Four albums into hardly an earth shattering career, Birmingham’s Johnny Foreigner have decided to ditch the grammy nominated producer route they employed in the first three albums and go it alone. Well, that was somewhat forced upon them as they were out of contract at the time and so they decided the DIY route was best to give them “the record that sounds like we do in our heads”.

Since the very sad and early demise of the great John Peel, music in the UK has been unsuccessfully fishing for someone that could command even one tenth of the great man’s credibility giving nod of approval that one play on his programme could achieve. It’s almost as though Johnny Foreigner had produced an album so eclectic that only JP could pull it all together in a ten word critique. I’m not going to even try. Oh, and btw, Zane Lowe? Not even one tenth.

Variously described as indie, post punk (a bollocks name I despise immensely) and (by themselves in their early days) a country band with pretensions, Johnny Foreigner seem to defy categorisation. A good thing in my book and quite possibly the only good thing here. However, whatever music you intend to produce, knowing what you intend to do is always a good start. Despite the plan of making the album they always wanted to, too many tracks sound like they changed their minds half way through the recording, occasionally more than once.

I’ve given this album every chance, honestly, but it just doesn’t do anything for me. If you decide it will look inventive, or even funny, to have very long song titles then JF achieve that with the opening track If I’m the most famous boy you’ve fucked then honey yr in trouble. It does seem to be a JF thing though and doesn’t light a candle to You thought you saw a shooting star but yr eyes were blurred with tears and that lighthouse can be pretty deceiving with the sky so clear and sea so calm that was on an EP issued in 2010. A track I haven’t heard but I’ll lay odds the title was more inventive than the music.

So, if you are already a Johnny Foreigner fan, then this may be for you and quite possibly you alone. Anyone else should check them out on Soundcloud first before committing to any expenditure. Me, I’m off to read a book to stop me wondering just how much of my time I’ve wasted.

Reviewed by d-jaysea.

Johnny Foreigner's album Johnny Foreigner vs Everything is available now from Amazon.