Halfway - Remember The River

It would be too easy to dismiss this album as substandard after the first listen. 'Remember The River' meanders along quite calmly - there's barely a ripple, let alone a wave, to trouble your stream of consciousness. A look beneath a surface that hardly shimmers, however, reveals that there is much more depth here than first suspected. There are indeed some areas of musical clarity and coherence amidst the murky banality that clouds parts of the record. Album opener River Roads is a decent impression of early REM and Cherry Ann. Despite its lyrical melodrama, it isn't a bad ballad. Furthermore, Chance wouldn't sound out of place on a Crowded House compilation. The centrepiece of the LP is undoubtedly the impressive Ballad of Liza Browne - a subtle, understated offering with a delicious guitar outro. The tuneless Dearest Mother, though, highlights exactly why this isn't an exceptional album. In such a crowded musical pond, it is questionable whether this will do any more than skim along the surface. [Finbarr Bermingham]