The friendly melancholic: Lloyd Cole, born 1961 in Buxton, England, had its greatest success from 1984 to 1987 with the band The Commotions. His current album is called “Broken Record”.

Lloyd Cole: “Like A Broken Record”. Some songs start with an irresistible first line, then that may actually come what may. Such as: “Not that I had that much dignity left anyway” – this is not very good English, but also the friendly resignation of Lloyd Cole in a nutshell. Not that we would have heard of him, not even the one or the other fine song about lost love, but this is almost the essence of all these songs: “We already sang that song, and she’s already gone, gone, gone,” sings Lloyd Cole almost tenderly: “And we’re starting to sound like a broken record.” Like a broken record on which hangs the needle. “Third verse the same as the first verse,” it says later: We know already that, does it still hurts, but the steel guitar complains so beautiful … Repealed in equanimity.

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Publication: Die Presse

Publication date: 11/09/10