Carnaby Street

The Michael Des Barres Band, a band I didn’t know about but when I saw the cover to the CD I knew that I had seen that guy before. It took me a few minutes of racking my brain of where I had seen Michael Des Barres before when it hit me, he was the arch-enemy to MacGyver on the 80’s television show. Though I’m betting he might not want to be remembered for that but it was my introduction to him and it’s the one that’s stuck with me. Until now, now I think I will remember him as the guy that was the enemy to MacGyver who also has his own band, and is also Lord Michael Des Barres.
On this album Carnaby Street I was not expecting to hear what is played. For some reason I had the impression that I was going to be hearing some British pop style music but instead what I heard was closer to being jazz and blues or possibly a combination of the two with some rock thrown in for good measure. Now at first I didn’t much care for the sound of the vocals of Michael Des Barres but as the first song “You’re My Pain Killer” continue along, his voice started to grow on me. It’s rough, it’s raspy, and it by no means has the sound of audio mixed voice that’s been tweaked to sound better. Once that though sunk in my head I grew to like the way the vocals sounded because they are raw and real.
The songs being played on Carnaby Street are fun and they sound like the band is having fun playing them. I could clearly hear the enjoyment this band has for music being put in the songs, which made them enjoyable to listen to. I could clearly understand the lyrics being sung, which the meanings of them are just as clearly understood as how they are being sung. Nine out of the 10 songs are about a woman, either being loved, giving love, being in love, being forgiven, all about a woman, or maybe women, I’m not sure if it’s one or many. At times I did have a problem with the repeating of certain lyrics and how it seemed like the chorus was more of the song than being a verse then chorus. Which at first listen I didn’t like and was my main gripe about the songs but as I continued to listen to the songs I could understand how the repetitiveness of the lyrics fit with the song format, but it’s still the only thing that I think hurts the songs the most.