Rob McCulloch - Thoughts Alone (Clockhouse) By Steve Rudd

Rob hails from Bolton and sings and plays very much in the style of ex-Verve mainman - and solo singer-songwriter in his own right - Richard Ashcroft. Wistful tunes such as Taking Off With You, Take Me Whole and Doing You Wrong are beautifully conceived mini-masterpieces of tasteful emotional attachment as Rob's vocals play off crisp-yet-subtle acoustic guitar chords and deep and meaningful string arrangements that embroil the sounds of violin and cello to stunning effect.

Away from such slow love-based ballads there are a bunch of heavier rocking anthems that balance out this 10-track album nicely, as opening tune Let It Go - along with Be Free, that appears a little later on - emulates the swagger of Oasis to an arrogant-devoid extent. Incidentally, and in the right light, Rob does bear a passing visual resemblance to Liam Gallagher - largely due to his long hair.

So Many Colours, meanwhile, is an upbeat and Northern Uproar-styled serving of indie-pop and displays yet another side to Rob's songwriting talents, and his backing band that comprises the likes of Pete Faint and Mark Jones on auxiliary guitars. Far from being his debut release, Rob has actually been knocking around his base of Bolton for some years, along with gigging in Manchester and Liverpool.

He's previously released a number of CDs, of which the 15-track Wait And See album is most definitely worth checking out. For while thoughts can be kept alone, good music is there to be shared.... 4/5 www.robmcculloch.com E-mail for more info... info@robmcculloch.com

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