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Robert Love, Ghost Flight

The Alabama 3 front man's solo debut is not quite what you'd expect, but Molloy Woodcraft likes its smoky, country feel
3 out of 5 3

Robert Love, the self-styled preacher man/crim and chief caller for south London self-help collective Alabama 3, seriously injured his neck recently nutting a skinhead at an anti-racist gig. The period of sober reflection which followed has given rise to this, his first solo effort, which favours a straighter country template than the dance hybrid that his band usually follows.

Was Love's righteous violence worth it? To hear the first two numbers, you worry that the answer is no. 'Below the Wire' is pretty enough but lyrically it makes hardly any sense at all. 'Give Me Some Vision' has a recurring, oxymoronic slogan which just gets up your nose. Then the record hits its stride. 'Lift up your Name', is a devotional, smoked-out slowie for a mate, replete with local colour and Crimewatch reconstructions.

On 'My Dying Bed' and 'Snow Blind' Love could almost be Mark Lanegan backed by the early Dire Straits; the former in particular has some really fine piano. Still not sure about the Dylan cover ('Tryin' to Get to Heaven'), but the self-penned numbers are growers.

Download: 'My Dying Bed'; 'Lift up your Name'

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