It’s over 15 years since Liverpudlian Colin Vearncombe’s band Black slipped into public consciousness with the single ‘Wonderful Life’. Three albums – ‘Wonderful Life’, ‘Black’ and ‘Comedy’ – followed in rapid succession, but then a period of silence ensued until around three years ago when Vearncombe reemerged as a singer-songwriter, usually accompanying himself on acoustic guitar and harmonica.
This collection of 30 songs, over two CDs, were written over three months and recorded over seven sessions with no overdubs or edits; consequently ‘Smoke Up Close’ is raw and intense. However the press release’s assertion that Vearncombe is ‘Europe’s finest singer-songwriter’ does him few favours even when songs like ‘Summer Rain’ and ‘Stormy Waters’ capture and sustain a mood convincingly. It’s as if he has deliberately eschewed melody because the words are strong enough; there is little variety to the mood or tempo either. Furthermore there are too many songs here that sound incomplete and, with the whole package clocking in at over two hours, it requires a singular effort of will to maintain interest.
Fans will probably lap it up though.