Search - Brian Mcfadden :: Irish Son

Good,Very good,But Not Great

Subhankar Mondal | Bangalore,India | 05/02/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Brian McFadden was a key member of the Irish boyband Westlife and in his songs in this,his first album as a solo artist,we catch glimpses of the influence and style of the hugely sucessful group. Brian,as you may recall,actually broke away from the band to spend more time with his wife but within two months of his departure from Westlife, Brian McFadden released his first solo single "Real to Me", one of the few genuinely great songs in this CD.



"Real to Me" is a fantastic single with a melodious music complementing the powerful lyrics. Another track that exhibits the array of talent of this Irishman is "Irish Son"---composed on a patriotic theme that fires up the sense of nationalism, this title-track is a great way to start the CD. "He's No Hero" and " Sorry Love Daddy" invoke a softer kind of music with an air of melancholy about them. Actually I feel that Brian McFadden's voice is suited to such types of songs and not to fast and loud music as in " Lose Lose Situation" and "Pull Myself Away", which in my opinion, sound wan and emotionless. "Demons", "Be True To Your Woman", "Walking Disaster" and " Walking Into Walls" are good songs but somehow fail to capture our heart and eventually passed by leaving an expression of a mere shallow depth of enjoyment. The best song in "Irish Son" in my judgement is "Almost Here", a great duet by two amazing vocalists. Delta Gudrem and Brian McFadden compilment each other exquisitely in this track and as the music moves from a soft to a mid-tempo rhythm and the lyrics become more and more touching, you are invariably led to accept and imbibe the profound emotion and sentimentality of this song.



Robbie Williams, Ronan Keating and Justin Timberlake all broke away from their respective groups and launched massively successful solo careers. Brian McFadden too has endeavoured to acomplish just that and has produced a mixed bag in his maiden album "Irish Son". But he has got more to do if he wants to be a real heavyweight in the arena of Pop solo artist since as more time elapses, people will tend to associate him less and less with Westlife and then Brian has to create and sustain and individual identity bereft of past glories. Brian McFadden has the talent, the voice and the intensity to establish himself as a great male solo vocalist but for that he would've to pay attentiion to what types of music he creates and the sensibitity of his songs. I feel that his voice doesn't allow him to make all and any kinda of music and the Irishman must stick to this limitation and not try something that goes beyond, not atleast in the next two CDs."