After spending 16 years with seminal Australian band
Hunters & Collectors, lead singer and guitarist
Mark Seymour returned soon after their demise with his debut solo album. Those fans expecting just another
Hunters & Collectors studio album will be sorely disappointed, but not for the lack of quality on this disc;
Seymour has simply made a conscious effort to make an album that is very different from his former band's music. While
Seymour has retained Hunters guitarist Barry Palmer for
King Without a Clue, he has also recruited his brother, former
Crowded House bassist Nick Seymour. This is a very refreshing change.
Hunters & Collectors was a great band, but they began running out of ideas toward the end of their career. Their record sales during the '90s were, by their standards, disappointing, and albums like 1995's Demon Flower were not of the same quality as their defining Human Frailty.
King Without a Clue, however, is a disc of introspective, country-tinged songs. Organ has replaced the Hunters' brass section with great effect.
Seymour's vocals are as raw and aggressive as ever, although ballads like the haunting "The Ghost of Vainglory" show the same emotional side to
Seymour that made "Throw Your Arms Around Me" an instant classic in the mid-'80s. "Last Ditch Cabaret," "Home Again," and "You Don't Have to Cry Anymore" are some of the best tracks here and serve to highlight that
Mark Seymour is one of Australia's finest singer/songwriters. ~ Jonathan Lewis, Rovi
