REVIEW: Jimmy Somerville, Manage the Damage (Instinct)
- Christina Apeles
Some voices from the past you will never forget; one of them is that of Jimmy Sommerville. As with most artists that were popular in earlier years, Somerville needed to update his sound to appeal to the ears of the new generation, while maintaining his musical style to keep his loyal fans. People admired him in Bronski Beat, loved him in The Communards, and with this solo release - playful, dance friendly, heartfelt and poppy - fans are likely to embrace him for another incarnation.
Somerville takes his trademark falsetto into a new decade, accompanied by a beat-heavy soundscape with dance clubs sure to welcome him, at the same time offering bits of eighties pop that made listeners fall for him in the first place. The release opens with a modern edge dance tune, "Here I Am," as inspiring and energetic as any Moby song, later followed by another club track, "Something to Live For," offering jovial beats and choruses. Then just turn back time when Heaven 17 and Erasure ruled the airwaves to find the fervent rhthym of "Lay Down," or the light-hearted tone of ironically titled "Dark Sky."
Manage the Damage, with all its joy and jubilation, is still a very personal and therapeutic album for Somerville, collaborating with his close friend Sally Herbert (Banderas), choosing to record at his home versus a studio, and especially the contemplative lyrics in each song. All is not carefree in the charming ballad "Girl Falling Down" or the sentimental "Rolling." The first is a polished storytelling ballad with strings, keyboards and acoustic guitar; the latter, filled with sincere reflections, Sommerville singing "we place so much upon silly things, we put our hopes and dreams in golden rings and I don't believe in the mystery of destiny... but I know what to do, we've got to keep on rolling." Musically, Somerville is not as creative as artists like Moby or William Orbit, nor eighties equivalent, Pet Shop Boys; but what sets him apart will always be his voice, hitting notes others can't.
