Master White and Ms Temple's Masterpiece

My instincts proved correct as to the whereabouts of a copy of Eg and Alice’s 24 Years of Hunger and I am grateful for the chance presented to me to get to know and admire such a fine collection of songs. I was chatting to the droll S on the telephone earlier and he asked me to describe the sound of Eg and Alice. I would suggest it to be one part Blue Nile (plaintive vocals and urban themes) mixed with an equal measure of Steely Dan (glossy production and not a bum note to be heard). I sense a slither of Hue and Cry and, in its funkier moments, a pinch of Prince Rogers Nelson. However, as I mentioned during my review of that rabble Boy Kill Boy’s gig this week, you need tunes and this album is chock full of moving melodies and quietly complex and emotive lyrical content. I already appreciate this recording and sense it will grow and grow and become a firm favourite. My favourite track at the moment is Indian, a great little tune but with a really barbed set of lyrics about isolation and rejection:

Jack Malloy came up to me / At a party on the hill / Sad expression on his face / He said though it grieves me so / I’ve been asked to throw you out / By the owner of this place.

And so on.