Reviews of Hunger
"It’s a bleak work, then, but also a thrilling one."
Erasing
Clouds
"Even after nearly twenty years, the album sounds
deliciously fresh.
Recommended to anyone who admires great
songwriting."
DPRP
"Reissue of a 1988 album from a UK singer/songwriter with
his own
unique style – stark, dark, and powerful."
The Big Takeover.
I wonder how long James Varda's guitar strings last?
Certainly they take a hell of a bashing if this album is
anything to go by. No feeble, fragile singer/songwriter he
- the bulk of the songs on here are underpinned by
throbbing, forceful rhythm work and the lyrical themes are
equally stark and uncompromising. Varda's landscapes ~ both
actual and emotional - are bleak, rain-lashed places, and
"From The Bellevue Hotel" and "Crawl In The Pen" are
peopled with characters who could've stumbled in off
Dylan's vision of Desolation Row. Varda's own introspection
is coupled with a desperate need to cut through the
watered-down mediocrity of everyday life and get to the
solid bedrock of what really matters and has meaning, and
that passion is what gives these songs their muscular
force. It's a risky business trying to articulate feelings
of that sort, and once or twice he gets too obscure for his
own good, but even then he compels you to keep listening -
and there's nothing equivocal about the directness of "I
Can't Stand It", "This Train Is Lost" or "In My House" to
name but a few. Backings are fleshed out with chiming
guitar and (on a couple of tracks) a driving rhythm section
to add still more power. An album which demands the
listener's attention; Varda may be looking within himself
but what he sees can give us all pause for thought.
G.L. Highly Strung December 88
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Who the hell is James Varda”? I hear you ask. That's
exactly what I asked myself as this LP was dropped on to
the doormat. The sleeve looked interesting and the
accompanying bumph suggested that this London-based
songwriter and singer might just be a wee bit special. I'll
say ~ Two plays and I was completely hooked. Varda relies
mainly on his attacking acoustic guitar and voice, with
backing used sparingly in the main, and with just the right
amount of atmospheric tension, putting me in mind of Peter
Case's eponymous debut of a couple of years back. Varda's
voice has strains of people like the Byrds' Roger McGuinn
and a shade of Dylan here and there although his style is
more in the upfront attack of the Billy Bragg's of this
world. The songs themselves are enigmatic little vignettes
giving glimpses of dark, misty, rain-spattered snapshots
from Varda's world. It's not a sunny, summery record, but
it seems to suit the mood of these particular times
admirably. Certain tracks, if given the right exposure and
treatment, like' In My House' and 'From The Bellevue
Hotel', could find the man with chart entries to his name.
He has a lyric and melodic strength and the ability to
create atmospheres using instruments simply and to their
best effect; typified on 'songs such as, 'Sunday Before The
War' and 'Black On Black'. The songs require a lot of
listening for the lyrical meanings to even begin to be
understood, but the melodic strength has you humming
snatches of the songs thereby making you want to listen to
the record more and more. There's no million dollar
production to this affair, it's not a coffee-table topper,
but it is a record to impress friends and neighbours with.
A definite must and my LP of the month without
question.
Broadbeat August 88
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Imagine our surprise here at X-poseur upon receiving this
package from London, surprise after surprise - turns out
(after reading the enclosed info) that this dude is none
other than the great Roy Harper's (Hats Off To Harper/Led
Zep 111) protégé - having recorded this, his debut LP at
the aforementioned bard's private studio. So we listen
& surprise! We like it. Anti-folk is everywhere and
hey, James, you can look us up anytime you are in town.
This is the Brit version and the closest reference I can
come up with here is a cross between Harper himself and the
ill-fated, brilliant Nick Drake. This is Anti-Folk steeped
in the ancient bardic tradition of Albion - not much
Americana here - although I am reminded of Peter Case's
debut in terms or sheer song-craft and at moments, of Lach.
Songs like "Strange Weather" and especially, "Sunday Before
The War" indicate that young James doesn't need a
weatherman to tell him which way the wind blows and has
stepped up to continue the work that Taliesin (the first
merlin/harper) began before the mists closed in on Avalon.
This is a cool record. So dig into your penny Jars and go
man go!
Lynne Robinson X-POSEUR, New York
88
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Oh dear, a singer/songwriter. Being of an age to remember
the atrocities committed by artists (?) described as such,
I approached this album with the enthusiasm of a bomb
disposal expert investigating an unsolicited package
addressed to Maggie Thatcher. Despite the efforts of Vega,
Bragg, Shocked and some of the new country artists, there
still lurks a doubt about music with this tag. All I knew
about James Varda was that he'd shared a residency with
Suzanne Chawner and others at the New Routes Acoustic Music
Club in London. Well, if there are any more like him there,
it should be an essential stop for anyone visiting
England's capital. This is quite astonishingly polished for
a debut, but not in the sense of having the rough edges and
excitement knocked off. James Varda's an articulate and
accessible songwriter, putting together strings of striking
images and phrases and linking them with memorable,
inventive hooks and choruses. The songs are comments on
contemporary life, pointed but not polemic. Although many
of the topics are pessimistic, the overall impression is
one of optimism, of hope. Varda has an idiosyncratic,
passionate and utterly distinctive vocal style, which
generates considerable power and emotion. His melodies, on
first hearing, are not bland, but forgettable, although
after a couple of hearings, I found them drifting into my
mind. His guitar playing is varied, fitting the different
moods of the songs well and someone has obviously thought
long and hard about the arrangements, which also show
considerable variety within the guitar/ bass/drums format,
always enhancing, but never overpowering, the vocal and
guitar. This one was a very pleasant surprise - perhaps
'pleasant' isn’t quite the right word for a performance of
such power and feeling. I shall watch his' future career
with a good deal of interest: someone with this much going
for him will certainly, if there's any justice, be more
widely heard.
Guy Bowden Taplas 3