Red Guitar Music

News, reviews and more

  • Home
  • News
  • Album Reviews
  • Live Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Features
    • The Baker's Dozen
    • Inside The Song
  • Tour News
  • Contact
The Boy Least.png

The Boy Least Likely To - The Greatest Hits (Album Review)

November 30, 2018 by Rich Barnard in Album Reviews, Pop, Alternative, Indie

Even if you’ve never heard of The Boy Least Likely To, you most probably have one or two of their songs already lodged in your subconscious.  Since releasing their debut album back in 2005, the duo have had tracks placed in more films, TV shows and commercials than most groups could wish for and this seventeen song best-of collection makes it easy to see why the band have such universal appeal.  Musically, TBLLT are the sound of childhood, innocence and optimism in a world where a thirty second news broadcast can quite easily toss even the chirpiest among us into an abyss of depression.

Since forming in 2002, the duo of Jof Owen and Peter Hobbs have honed a signature toytown sound, which bubbles over with banjos, recorders, guiros and glockenspiels across four full-length LPs.  A plausible (but sadly untrue) backstory could be that the pair have spent the last decade and a half locked in a primary school music cupboard and have released records via an underground network of tunnelling magic elves but no, they’re simply two guys from Buckinghamshire who make the kind of music you might hear on a CBeebies link.  On closer inspection, however, it’s clear that the band have retained a good level of artistic credibility amidst all the plink and plunk.  The songs go deeper than their candied veneer would suggest; from the self-awareness of tracks like ‘Hugging My Grudge’ and ‘Climbing Out Of Love’ to the open misanthropy of ‘Monsters’, which reveals a loathing for the great unwashed and the smug conformist alike.

The Boy Least Likely To’s playful sonic world doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty in the way of genuine tenderness on offer here.  ‘Be Gentle With Me’ and ‘It Could’ve Been Me’ (with lead vocals shared with Gwenno) score highly on the heartbreakometer while the philosophical ‘Michael Collins’ is a DeLorean ride back to every child’s wide-eyed and dreamy youth.  On the more pumping side of things, the downright disco of ‘One Of These Days’ and the fuzzed groove of brand new song ‘Follow Your Heart Somewhere’ demonstrate the pair’s equal deftness in penning solid dancefloor tunage.  The band’s penchant for classic pop also manifests itself both in the banjo-drenched cover of George Michael’s ‘Faith’ and its companion piece ‘George and Andrew’ - a bromanticised Wham-based fable, laid over harmony and drums that pay dangerously close homage to mega-hit ‘Last Christmas’.

The Boy Least Likely To have an easy way with pop melodies and smart lyrics, recalling the quirky genius of Ben Folds, The Wannadies and Owl City but their unhidden Englishness also puts them in line with the likes of Nizlopi and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly.  This look back at their career so far more than justifies the role that The Boy Least Likely To have already played in the pop culture of the last decade and is a fantastic entry point for all latecomers to the (best) party (ever).

Review by Rich Barnard.

The Boy Least Likely To - The Greatest Hits is released November 30th via Young and Stupid.

The band will be playing some very special Christmas greatest hits shows at Rough Trade East (Dec 7th), Rough Trade Bristol (Dec 5th) and Rough Trade Nottingham (Dec 6th) to coincide with the release of the album.

w. www.theboyleastlikelyto.co.uk

t. www.twitter.com/boyleastlikely

i. www.instagram.com/theboyleastlikelyto

f. www.facebook.com/theboyleastlikelyto

Selected Album Reviews @RGM
Only Yours - Overrun (Album Review)
Feb 1, 2019
Only Yours - Overrun (Album Review)
Feb 1, 2019

Ever feel like bands peddling soaring, epic pop just pass you by like buses in a big city?  You hop on, you hop off and you don’t give much thought to where they’re going next.  Well, Only Yours is one bus that you should definitely be catching.  In fact, if you can bear to keep running alongside the clumsy public transport metaphor, Overrun is a record you simply must not miss.

