Blame Ben Harper. Thanks to that slide-guitar charlatan we now have the antipodean version, replete with rope-head Rastafarian intentions and brimming with earnest peace-and-love rubbish in his lyrics.
Yup, John Butler is back and with each album his fan base grows.
Good on him. His whole manufactured laidback approach (hey, it must be laidback if the dude plays guitar in a chair, right?) gets on my nerves.
JJ Cale's been strumming on the porch for years. But Butler grinds my gears with his hippie-dippie philosophy. He's the reverse of Mel Gibson an American who wants to be Australian and wants to love all cultures, colours and creeds.
At least Gibson and I'm not saying drunk-driving is cool is being honest with who he really is. I heard most of the songs on Grand National debuted by Butler on his last tour. I hated them then, and they sound worse without a crowd to endorse his cod-reggae impersonations.
There's no question the man can play guitar, but on record he seems to want to hang back and be a Bob Marley figure for folk who think they've unlocked a secret. It is clear the reviewer already has a dislike of John Butler and his music even before listening to the album. Are journalists not supposed to remain unbiased?
Somebody else should have reviewed the album if this person feels so strongly. I am not the biggest John Butler fan in the world but I enjoyed his last album and was interested enough to see whether the new one was any good - a review of this sort is of no help to anyone. I say to the reviewer: "Go shove your head back in the sand".
John Butler doesn't claim to be anything other than himself. Let people be who they are. Are we, as a race so far gone as to think someone can't just be happy and want the world to be at peace?
Listen to this music and let yourself really hear it, maybe you'll learn something.
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