Hmmmm ... the first track on this acoustic album, "Kite", the title track, "Anon" (the latter featuring a mandolin) and the last track, "Mapping the Human Heart" make the grade but I'm not sure what was going on in Boo's head when he composed the other tracks on the album since some of these seem more suitable for the score for a musical, especially "Roundabout", "Extras" and "A Cloud No Bigger Than Your Hand".   There is a sense of bitterness and/or unfulfillment created by "The Devil Takes Care of his Own", "Hunger" and "Looking for a Light on the Rails" and so the album has a propensity to leave the listener feeling a bit "flat".   "Peacetime" on the otherhand I suppose was probably intended to inject some optimism, although for me it had the opposite effect as I started to think about the converse situation, wartime - the fact that we need a word to denote a time when there is no war speaks for itself.  On the whole, this is not a bad album, but it took about five plays for it to start to grow on me, perhaps because the style which Boo had adopted on this album is quite different from the style which I had become accustomed to.

Rating: ***

Date of Review: 26.01.03

Year of Release: 1995

I had high expectations of this album, in the belief that Boo's thought processes normally produce a "sure thing". The album gets off to a good start but my hopes are then dashed - the title track is disappointing and the standard of songs deteriorates from that point on: "Sycamore Fall" is extremely weak and "Junk" speaks for itself. "Greedy" however goes some way to redeeming Boo. Boo still has his fascination with cigarettes but has dropped his obsession with cinemas. I can imagine The Blue Aeroplanes doing a version of "Dream Life". The second half of the album dominates the impression left on me (unfortunately).

Rating: *

Date of Review: 31.08.96

For further info go to:

http://www.london-sire.com/discovery/artists/hewerdine/bio.html

Year of Release: 1991

This has got to be one of the most effective albums I have ever listened to: this is heart wrenching stuff sure enough and the music is so powerful (notwithstanding the basic musical compositions) that even a person with a general cheery disposition has to be left with a deep-rooted sense of loss. Loss is really the operative theme running through this compilation of tracks, especially on "Little Bits of Zero". Boo's voice (which is equally as good live) lends so much more to the despondent mood set by this album. Not many artists could carry off such lyrics (such as on the title track) and come out unscathed.

Rating: *****

Date of Review: 18.06.96