Richard Ashcroft
Human Conditions

THE REVIEW

Once upon a time there was a lanky guy, with a nice haircut, a cheeky face, and a great passion: making excellent music with his band (if some substances came into play, he certainly didn't mind).

This cool guy (also elected in 2000 "the most poetic songwriter of his generation") one day faced a choice: keep dealing with a pain-in-the-neck guitar genius and continue to make a generation dream through great rock-psychedelic "anthems," or throw everything away, grab an acoustic guitar, and start all over, alone.

The choice made was the latter, but while everyone expected songs with a strong anger-love-rock-psychedelia charge and, why not, a bit of pop, our guy began to churn out only pop songs, catchy, but that's all.
After the first solo album, everyone said, "well, a half misstep happens to everyone, and after all, 'A Song For The Lovers' isn't bad"...

And here we are in 2002 waiting for the shaman Richard capable of transforming sleepless nights with a great discomfort in circulation into anthology-worthy songs: none of that.
Human Conditions can be described in three lines: songs strummed with an acoustic guitar, soaked with strings to the point of nausea, to lull insomniacs to sleep.

An album that perhaps finds its nicest song in "Check The Meaning" (which says it all), the last single from the album - "Buy In Bottles" - no one mentions, in fact, maybe no one even knows that Buy In Bottles is the last single from the album.

I'm very sorry that a talent like Ashcroft is sinking into such banality: here, it's only about how beautiful married life is, the true law is that of nature, etc. etc. Much better the old dear bittersweet symphony of an album from 1997, which still seems magical.