"Some people struggle for a lifetime to get recognition for their art. You might as well know right now, Jack's not one of those." Whoever wrote the biography section on Jack Savoretti's website should be shot. If they think that sentiments like those will somehow endear people to the Anglo-Italian 'troubadour', they're sorely mistaken; nor will silly cliched inanities such as 'Just one man and his guitar - this is pure music from the source'. Titter. The corny narrative does unwittingly serve a purpose, however - it illustrates just how incredibly dull and hackneyed Savoretti's music and lyrics actually are. The twenty-three year old London-based musician is the latest drab addition to the James Blunt Front (music completely devoid of charisma and originality.) From start to finish, Between the Minds is so predictable it's actually anger-inducing. Why has the record-buying public become so easily-pleased? Why are drab artists like Savoretti hailed as any credible form of talent? Dreamers is a 'moody' and 'atmospheric' number with cliched string section, that actually sounds like an acoustic Toto track; No One's Awake is a stunningly boring cello-glutted death march; Once Upon A Street is a blatant attempt at a Bob Dylan rip-off, while the female vocals on Dr. Frankenstein do nothing to enhance Savoretti's voice (which sounds middle-aged). The pace picks up somewhat with the title track, and Lovely Fool's piano provides a respite from the droning guitar-with-string-section formula - but his attempt at a heartfelt ballad about drugs (Chemical Courage) sounds like a bad Ray Lamontagne tribute act. And all that's before the hilariously pseudo-profound lyrical samples: 'It's not where you go when you die, it's how you live when you're alive'. Fans of Paolo Nutini, Blunt, and his former touring partner Corinne Bailey Rae will lap this crap up - but for people who actually like music, it's painfully bad.
