I am sure that, somewhere out there in the big wide world that threatens to crush us with mediocrity, there will be a list of those who are afflicted with that curiously British condition known as eccentricity. Admittedly, that list would be small these days but, if said list were to exist (ands I’m not saying that it does), then the name of Billy Reeves would surely be on it.
Calling your album “When God Almighty Reads The News” is perhaps an indication of the presence of the aforementioned eccentricity and, given that Billy Reeves has also been around long enough to have been awarded the long service badge, it would be reasonable to expect a degree of - how shall I put this diplomatically? – grumpiness yet it is, instead, a distinctly wry sense of humour that is to be found in abundance within these songs. His sharp edged lyrics sometimes seem fuelled as much by frustration as by his humour but they duly resolve themselves into rants that seem styled to emulate the sound of Britpop in orbital decay whilst the looped synthesiser sounds of the past do their best to keep his words company with the relentlessness that only the machine on a mission that includes melodic larceny can bring to a party.
Billy Reeves is undoubtedly an eccentric and, in these most anodyne of times, that’s a very good thing. Throw in his always evident literacy and “When God Almighty Reads The News” duly becomes an album of interest. Anyway, anybody who has an, almost a soundtrack in itself, song called “I’m On Drugs” on his album has to be worthy of your attention.
Best song: “Bstrds!”
Verdict: Electronically enhanced quirkiness.