Fame is indeed a curious thing. At least it must be for Peter Brame. An alumnus of Auntie Beeb's Fame Academy reality TV series, he had gained a reputation of being something of a bad boy complete with the obligatory famous girlfriend and drugs. So, has he grown up?
This is not a nice sweet pop album. There is a distinct lack of fluffy bunny singalongs and it is doubtful whether any of the songs would appeal to your average 14 year old. However, this is unlikely to be his target market. Whilst the lyrics of his songs often cover loves lost with some drama, he does lack the poetry of the best examples of the singer songwriter genre. Not that they are badly written but they do tend to sound like other people's songs - "Long Time Blues" could have come from James Blunt's canon, for example. Fortunately, other songs on the album like "Things", "Missed My Chance Again" and "Lost for Good" are a cut above average. Probably the album's greatest weakness is the degree of self obsession on show. Now, musicians do have a tendency towards self obsession - it goes with the territory - but a bit of variety in the subject matter of his songs wouldn't have gone amiss.
Very much mainstream in its production style, this album makes a suitable addition to anyone's collection of earnest singer songwriters. It will perhaps be insufficiently bouncy for those who follow the Saturday night antics of the fame obsessed but it is worthy of note if only for the way he has kept to a personal vision rather than chasing the easy money that is borne of celebrity. However, the question remains whether the world will accept another angst ridden singer songwriter. Redemption never comes easily.