By Ljubinko Zivkovic, Rock At Night Amsterdam
Review: James Clarke Five’s album – Zoom and the Gadflies
James Hughes, the man behind James Clarke Five is a seasoned hand, as his career started as far back as the eighties, when he was the keyboardist for Liverpool 80’s new wave band The Cherry Boys. While that band possibly didn’t make that big a splash, its members played for the likes of The LA’s, Cast, The Icicle Works and Lightning Seeds.
The names of above bands just might be an indication of the direction Hughes started moving towards with his James Clarke Five, the project he started in the early 2000s.
It is that whimsical take on the more melodic side of power pop, something Hughes’ contemporaries XTC have done so well. Not that Hughes was lagging much behind in his previous recordings, as he has amassed some 1.25 million streams on Spotify.
The reasons for such a following are quite obvious on James Clarke Five’s new album. Here, Hughes adds touches of glam rock to his power pop leanings recalling his childhood faves like T. Rex and Adam and The Ants. It is a meticulously constructed set of songs, after all it took Hughes over two and a half years to complete and record this album, quite a joy for all power pop and melodic rock fans.
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