Rebellion

For his first recording under his own name, Harvey Williams accordingly dispenses the guitars that were the hallmark of his Another Sunny Day oeuvre in favor of a more sophisticated and stripped-down keyboard approach; the seven-song Rebellion (at only 15 minutes in length so short that Melody Maker reportedly refused on principle to even review it) is both simple and majestic, a strong showcase for Williams' poignant vocals and lovely melodies. In both its sound and emotional intimacy, the record suggests the classic singer/songwriters of the early '70s (although "Don't Shout at Me" thematically and melodically bears a weirdly striking similarity to the Alan Parsons Project's "Don't Bother Me"); in its way, Rebellion is the Sunday morning music twee kids have always lacked, quiet and beautiful but not so oppressively maudlin as to make you crawl back into bed for the remainder of the day.