Product 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'.

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: #14223 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

Customer Reviews

Cant put it down!
I just know what I like in music, and this instantly worked for me. I was a big Genesis fan 30 years ago, and I keep hearing the haunting "Anthony Philips" sound from Genesis "Trespass" in many of these tracks. Its a mixture of the 12 strings and vocals, tied in with indian Tabla. Ive always had a fascination with the Tabla sound.
The jury is out for me on some of the sound quality and mixing, although I'm probably (and stupidly) missing the point that it was intentional. It may be subliminally adding to what fascinates me about this albumn.
I think you get a very personal experience listening to Scotts music. Its right from his heart. Its a bit like reading his personal diary at times.
"Elusive" is probably one of the most beautiful tracks Ive heard, bringing me close to tears everytime I hear it (Im sad, I know). I would liken it to "I dont believe in miracles" by Colin Blunstone, if I had to.
Every track is different, with a different twist to it, although I think Page and Plant may be almost reaching for the phone to their solicitors on the odd occasion :-) That doesnt take anything away from this fantastic musician with a fantastic Voice and vision.
His Big Big test is the next Album. Remember how different each Scissor Sisters track was....then "Tada". (Should have been called "Ouch")

Breathtaking!
Many will buy the album for Elusive alone but the whole album is amazing. Possibily not what you might first expect but after several listens you will be hooked! Scott deserves to be a huge success.
Congratulations on the Ivor Novello award for Elusive!

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.