CD: NV41411
RELEASE DATE: 2002
LABEL: Naive

01. This Life
02. California
03. Pretty Love Songs
04. Saying Goodbye
05. The Road To Hollywood
06. How Can The Knower Be Known?
07. Ordinary Day
08. A Face In The Crowd
09. Morning Song
10. Venus Of The Canyon

Perry Blake's new album is quite simply magnificent. Musically-speaking the mood is certainly different, it's more upbeat and there's a greater emphasis on groove, but lyrically you'll still find that understated melancholy which Perry does so well... "Nothing much to laugh about. Nothing much to cry about." (Ordinary Day). "Venus Of The Canyon" is worth the price of the album alone. It is a superb song and the choral sections are absolute spine-tinglers. It seems that while Perry Blake was writing this record, he was listening to a lot of soul, some Tamla Motown stuff. And in particular Marvin Gaye's album, "What's Going On". He wanted to explore that direction, to add a more sexy dimension to his music. California tells a story, that of the eternal American dream. It's about two people who split up down there and are about to be confronted by a reality far different from anything they could imagine. California is beautiful, inspiring, and thoroughly marvelous ...