Read More →
Feb 1, 2019
The Boy Least Likely To - The Greatest Hits (Album Review)
Nov 30, 2018
The Boy Least Likely To - The Greatest Hits (Album Review)
Nov 30, 2018

Even if you’ve never heard of The Boy Least Likely To, you most probably have one or two of their songs already lodged in your subconscious.  Since releasing their debut album back in 2005, the duo have had tracks placed in more films, TV shows and commercials than most groups could wish for and this seventeen song best-of collection makes it easy to see why the band have such universal appeal.  Musically, TBLLT are the sound of childhood, innocence and optimism in a world where a thirty second news broadcast can quite easily toss even the chirpiest among us into an abyss of depression.

Read More →
Nov 30, 2018
Major Love - Self Titled (Album Review)
Oct 8, 2018
Major Love - Self Titled (Album Review)
Oct 8, 2018

Canadian singer-songwriter Colleen Brown first came to our attention here at RGM back in 2015 with the single ‘Soap & Denim’ which was followed by some low-key UK live dates.  Brown was, by then, already a seasoned solo artist with a few albums under her belt but for us - here on this side of the water - it felt like the discovery of a new and rare talent.  We’ve kept up with Brown ever since and now that she has a new full-length LP out (her first fronting five-piece Major Love) we feel the strong urge to let as many people as possible know about it.

Read More →
Oct 8, 2018
Lucky Bones - Matchstick Men (Album Review)
May 17, 2018
Lucky Bones - Matchstick Men (Album Review)
May 17, 2018

After a spell touring as a duo, Dublin-based Lucky Bones have returned to a full band sound for their third album Matchstick Men.  Rocky and reflective in equal measure, the record doffs its hat to some musical heavyweights and doesn't pale in comparison.  It also offers us a glimpse of songwriter Eamonn O’Connor’s gift for pitching downbeat emotion against a decidedly upbeat musical sensibility.

Read More →
May 17, 2018
Glenn Frey - Above The Clouds: The Collection (Album/Box Set Review)
May 9, 2018
Glenn Frey - Above The Clouds: The Collection (Album/Box Set Review)
May 9, 2018

When Glenn Frey passed away in 2016 he left a legacy of music of which any artist would be proud. Over the years his work as a solo artist and with the Eagles seems to have divided opinion, for every Eagles fan there seems to be hater just around the next corner, a situation I’ve always found very surprising. ‘Hotel California’ and ‘Their Greatest Hits 1971-75’ (the latter of which is the second bestselling album of all-time with 29,000,000 sales in the USA) are a fitting tribute to Frey and his talents. After forty years I’ll still happily spin 'Hotel California' and those early hits, which I consider to be solid gold classics, and I’m pleased to report the Library of Congress selected the hits album for preservation as "culturally, historically, or artistically significant" so I’m in pretty good company. The 3-CD + 1-DVD set ‘Above The Clouds’ finds us venturing far from those early country rock roots as Frey the solo artist seemed content to follow his muse wherever it took him, generally in a soft-rock / soul / R&B direction. The results, especially looking back in the cold light of day, are uneven but not without some genuinely standout tracks, all of which are presented with a professional sheen when maybe, on occasion, a little grit would have been welcome.

Read More →
May 9, 2018
Bennett Wilson Poole - S.T. (Album Review)
Mar 29, 2018
Bennett Wilson Poole - S.T. (Album Review)
Mar 29, 2018

This band’s moniker may make them sound like a municipal leisure centre but, thankfully, an unassuming supergroup is actually what lies behind the name.  BWP are Robin Bennett, Danny George Wilson and Tony Poole.  Many readers will know Danny Wilson from his time fronting Grand Drive and Danny & The Champions of the World and some will know Robin Bennett from his work with The Dreaming Spires but BWP’s secret weapon is veteran guitarist and producer Tony Poole.  Poole was one half of Starry Eyed and Laughing who released two records in the mid-1970s earning a reputation as the ‘English Byrds’.  If you pair Poole’s pedigree, and famed mastery of the 12-string Rickenbacker, with Wilson and Bennet’s background in contemporary harmony-driven Americana you’ll already have a decent idea of where the band are coming from. 

Read More →
Mar 29, 2018
Canadian Double Feature: Dom Fricot + Oh Geronimo (Album Reviews)
Mar 20, 2018
Canadian Double Feature: Dom Fricot + Oh Geronimo (Album Reviews)
Mar 20, 2018

The RGM inbox is visited daily by up-and-coming Canadian acts trying to spread the word about their new records here on this side of the water.  We love nothing more than to hear all this fantastic new music but, unfortunately, we can’t possibly cover it all.  However, two recent (and very different) releases that mustn’t pass without a mention have come in from Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dom Fricot and the artful five-piece Oh Geronimo.

