Search - James Keelaghan :: A Recent Future

It's easy to get fooled by James Keelaghan. The Western Canadian folk singer owns a handsome voice, and he gives it such a husky tremor that his songs sound far weightier than they actually are. Upon repeated listenings, however, the weaknesses of his recordings become all too apparent--the reluctance of the melodies to break out of predictable patterns, the lassitude of the rhythms, the tendency of the lyrics to favor broad generalizations over specific details. These shortcomings are more evident than ever on Keelaghan's album, A Recent Future. Typical of the album is the title track, in which Keelaghan meditates on the mysteries of time, belaboring the obvious with observations such as "the present what-will-be will be here ever after." --Geoffrey Himes