Los Angeles singer Aloe Blacc’s single I Need a Dollar – a slice of brilliantly anguished soul about a man made jobless by the recession – was hailed as the credit-crunch anthem. Thus, eyebrows were raised when “Blacc” turned out to be one Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins, a former consultant at Ernst & Young.
Wearing a jacket that makes a Louis Vuitton handbag seem the epitome of austerity, the supposed soul man further dents his credibility by blending I Need a Dollar with bizarre covers such as the Police’s Walking on the Moon, and urging everybody to say “Way-oh!” Faced with the chance to become the voice of a generation, Blacc seems to have opted instead to be a singing Butlins redcoat.
Or maybe he’s just an all-round entertainer who accidentally produced an era-defining track. This gig is part-sublime, part-awful and often simply surreal. Blacc – also a former MC – can obviously sing, but skims over his Good Things album in favour of bizarre medleys, like a smoochy version of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean that morphs into Basket Case by Green Day. When parts of the crowd roar their approval, you suspect some people would cheer a soul reinvention of Bob the Builder.
Loving You Is Killing Me is sung almost straight, and the older I’m Beautiful sounds wonderful, but Blacc seems determined to waste his opportunity, with T-shirt throwing sessions and excruciating monologues about “my church”. “Go home and give your favourite CD to a young child!” he urges, to growing titters, before descending back into karaoke hell.
Similar Posts:
- A Few Tips on Getting More Affordable Car Insurance As a Young Driver
- Cheap Life Cover a Few Things to Consider While Buying a Life Insurance Policy
- Canadian Dollar Gains on Oil Rebound
- UK builders want to be green
- Review of pensions system announced