Read More →
Mar 20, 2018
Althea Grace - Dreamers EP (Album Review)
Jan 15, 2018
Althea Grace - Dreamers EP (Album Review)
Jan 15, 2018

Chicago based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Althea Grace has packed plenty into her eighteen years. Althea played her first show with the highly respected; Grammy-winning Los Lobos aged eight, an association that continues to this day. More recently there was a debut solo album at fifteen and even more recently touring and recording with Gabe Burdulis in the duo Future Stuff. This would bring her to the attention of guitarist Doyle Bramhall II whose credits include Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and (for those of us with long memories) Arc Angels with Charlie Sexton and the Double Trouble rhythm section.

Read More →
Jan 15, 2018
LeRiche - X-Dreamer EP (Album Review)
Nov 24, 2017
LeRiche - X-Dreamer EP (Album Review)
Nov 24, 2017

Impossibly handsome Canadian singer songwriter LeRiche has somehow found his way to us here at RGM and we’re very glad he did, as his debut EP is a rather nice thing.  He made an appearance at The Great Escape festival earlier in the year and now the seven-song X-Dreamer is out in the UK on Fierce Panda.  The EP is a curious mix of acoustically driven songs, beats and pop-smoothness with flawless production values.  Think (if you can) Kings of Convenience meets George Michael via Noah & The Whale.

Read More →
Nov 24, 2017
Jasper Sloan Yip - Post Meridiem (Album Review)
Oct 26, 2017
Jasper Sloan Yip - Post Meridiem (Album Review)
Oct 26, 2017

The first thing that strikes you is that name.  Jasper Sloan Yip.  Is the ‘Sloan’ included just to stop people confusing him with all the other Jasper Yips out there?  If you rearrange the letters you can make J-Lo, A Sniper Spy, so perhaps this album contains all sorts of other loosely-encrypted conspiracy theories…  Whatever the true story behind the unusual moniker, the thirty year-old singer songwriter has made quite the (metaphorical) name for himself in his native Canada, becoming a big hit on college radio after releasing his 2010 debut Every Day and All At Once.  2013’s follow-up Foxtrot spawned the Canadian top ten and award-winning hit ‘Show Your Teeth’ and now JSY (sorry, I just can’t keep typing it in full) has returned in 2017 with the more fully-formed and mature Post Meridiem, a record that should - if there is any justice - bring his talents some serious global attention.

Read More →
Oct 26, 2017
Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs 20th Anniversary Edition (Album Review)
Sep 19, 2017
Shawn Colvin - A Few Small Repairs 20th Anniversary Edition (Album Review)
Sep 19, 2017

As a teenager in the 1990s, hunting for CDs to feed my music addiction was pretty much my sole concern in life.  This was a time when new releases were still quite costly, so bargain bins and second-hand shops were usually where I went looking for treasure.  Prohibitively expensive import CDs were a forbidden extravagance but once a year, on my birthday I allowed myself the purchase of just one deliciously overpriced disc.  I would be recklessly impulsive, routinely choosing something I’d never heard before.  In 1996, the year I turned 19, that disc was Shawn Colvin's A Few Small Repairs. 

Read More →
Sep 19, 2017
Ron Pope - Work (Album Review)
Aug 17, 2017
Ron Pope - Work (Album Review)
Aug 17, 2017

Recently the subject of the state of the music business has been the source of much debate in the RGM office...not that we have an actual office, more like a desk really but... The inspiration for much of this chat was a documentary film by Rain Perry ‘The Shopkeeper' reviewed here which explains just how difficult aspects of the business are in 2017. For another side of the modern music business let's take a look at Ron Pope on a one-man mission to demonstrate how to do things in 2017 while remaining fiercely independent.

Read More →
Aug 17, 2017
November 30, 2018 /Rich Barnard
The Boy Least Likely To
Album Reviews, Pop, Alternative, Indie
  • Newer
  • Older
News RSS
Album Reviews RSS
Live Reviews RSS
Foreign Music CDJapan

Red Guitar Music is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk and affiliated sites.

Powered by Squarespace