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Album Review: Blue Sky Blue – The Byron Sessions

Blue Sky Blue – The Byron Sessions
promised to be “a breath of fresh air in an
industry hung up on production, marketing
and gimmicks,” the PR companies said. It
leads to unmatched expectations of a raw,
stripped back, and lo-fi acoustic album, featuring
local musicians and unknown street
buskers of the Byron Bay community.

After listening to both versions of Blue Skye Blue, the reality is
that Pete Murray has built a studio in Byron, decked it out with top-shelf
instruments, and hired big-name celebrities to put their names next to
his songs, rather than come up with anything new.

The vast array of guest musicians did little to improve the tracks
on Blue Sky Blue, or give them a Byron feel (which I’m still struggling
to define). It was hard to recognise Scott Owen or Bernard Fanning’s
personalities in the tracks on which they featured, and it seems they
really just played the role of session musicians. Katie Noonan was by far
the biggest improvement to the album, as she added striking harmonies
and her own verses to ‘Hold It All for Love’.

While the singer/songwriter has always been known for his
laidback, acoustic feel-good music, his latest album is so mellow that it
becomes hard to distinguish between songs, except for a few personal
favourites such as ‘Blue Sky Blue’, ‘Free’, and ‘Hurricane Coming’.
Furthermore, I question why Murray stuck to the exact same track
listing as his 2011 album. Really, there is no direct incentive behind
buying this album, unless you’re starved of ideas for a mother’s or father’s
day gift.

It seems that Australia’s master of non-confrontational acoustic
pop music has gone a step too far, from producing relaxed, easy listening
surfy music, to a dull, characterless blob of unknown, similar to cottage
cheese.

 

Lot's Wife Editors

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