Flightcrank - Beyond All Reasonable Doubt

(2nd April 2001, Copasetic Recordings)
01. 03:27 Bright lights
02. 04:01 Amazing
03. 04:59 What U need
04. 06:04 Inside out
05. 04:26 Cheaper than stolen goods
06. 01:55 Get real
07. 02:39 Flipside
08. 01:59 Sir Grinalot
09. 05:39 Break the chains
10. 04:20 Another year
11. 01:27 When I get famous
12. 06:31 Take me home
13. 04:16 Twisted Lee Scratch Perry Mix
14. 02:24 Matchsticks

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Reviewed on 20th March 01 by Robert Heller/PlayLouder
Flightcrank is Leeroy Thornhill and this is his first album since leaving The Prodigy just over a year ago. 'Beyond All Reasonable Doubt' seems to lay its stylistic cards on the table from the off. 'Bright Lights' is a strong tune ably sung; there can be no doubt Thornhill has got a voice, a smooth rootsy folky tone, even if, at the present time it's a tad weak and underdeveloped. The music, meanwhile, is crisp, synthetic digi-dub, the plastic sounds all minorly awkward and doom-laden, the beats and bass spidery but heavy. 'Amazing''s perky lyrics jar with its heavier beats. 'What U Need''s dirty, crunchy bass sound fails to be as creepy as its lyrics. The comparison is inevitable - a chilled-out, dubbier Prodigy who've yet to get to grips with their studio.

Then, with 'Get Real', Thornhill goes jingly. And indeed folksomely jangly - a guitar comes out and Thornhill all but auditions to join Semisonic. 'Flipside' weighs in with a harmonica solo. Then there's an witty, acerbic me-and-my guitar retort to a spurning lover. Thornhill is blatantly more relaxed and consequently this half of the album is far more enjoyable. The highlight, though, a remix by Lee 'Scratch' Perry, all organic boom still shows up the thinness of Thornhill's studio efforts.

So, forget the angsty, gloomy first half, not to mention the dodgily aggressive sleeve art (an electric chair - surely an image hangover from Thornhill's Prodigy days) and watch out for this new folk roots star-to-be.

Comments:
The Song 'Get Real' details Leeroy's feelings following the split with Sara Cox and his subsequent attempts to get on with his life. Leeroy is still friends with Sara but admits the song was written at a low point following their break-up. He told that writing it was 'as hard as completing a homework assignment'. Part of the song's lyrics says: "I wake to a new day/ the phone rings the first time I answer slowly; I hear your voice on the line/ It's been some time/ You say you're thinking of me/ If you could only see me/ You miss those things about me/ Get real you never knew me/ You took me higher than I've ever been before/ And then you left me standing at that door" Leeroy says he's still friends with Sara despite the emotions that the split threw up. "It makes me laugh that people want to hear this sob story". "We just said that we'd be friends. Things had changed between us, but it was like, 'Good luck.' I wish her all the best. I dont dwell on the past, I get on with life. I'm not one for downers. "