Journalism: Reviews: Music: Alan Hampton - The Moving Sidewalk

Alan Hampton - The Moving Sidewalk

A lot of singer/songwriter's make music that should only be played by guys to their girlfriends. She appreciates the sensitivity, the urge to communicate, the naked display of emotion; and the guys have a better chance of getting laid. Oblique poetry helps because it makes it seem like the guys are baring their souls. Likewise, knowing how to sing isn't required because spending time outside one's range and hitting high notes at unexpected times is an acceptable substitute for depth of feeling. Typically the guys then dump their girlfriends, and write a bunch of songs about having their heart broken and seek to perform in front of a hundreds women, not just one.

Hampton takes a small step away from the genre by experimenting with instrumentation and collaborating with different musicians on each track. But rather than a band with a full sound we get an instrumental tickling (violins? really?) and a series of timid collaborations, lagging behind a tired old cliché.