Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There have been great musicians, great poets and great song writers that have come out of Ireland. The social eye of Damien Dempsey, the urban mouthpiece of a disenfranchised youth of Bob Geldof whose barbed, razor like quality made him a voice of a generation in Dublin and beyond and north of the border, the legendary Fergal Sharkey’s great way with words and imagery endeared him and The Undertones across the Irish Sea and into the heart of John Peel and beyond. Add now to this these and other intelligent and very special performers, the sound of Villy Raze.
His E.P., De Novo may seem like a small offering but inside the packaging resides four songs of great wealth, of outrageously good lyrics and all placed within the heartbeat of a sound that just beats you into playful submission, not with the iron fist but with the quirky and amusing pumped handshake of true and natural performer.
If his live sets are as good as his E.P. then Heaven help the person that comes out of his next gig with anything but a broad smile, for surely all is lost for them and they may as well turn their unfathomable heart to other pursuits, like sitting on an island, far from civilisation and with their fingers tightly rammed in their ears. For surely anybody who can bring this much humour, this much interest to a set of four songs doesn’t need anybody to decry them just for the sake of sounding clever.
With an opening track that is so blindingly good, Uncle Betty, the subject matter takes on imagery that Fergal Sharkey or Bob Geldof would have been proud of to present to music fans in the late 70s and early 80s. The tale of a transvestite is nothing new in music, The Kinks did it superbly but Uncle Betty takes the tale yet further and imagines a child’s uncle not being serenaded by the innocent and confused but by the world wise and humour filled. It is great stuff and the riff is just brilliant. No Reward, the cleverly disguised bitterness of L.O.L. wrapped in an upbeat tempo serves notice and Chalk ‘n’ Cheese gives the E.P. a climax that just makes you want to experience it over and over. Blow the neighbours, play it to them, let them dust off the bland and beige for Villy Raze will take them to a place of requited adoration.
De Novo will hold a very special place in your heart; your shoes forever tapping along to the infectious beat, will need the services of the finest cobbler available and like all great E.P.s and albums will be one that you return to again and again and again. Great stuff, Villy Raze is a natural performer and lyricist belonging to the times.
Ian D. Hall