So, farewell then, Ben Parker and Jason Hazeley. The gentle English duo's three albums of melodic heartache, pitched somewhere between Tim Buckley and Badly Drawn Boy and all released between 1999 and 2001, made them firm Uncut favourites. But dropped by their label Go Beat, they decided they'd had enough banging their heads against a wall of indifference. Sod's law dictates that their farewell album (posthumously picked up by Setanta) is the most potent of their career. From Ben's acoustic guitar musings on "510 Miracle" and "Orphans" to Jason's heart-rending piano ballads and exquisite string arrangements on "A Star In Nobody's Picture" and "You're The Reason", they're still singing like a pair of bruised cherubs. A nation should mourn. Instead, nobody cares. Shame.
So, farewell then, Ben Parker and Jason Hazeley. The gentle English duo’s three albums of melodic heartache, pitched somewhere between Tim Buckley and Badly Drawn Boy and all released between 1999 and 2001, made them firm Uncut favourites. But dropped by their label Go Beat, they decided they’d had enough banging their heads against a wall of indifference. Sod’s law dictates that their farewell album (posthumously picked up by Setanta) is the most potent of their career. From Ben’s acoustic guitar musings on “510 Miracle” and “Orphans” to Jason’s heart-rending piano ballads and exquisite string arrangements on “A Star In Nobody’s Picture” and “You’re The Reason”, they’re still singing like a pair of bruised cherubs. A nation should mourn. Instead, nobody cares. Shame.
