TIM BOOTH : BONE
One of The Three's world exclusive first review of the album
Second track is the title track "Bone" and opens with an electronic almost tribal beat which continues throughout, before Tim tracks the course of human evolution and the nature of life ("one man lives, one man dies, one forgives, one gets crucified"), in a half-spoken / half-sung vocal that characterises many of the tracks on the album. The music appears simple but is quite cleverly layered to match Tim's delivery, a theme that continues throughout many of the tracks that follow.
"Monkey God" ups the pace but keeps the upbeat funky tribal mood of the album. Another song reflecting on the nature of human evolution ("God in man, man from ape, everything's connected") and behaviour, it has some stunning electronic touches in the production, both in the music and the treatment of Tim's vocals.
"Redneck" kicks off with a subtle understated electronic beat with another half spoken / half sung lament on the consequences of fame with a throwaway but effective chorus of "I'm just ice cream, it's all rama rama". It's clear just four songs that this album doesn't take itself too seriously and that's a good thing. The song comes to an end with a repetitive "lest old acquaintance be forgot" with Tim's vocals becoming more distorted as it goes on.
An electronic opening and half-spoken vocals introduce Love Hard, which weighs in at about 2 1/2 minutes and focuses on the difficulties of love and making it last ("my love is a healer, just a look can purify, a hard loving heart that swallowed too much life"). Another indication of just how much this is not just a Tim Booth solo album is the way the guitar takes over at various parts of the song and drowns out Tim's vocals to the extent by the end that it's almost audible over a wall of noise. Very very different to what you might have expected, but it works, exceptionally well.