VALOR DEL CORAZON [Limited Edition]

This album essentially showcases the many varied musical styles of Ginger. The only common theme is that the man has an amazing grasp of a good tune, as ex-Wildhearts bassist Danny McCormack commented, "he can even shit good tunes".

The album starts with an Endless, Nameless-era feel to it. A simplistic dirty heavy rock tune big on the distortion. Unsurprising as the album is co-produced between Ginger and Ralph Jezzard, the man behind Endless, Nameless. This song quickly fades into a trademark happy sounding Ginger sing-along which gets you all fired up for sunshine melodies and feel-good anthems.

Next is an odd tune called G.T.T (Gone To Texas) which is an instrumental. It features the French horn, a looping bass line and one hell of a catchy riff. This melds into a song for the dumped, the anthemic Yeah Yeah Yeah with its extremely irresistible chorus of "You say you're gonna make it all up to me, I'm saying 'yeah yeah yeah'".

For me, the next few songs are growers. The pleasant This Is Only A Problem shows Ginger's love for the country way, unsurprising seeing as the album was recorded at Willie Nelson's studio and that Ginger is an unashamed Country and Western fan. I, however, am not a Country fan, so this tune is only a pleasant one. Ten Flaws down is a 8 minute long trek through country, rock and a slow laborious ending which sometimes captivates, and other times doesn't. The first disc closers of Paramour (a laid back tune about his ex having had lesbian relationships before him) and The Man Who Cheated Death (more country ballad) aren't particularly to my taste. Pleasant, but not addictive.

The second CD is by far my favourite. Starting with a 'Geordie In Wonderland'-esque drinkers hymn called "The Drunken Lord Of Everything" the listener is immediately fired up, only to be brought back down to a retrospective instrumental called L.O.V.E. (Loneliness Orchestrated Vaginal Empowerment). This song is slow, thoughtful and moulds your brain into an upset and lonely place, helped by 'Metal Dave' muttering "She said she loved me. Maybe she was lying all along?"

Another bouncy pop tune kicks in the form of "The Way" an inspirational power chorus telling you that the way doesn't have to be so hard, and stuff like that. Just when you might suspect that the whole thing is going to be inspirational and lonely tunes, Drinking In The Day time picks you up and spits you up into Rock land. It's thumping quickly changing riffs making you throw your head around in glorious appreciation.

"Keep It Cool" and "Only Lonely" are more joyous sing-a-longs which help drive the album forward, both with power chorus's to die for. If there is one thing Ginger can do better than anyone out there, it's write a chorus. "Your Mouth" is a piano based short ballad warning the subject matter that "your mouth is gonna get you killed one day". "Change" is another driving rock song with a thumping chorus. Ginger can churn these out easily and it's isn't until you sing along that you truly realise how fun the vocal melodies are.

To close Ginger whacks in two rockers and a power ballad. "My Friend The Enemy" is the rabble rouster, the adrenaline fuelled song of the righteous, it's shouty chorus snarling "and you call this living?!!". "Bulb" has obvious echoes of Ginger's glam rock band Silver Ginger 5. Extremely poppy verses, extremely sing along rock chorus and a plainly ridiculous finger tapping solo. The album closes with "Something to Believe In" which is best summed up in the lyrics "music will get you through times of no love better than love with get you through times of no music." It's over the top. It's soppy. It's not quite as good as Silver Ginger 5's "Church of the Broken Hearted" but it has a damn fine go, gospel choirs aplenty.

So, this album is a work of brilliance. Let down a little by some ordinary songs on the first disc, but when you have 17 other gems that can be overlooked. If this is the quality of material that Ginger can produce when The Wildhearts crash and burn yet again then there is much optimism for many more extraordinary albums to come. Criminally overlooked, Ginger writes songs at an extraordinary rate and if there is any justice on this planet, the release of this album will finally bring him to the mainstream attention.

It even got a review in the Sun somehow, 5 out of 5.

You really shouldn't need to hear what anyone else thinks before buying anything ginger releases, should all be pre-ordered, as you just know its going to be brilliant.

And it is. Great. just getting in to it and still unsure about a couple of the tracks but at the moment favourites have to be Yeah, yeah, yeah which is utterly great, This is only a problem, ugly, keep it cool.....

anyway, it should live up to all your wildhearts, SG5, break in the weather expectations, and on many tracks exceed them

good work that man