks on this album which formed part of the band's live set but have never been presented formally on a CD before and therefore long awaited. Having enjoyed samples of these on their live DVD "Texas," a degree of disappointment is inevitable.

The most memorable "new" track from my first gig encounter was "Afraid," but the recording lacks the brio of the live performance. That great gutsy intro has gone. This could have been a single but seems watered-down now. Russell warned us that if this track ever turned up on a CD we might not like it so much when we read the words. Well, we might not like it so much because the passion has not transferred from the stage, neither has the interesting juxtaposition between the confident melody and the vulnerable, bitter-sweet lyric. Even Stewart Kirwan's trumpet riffs seem diminished. Let's hope we're treated to a live version on a future album.

The redeemer is "Swallow My Gift" which could easily take over the "next single" mantel, but we shall have to look forward to a "Radio Edit"!

"Mission Beat" is a long overdue expression (or is it exorcism?) of an intimate journey and well executed even if the melody lacks originality.

It"s good to hear old favourites "What's Her Name" and "Inside Her Eyes" all scrubbed up and ready for a night on the town.

I suspect the decision to move new track "The Same Person" from its original place as opener was a good one. This is complex exploration and observation of journeys taken and also evokes memories of "Nowhere" from the first album.

The set closes with some relaxing "farm noises" (sadly lacking bovine input) and a well-loved and happily competent live version of the Johnny Cash classic "Folsom Prison Blues."

It's a shame this album isn't called Other Subtle Ways of Speaking – OSWOS rolls off the tongue much more comfortably than OWOS, but Mr. Crowe never said it was gonna be easy. (by The Chedge)