Three is the magic number

I haven't really mentioned Kasim on here for a while, so I'm going to rectify that now. Kasim's third solo album '3' came out recently. It is 12 years since his second, Quid Pro Quo. This is also his first to really draw on his musical friendships. So, we get Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma Roeser, Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes and Billy Joel/Ringo Starr sax player and musical director Mark Rivera, and of course Roger Powell, Willie Wilcox and Todd (as well as a few others).

I have always liked Kasim's voice, so it is nice to have another album with him taking lead vocals. This is pretty good too. The first few tracks especially are a delight. The album kicks off with Fell in Love for the last Time, which evokes Bruce Hornsby, before giving Cold Play a run for their money. . Next up, it's Utopia time.

 A number of people have pointed out that Clocks all Stopped (which features Todd and Roger) would not be out of place on most Utopia albums. It is classic Utopia. “I sat down to write a real Utopia song,” Kaz has said. “And I think that ‘Clocks All Stopped’ is a pretty good indication of what a Utopia record might be like if we were still making records.”

 

 The overall feel of the album for me is actually Bourgeois Tagg (with a drop of XTC) - and of course there are therefore nods to the Beatles. Not that this is a bad thing. It suits songs like Watching the World go By ,Summer's Gone, and Too Much on Her Mind well. In fact, when you add in the big production of Shine on, a nice cover of Someone to Watch over Me, and a couple of nice acoustic based tunes, Traveller and Fade Away (not a Todd cover) and what you get is a very enjoyable record.

I like it.