Worse Than Pride

Worse Than Pride was a breakthrough album for Kieran Goss, both commercially and in the depth and maturity of his songwriting. The album debuted at number seven on the Irish pop charts and remained in the Top Ten for a remarkable 11 weeks. It also produced three hit singles on Irish radio: "Out of My Head," "Lucille," and "Running for a Reason." On Worse than Pride, Goss' folk-pop somehow seems simultaneously more folky and more marketable to pop radio than his previous two albums. This is the first album that really provides a showcase for Goss' acoustic guitar playing, all but eliminating the pianos and keyboards that played such a dominant role on Brand New Star and New Day. Tracks like "Weight of the World" and "Waste of Time" exhibit nimble fingerpicking abilities that previously have been hidden on Goss' recordings, and two of the best songs on the album (the reflective "I Don't Want to Stop Loving You" and the haunting title track) consist only of the singer and one guitar. But if the increased emphasis on acoustic guitars gives the record a heightened folk flavor, the deft hooks planted in each chorus, as well as the restrained but glossy production by Goss and Pat O'Donnell, make for a potent pop sound not far from, say, Toad the Wet Sprocket (which would fit in as well on American adult contemporary radio as it has in the Irish pop scene).