Purple Kittens is the latest collaboration between Kimberley Rew and his wife Lee Cave-Berry and if anyone reading this is unfamiliar with Kim's history go and google his career now to know just how legendary he is and has been for the last 35 plus years in The Soft Boys, Katrina & The Waves, Jack and with Lee Cave-Berry.
The album opens with Penny The Ragman that seems to hark back to the old rag and bone man coming round to buy your rags, but also sounds like it's about people in desperate straits due to the pandemic, this has as expected some rather glorious guitarwork. Of course, the real Ragman this song is about is the person who looks after the outfits for a team of Morris dancers.
You Can Rely On Me is gently insistent that they are the people to go to if your in need of a little bit of help, this is musically sparse in places to allow each part to really jump out.
I Can Be Any Woman has Lee taking the vocal lead as she explains that she will be almost anything you want her to be over a gentle mainly acoustic tune with delicate percussion and a nicely insistent and repeating Carnatic guitar figure.
Kingdom Of Love is a slightly askew re-working of the Soft Boys classic power pop love song with several twists that reminds me of Nick Lowe's late 70's singles.
Too Much Love is something we all hope is true that there really is Too Much love so we can stop all the hatred, this is bucolic supine folk.
Wrong Song is about that moment when you're playing a gig at social club or party and people wander over and start talking to you as your playing! Don't they know who is playing, this is wry and carefully observed with a great flute break that adds a cool funky edge to this Wrong Song.
Unsatisfactory Cats is a cool little tribute to the foibles of a couple of cats and reminds me of a poster of cats that one of my Aunts had framed on her wall, some of those cats were not totally satisfactory and at least these cats don't seem to drop dead mice and birds on the carpets.
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Black Ribbon is a song written in tribute to Roger Smith the singer of the band Jack that also featured Kim and Lee, the song was written by Roger Smith's grandsons Jonah Smith and Reuben Smith aged 6 and 8 and is a lovely tribute to their grandad who had just died of Covid 19.
Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream is crying out to be the soundtrack to a walls ice cream advert and it has a good rocking chug to it and is a perfect song to play when you need and want to have a large bowl of Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream with the bass solo being the point where you consider if you need any sprinkles on top or not.
Growing Up Song is a cool folk song look at how the younger generation are forever online and on there gadgets and they reminisce about the good old days when well you know you had to actually go and do things in real life or they just didn't happen.
Voyager is a tribute to that 1970's marvel the Voyager space craft that is floating off to far off parts of the universe carrying it's important cargo of Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode and Kim's feeling about it's launch in 1977 and its mission.
The album closes with Daytime Night Time that takes us off to camp Grenada for a great slice of power pop to celebrate the differences between day and night over a great chugging riff that really choogles along and a great way to end the album leaving the listener wanting more.
Find out more at www.kimberleyrew.com www.leecaveberry.com www.facebook.com/kimandleemusic www.kimandlee.co.uk .
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