Playlouder - Music is the Network

With albums released in consecutive years from 2001 to 2004 one would be tempted to expect some kind of departure or reinvention on ‘I Worked on the Ships’, the somewhat tardy fourth (or fifth – sort of) album by Edinburgh’s ballboy.

Having said that, it’s not as though we’ve been kept guessing during the band’s four year silence; a proportion of these songs have already cropped up on Gordon McIntyre’s podcasts (albeit in acoustic form) and on the band’s live set-lists over the past few years.

The good news is that it’s very ballboy. Fans will not be disappointed by this release. ‘I worked on the Ships’ continues with the somewhat honed and toned sound of ‘The Royal Theatre’, the 1st album with new keyboardist Alexa Morrison, and the return to proper band status after 2003’s near-as-dammit-solo-acoustic album ‘The Sash My Father Wore’.

The thing is, Gordon’s quiet, reflective, lightly-accented vocals and his particular strumming style are so prominent that whether he were playing live acoustic and solo, or backed by a 10,000 piece orchestra, you get the impression his songs would sound more-or-less the same. Love, hate or shrug your shoulders, this is a ballboy album with no surprises.

There are a couple of the fun, peculiarly long song titles: the most memorable of which is ‘Godzilla Vs The Island of Manhattan (With You and I Somewhere In-between)’, a song which does exactly what it says on the tin, and leaves one scratching one’s head in bemusement.

As is often the way with albums you’ve been waiting for, the standout tracks end up being the ones you’ve already heard; ‘Songs For Kylie’, a weird tale of a workaholic escapist, is as touching as it is surreal; ‘A Relatively Famous Victory’ is the resident mini-epic; ‘Absent Friends’ is a warming and perfectly suitable album closer. There is nothing along the way to trip you up, and so it does at times feel a little pedestrian, just a little workmanlike, which is not at all the impression you get when seeing the band live. 

Perhaps the main reason the album can sort of wash over you, rather than sweep you away, is the continually-gentle pace and feeling. I recall Uncut being rather mean about the debut proper ‘A Guide For The Daylight Hours’, and saying ballboy simply ‘couldn’t rock’. They could, and they can (see ‘I’ve Got Pictures of You in Your Underwear’ or ‘Where Do The Nights of Sleep Go To When They Do Not Come To Me?’) They just seem to be choosing not to – more and more as the years go by.

Regardless, Gordon has lost none of his lyrical bite, (even if he’s not barking); blink-and-miss-it middle album moment ‘Disney’s Ice Parade’ boasts some of his finest to date:

“You left your notes on lesbian sex on the fish tank in the hall / It took me all afternoon to read them all / I learned more in that day than I’ve ever learned before /I don’t think you and I should go clubbing anymore…”

It’s a bittersweet story of the trials of love, and it’s only a shame more hasn’t been made of it. Personally, I like the ‘BIG’ ballboy sound; the uplifting keyboard-drenched rock (yes, Uncut, ROCK) numbers that seem to lift Gordon’s vocals so much – forcing him to put more into the delivery.

There’s nothing bad here, but for someone with Gordon McIntyre’s proven song-writing skills this does seem, at times, a little underwhelming. Actually, I take that earlier bit back; I am a little disappointed. 

Ho-hum.