Ian McNabb | Previously unreleased archival material from Ian McNabb 1993-2000 Waifs & Strays is the definitive cult item: a collection of peripheral material by a peripheral artist. This is Ian McNabb, the former Icicle Works frontman, clearing his attic--10 years' worth of demos, acoustic recordings and alternative versions of songs released elsewhere. Its release makes a certain amount of sense: to the extent that McNabb is known at all, it is for his somewhat incongruous collaborations with Crazy Horse and various members of the Waterboys. Waifs & Strays is McNabb on his own merits, with scarcely a celebrity cameo to be found, unless you count the recording of one track in the home studio of Pete Thomas--who is, as McNabb's liner notes rather unnecessarily remind us, the drummer in Elvis Costello's Attractions. Though McNabb's small but determined audience--this album's only likely audience--will argue otherwise, the songs here, while occasionally affecting, are mostly a series of explanations for McNabb's relative obscurity. While he occasionally evokes the articulacy of a Costello or the world-weary languor of a Paul Westerberg ("Fire In My Soul" being a decent example of both), his writing and singing lack character, and there's not much argument in favour of listening to Waifs & Strays instead of any of the records that inspired it. -- Andrew Mueller |
[UK CD] Evangeline GEL 4034
[US CD] Evangeline GEL 4034 (September 2001)
| NOTES Originally mastered by Tim Young at Metropolis. Distributed by Universal. 'Evangeline' is the label run by Andrew Lauder, formerly of This Way Up. |
PROMOTIONAL BOOKLET
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