Say What You Feel

This time Paul Brady eschews the big-name writing collaborations, but still delivers a strong set of adult contemporary songs. He's a pleasing singer with a well-worn voice, and the acoustic arrangements give a relaxed feel to material like "Don't Try to Please Me" (which is improved by Danny Thompson's superb bass work). The problem, of course, is that Brady is known for his songs, not his performances, and others have given better interpretations of his work than he has; in part because there's a kind of anonymity in these interpretations — pleasant as they are, they feel like skeletons needing flesh to really come alive — it would be easy to imagine Van Morrison, for example, covering the title cut. It's impossible to really fault this album; Brady is a class writer. But somehow it never seems to completely come together satisfactorily.