Kimberley Rew - The Safest Place

When I recently visited Kimberley Rew's website http://www.kimberleyrew.com/ to check on the

progress of The Bible Of Bop reissue, I was delighted to find that not

only was my old flavourite available again, but that Kim has a brand
new studio album out, albeit only available as a download. I had no
idea that this was on the cards and it seems to have slipped out with
no fanfare whatsoever. This is a great shame as The Safest Place is
easily the equal of any of Kim's previous albums and is thus a perfect
pop treat for those who love a catchy melody matched with witty lyrics
and chiming guitars.
The album opens with the Kinks-like bounce of The End Of Our Rainbow
which melts into one of the most gorgeous middle eights I've heard in a
long time. It's the perfect opener as it contains all the elements that make the album such a joy and the closing laughter sums things up. It's followed by the title track, an affecting ballad with touches of accordian and spot-on harmonies from Lee Cave-Berry (Mrs Rew) who also plays exemplary bass throughout. Next up is Put A Little Sunshine which sounds like a potential summer anthem, maybe not on the scale of Walking On Sunshine perhaps but it proves Kimberley still has the enviable knack of knocking off instant pop gems which cry out to be heard coming out of the radio on a hot summer's day.
Kimberley's love of fifties' rock'n'roll comes through on Pub Conversation Blues as he reels the lyrics off in the manner of Too Much Monkey Business, in the New Orleans strut of Wednesday Jam with its crisp drumming and excellent piano flourishes and most overtly on the homage of Domino. However the album comes across as being rootsy without being self consiously retro and Kim's understated guitar is always at the service of the song. Indeed, all the musicians are excellent which leads me to my one gripe - no sleeve notes! I'm still not used to downloads and like to have something physical in my hand to read whilst listening. Still this is a minor moan and doesn't detract from the quality of what is one of the best albums I've heard all year. I just hope that it gets a wider distribution and more publicity than it seems to have at the moment. You can buy it here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/KimberleyRew2

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/the-safest-place/id367555053

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Safest-Place/dp/B003HLGU62/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1274214114&sr=8-2-fkmr0