Michael-John Azzopardi – Room

Michael-John Azzopardi by John Williams

This acoustic CD by Michael-John Azzopardi takes a while to grow on you. The first feeling that you get is that the CD is worth listening to for the guitar work displayed by Michael-John. He can play! The CD shows his abilities to their utmost. He also has an interesting voice which you couldn’t mistake for someone else. Michael-John’s lyrics are poetical and certainly make you think. The opening track “Breath” is a simple song about just being alive and is a good introduction to the CD. “I Spy” has a great guitar track backing a song about believing in one’s self. It is well worth a listen. Several tracks I found quite depressing such as “Nowhere” and “Taking the You out of Us” (about a marriage break-up). That’s a personal observation and others may get more from them. The tracks I enjoyed most were “Bells of St Andrew’s”, which has a very strong guitar backing and is a track which will make you think and “Café song #1” about greed, consumerism, fashion and image and the people who succumb. I liked them a lot. I can also recommend “Between Tides”, which has great guitar backing and percussion. A fair criticism of this CD is that the inlay notes and the song lyrics in it are largely unreadable. The artwork by Michael-John is interesting but putting dark ink over blacks and browns must make it impossible for a large section of the public to access. The print size is also an issue. This is a shame after all the work that has obviously been done on the inlay (I have 20/20 vision by the way). This is a CD from an undoubted talent. Fans will already have it as it has been around for a number of years. Others may wish to catch Michael-John live to see if this is what they want in their collection.

About the artist: Described as “an estoric genius with a penchant for intricate acoustic masterpieces”, Michael-John is a masterful guitarist whose music draws on Celtic and Eastern folk, blues, roots, and alternative styles. Combining traditional and not-so-traditional songs with his own original compositions which reach right into the listener and take a firm hold on the soul.”