fake valentine

David Francis (Author) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B000E2YZS2
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,447,566 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

New York singer/songwriter David Francis is a true magpie with his music taste, taking bits from here and there and arranging them in various guises from classic pop through folkish balladry to theatre musical. "Fake Valentine" is his second album of remarkably diverse but consistently interesting songs. The man himself looks decidedly old and slightly spooky in a Klaus Kinski kind of way, but the voice and the emotion is far more comforting. On "Life Smiled" he's a cross between Wings-era McCartney and - gulp - Chris de Burgh. "Reflections in the Mirror of the Life I'm Wearing" skirts dangerously close to the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon," while the instrumental song cycle of "Song for a Party Never Held" sounds like the overture to a musical. By the time we reach the darkly toned "Far" he's found his Lennon-esque inner demon and translated it for the indie crowd.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Pretending, May 29, 2006

By 

K. H. Orton (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: fake valentine (Audio CD)

My guess is, if you stumbled across this on amazon, it's either by accident or like me, you've seen David Francis live. If by accident, let me just say he's a mesmerizing performer & his wry, melancholy songs have an infectious quality. Like Elliott Smith, he has a penchant for nabbing great Beatlesesque hooks in the wee hours. Like Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen, his songs seem set in the twilight world of a lonesome garrett. Vocal comparisons have absurdly been made to the likes of Paul McCartney or Freddy Mercury. George Harrison maybe, but let's just say it's pleasing on the ear & hard to nail down.

Though I admired his eponymous debut, Fake Valentine takes things beyond the flamenco inspired strum of his 12 string guitar. Here the arrangements are far more ambitious yet still raw in a way that lends it "Indy" cred.

As for the opening title cut, this is the song that 1st took my breath away when I stumbled across him live. It doesn't disappoint here. Other standouts include the wry love song, "Vilma's Lighter" & the lovers-in-exile of, "Lines In Blue Ink". But next to "Fake Valentine", perhaps the most devasting track is "They Both Agreed" where Francis beautifully captures that numb ache once gets after breaking up. It's just something in his voice.

As for the one instrumental peice on here,"Song For A Party Never Held", I simply don't know how to describe it other than ---haunting. The album ends on a dark, driving note with, "Far". After all the melodic melancholy wrought here, the thing comes off surpisingly more like Joy Division than Paul McCartney.

Refreshingly out of step, Francis seems to speak for the quiet outsider. People who survived some trama or loss but at the expense of company they'd rather had kept in the end.

In any case if you're a fan of Elliott Smith, Gene Clark, Big Star, or Nick Drake---Francis fits in well with this company. Mature, melodic & slightly left of Abbey Road.