Cardinal

Entertainment Weekly (No. 834, p.145) - "...[S]mooth harmonies and thoughtful arrangements..." - Grade: B+ Q (3/95, p.96) - 3 Stars - Good - "...[Richard] Davies' obvious appreciation of mid-period Beatles and Beach Boys is reborn in these settings, although there is only occasional use of baroque colour to complement the semi-unplugged bandplay and dreamboat harmonies..." Uncut (p.128) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[With] Davies' unusual songs and Matthews' baroque arrangements...Only Plush have since realised such grandeur on a low budget." Alternative Press (1/95, p.55) - "...To say Cardinal is `just' Bowie-rehash is saying a lot; but it's not quite true....[Cardinal's Richard Davies] makes his own inroads into a different way of thinking about songs--as private, consumed understatements that seem to exist on a faraway planet..." Magnet (p.69) - "[C]redit the 30-minute album with advancing the symphonic-pop movement of the mid-'90s that included Belle and Sebastian and Rufus Wainwright." Melody Maker (5/11/96, p.48) - Recommended - "...Don't be put off by the connotations of The Singer-Songwriter Syndrome: CARDINAL sounds wonderful. Not just good or even great but literally "full of wonder"; all enrapturing whispers and space and slightly treated vocals....treacherously beautiful." Mojo (Publisher) (p.132) - "[T]he album emerged a masterpiece." NME (Magazine) (2/18/95, p.48) - 7 - Very Good - "...broken-hearted, barbed pop...master tunesmiths...songs are half-spoken, half-purred, in a clipped manner somewhere between John Cale and HUNKY DORY-era Bowie; harmonies are crammed tight and high; trumpets toot cheerfully when you don't expect them to; craggy guitars intrude when they shouldn't..."