Track Listing

1. Little Man Tabla Jam
2. Dream Song
3. Fool's Fooling Himself
4. Eyes Wider Than Before
5. Blue In The Face Again
6. Sweet Scented Figure
7. Passing Stranger
8. Prayers
9. Musical Interval
10. Still Fooling
11. City Headache
12. Nylon Instrumental
13. Elusive
14. Earth To Calm
15. White Feathered Medicine
16. Little Man Tabla Jam (1)
17. Bruno Finale

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38442 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-02
• Number of discs: 1

Mark Radcliffe
Exceptionally good…an absolute blinder!...A lot like Jeff Buckley and very Nick Drake.

Birmingham Mail
An eclectic affair, featuring blues, traditional folk, rock, latin & a favour of the East

CD Description
'Passing Stranger' is the debut album from British singer-songwriter Scott Matthews. Drawing on a broad palette of influences ranging from The Beatles to Jeff Buckley, the album is a masterclass in bluesy, psychedelic songwriting. Includesthe singles 'Elusive', 'Dreamsong' and 'Passing Stranger'.

Customer Reviews

Awesome Passing Stranger
In a few years time, when Scott Matthews is about to release his eagerly awaited third album, he will have stopped being shadowed by the inevitable Nick Drake / Jeff Buckley comparisons, and instead will have joined his influences on the 'my favourite artists' lists of music lovers everywhere. Because Matthews is too good a songwriter, too good a singer and too good a guitarist to be written off as a mere talented copyist. Here, on his first album, he shows that far from being retro, he is light years ahead of any other singer/songwriter in Britain today. Blunt, Tunstall, Gonzalez et al can go home now that the real thing has arrived and Ryan Adams, Jeff Tweedy and other US demigods can start keeping a seat warm for him at their table.

This is a stunningly accomplished debut, released on the new San Remo label and mastered by Ray Staff, who has worked with The Stones and Led Zepellin amongst others. Ten songs proper nestle amongst seven further short jams and interludes on a record so well mixed, arranged and sequenced that Arthur Lee might be able to pick up a trick or two from listening. Then there's the quality of the songs, as good as anything you will hear this year. Excellent upbeat openers 'Dream Song' and 'The Fool Fooling Himself' echo parts of Jeff Buckley's 'Grace'; the former's strings, tabla and infectious wordless chorus ensuring your attention wont waver a beat for the next 45 minutes. Thereafter the album's more pervasive mellowness dominates. 'Eyes Wider Than Before' is the sweetest of English folk and 'Sweet Scented Figure' crosses delta blues with Nick Drake.

The album peaks with its final perfect four-song run. 'City Headache' finds the narrator equating urban life to feverish illness, finishing in a French waltz. Debut single 'Elusive' is, quite simply, gorgeous and must make Matthew's girlfriend fall in love with him again every time she hears it, while 'Earth to Calm' finds his guitar picking transcending the mere mortal.

Bring on the next album, and bring it quick.

Just fantastic
Having heard the single "Elusive" on a nameless radio station I was transfixed and just had to hear more of Scott Matthews. The album is well worth every penny. The music is blusey, folky, rocky and totally unique.There is not a single track on the whole album I dislike. The combination of his voice and the guitar are just fabulous. This album deserves to be a real hit (as it already is with me) and should become a classic. It's inspiring, relaxing, dreamy and exhilarating all at once. I can't wait to hear more from him.

Exciting British Talent
Wow, that is all that can be said about this album. Scott's approach to his songs is masterful and not in any way pretentious. His songwriting doesn't pander to the mainstream (unlike many other solo artists these days). If you like acoustic guitar based music like myself then you will recognise that Scott is a truly talented player using a combination of styles including delicate strumming, slide and fingerpicking. The guitar playing is really mellow and loose and with Scott's laid back voice the whole scene blends together nicely. The arrangements have a dream-like quality, with multi-layered instruments including sitar, flute and tabla keeping things sounding insteresting. There are very few moments where the album sounds overly commercial.

There are a number of things that I really like about the presentation of the album, firstly he hasn't front loaded it with the better tracks, they are arranged in a way where high quality gems can be found throughout. The beautiful Elusive for instance is near the end where it can be looked forward to. White Feathered Medicine is also a personal favourite with some lovely string plucking and delicate melodies, this also comes toward the latter half of the album. With no less than 17 tracks you can easily take your pick of faves and leave the rest, you will still have yourself a full album of decent songs. I personally find listening to the whole thing right through to be an enjoyable experience.

Each song is really well written, and lyrically strong. You can tell that Scott has put a lot of thought in to all aspects of this album and the net result is something that you will want to play again and again.