Customer Reviews

A Tiniest Wham

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This 2 disc CD set is a bargain !
The CD: "A Tiniest Wham" was Iain's 1999 release, and it's quite a good one. This CD was recorded while Iain was still living in Austin, Texas in the summer of 99, and that Texas, country feeling shines brightly through with that personal Matthews songwriting style featured here in full bloom on the 12 tracks featured here.

It begins with: "I'm Alive" with a crisp drum sound and bright acoustic guitars, Iain (as usual) is in fine voice, this recording is first-class, all the way. This is disc of great sound and hat's-off to producers Bradley Kopp & Iain Matthews. Cool ballads, such as: "Our Secret Storm", "Another Delta Dawn", "Like Mercury" and "Sicknote" sound really fine up against the lively tunes: "Funk & Fire" and "The Onliest". My favorite tune on "Wham" is "The Power and the Glory", it sounds like it would have fit in well on: "If You Saw Thro' My Eyes" way back in 1971, it's a wonderful song, well structured and timeless.

The live CD: "A Live Wham" by Iain & The Swinelakers is a 52 minute piece of the show of: 09/28/98 recorded in Numberg, Germany. The Swinelakers are: Larry Thompson: drums, Mark Andes: bass guitar, and Bradley Kopp: guitar. None of the "Tiniest Wham" songs are repeated here from the studio disc but, you do get: "Just One Look", "Shake It", "Back of the Bus", "I Don't Want to Talk About It" and the great Van Morrison, classic: "And it Stoned Me". The live Disc is an highly-charged electric band and these guys are GOOD!

Two really nice CD's for the price of a single disc, these two belong in your Iain Matthews collection today.
Four Stars!

I've liked Iain Matthews forever, but this is not quite what I expected, especially since I'd heard say this is the best he's ever done.
A Tiniest Wham, the title being an anagram for Iain Matthews, starts off slow. The first 3 songs really didn't grab me, but once he got into Funk And Fire, I was hooked. This song, which is a tribute to Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, really lives up to it's name.
The CD stays in the groove for the next 5 songs, but hits a roadblock with The Power And The Glory. This song, adapted from the same melody that inspired John Lennon's War Is Over, and Peter Paul and Mary's Stewball, is an agonising, and over-long dirge about a man whose relationship was ruined by his partner finding religion.
The high point of this CD for me is the poignant Like Mercury, which tells the story of an entertainer who is on the road, missing his wife, and afraid she won't be there when he returns.
Other honourable mentions are Sicknote and Another Delta Dawn.
It is an excellent album, and I'd highly recommend it, but I don't think it is his best. I would still give that award to the 1974 Some Days You Eat The Bear....