Lateness of the Hour
Gresham's favorite son Eric Matthews has returned with another dose of warm, seductive hits begging to jump into your lap. You've heard the term "radio-friendly"? Anything onThe Lateness of the Houris downright radio-enraptured. Matthews's striking melodies and graceful arrangements recall several whistle stops along the pop music timeline, visiting and grazing on painstaking '60s sophisticates like Phil Spector, George Martin, Brian Wilson, and their gentle, non-bombastic use of strings and horns on "To Clear The Air" and "Gilded Cages." From there, it's time for a snack of slick, soulful '70s Top-40 taffy by Gerry Rafferty, Walter Egan, Orleans, Seals & Crofts, and Little River Band, among others, followed by a dash of wistful '80s whiz kids like Sting, Richard Page, and Mark King on cuts like "Becomes So Dark" and "The Pleasant Kind." Clearly the man is a musical omnivore who has learned his lessons well, yet his too-smart-to-be-wimpy songs don't sound like they belong anywhere other than in the present, pulsing out of the stereo with the restorative powers of a hot bath after a day cutting cane in the fields. A few more intuitive artist-scholars of Matthews' stature would sure help me to make it through endless stacks of Collective Soul, 7 Mary 3, Reef, and other such no-brained nonsense.--John Chandler