Rob Dickinson's solo record comes out tommorow as well...

from allmusic.com

Around the time Catherine Wheel turned ten, the band dropped a bassist, added a "the" to their name and released a turkey. When they broke up, shortly thereafter, Rob Dickinson's first solo album was only a matter of time (five years). Once the disappointment in the lack of adventure on Fresh Wine for the Horses washes away, it becomes apparent that Dickinson spent at least part of his time away becoming a sharper songwriter. Catherine Wheel songs, at their very worst, could be overwrought and insufferable, but Dickinson keeps it all in check, avoiding doe-eyed self-absorption and addressing a "you" with more frequency than ever. (Rest assured, he did not learn the latter move from Coldplay.) Structurally, this is a fairly conservative set of songs — at least when compared to the likes of "Fripp," "Car," "Girl Stand Still" and Adam and Eve's more exploratory passages — that covers a lot of the territory heard in Dickinson's past work, plus strings galore. After "My Name Is Love," a soaring introduction that smartly stops just short of saying "here is the anthem!," the album settles into calm contemplation, only to give way to a second half that throws in a couple rockers that strut and snarl with as much ease as "Broken Head" and "Broken Nose." One of these songs, along with the closing "Towering and Flowering," are resuscitated turkey-era CW leftovers that are, perversely enough, spectacular. Throughout, Dickinson's in better voice than ever while adding plenty of sweet background harmonies. Given the way his old band departed and the amount of time it took to materialize, Fresh Wine for the Horses is better than most could have expected. Fans who favored Catherine Wheel's more left-of-center moments will be unhappy that Dickinson is more into refinements than innovation here, but an album full of mostly great songs is an album of mostly great songs.

Looking forward to it. It's high up on my list-o-things-to-buy (along with SFA, Paul McCartney (am I the only one interested in this?) and maybe the new David Gray.) I agree with the AMG review - that last CW album was a tub of fart, but the clip of the new song on his site sounds fantastic. Hard to believe he's related to Bruce "the Air Raid Siren" Dickinson (not meant to be a slam against Maiden - I'm a huge fan, actually.)

It's definitely a "softer" Rob on the new album. As much as I love Catherine Wheel, I can honestly say that it didn't WOW me on first listen. Definitely a grower. "My Name is Love" is by far the best song on the album.

Indie 103.1 has the new song on heavy, heavy rotation and is quite good. Aural says that’s the best song so that spells trouble but doesn't surprise me.

i have heard some pretty horrendous things about this. i hope they're all false, though.

Really? My wife and I find ourselves singing along as it is catchy, but "Handsome" is the song that we both really love.

What have you heard?

The album killed Jon Benet Ramsey.

one guy i talked to said it had maybe one good song on it. another guy went so far as to call it embarrassing. although, they're the only two who've mentioned it.

To each their own - I think there are a lot of great songs on it - but many are more in the vein of "Wishville" than in the vein of "Chrome" or "Adam & Eve"

I think that this album holds up to a lot of albums that are currently out there and would sell well if it had been released by an unknown artis- I think unfortunately people are going to compare it to CW and when people only hear one song that sounds like an artist's previous works then they aren't satisfied......say what you want about "Wishville", but Coldplay came out with an album that sounded to me and many others a lot like parts of "Wishville" and people fawned over it....

I sure as hell didn't! Coldplay = another tub of fart.

Funny, we're actually working on a Catherine Wheel cover this very week...

I've listened to the solo record a few times in the past month...not really my thing, but I'm guessing it's not supposed to be.

What song are you guys going to cover?

Have you ever checked out:

http://www.cwcovercomp.com/ ?

Some interesting covers on there.

Picked it up last night and love it, love all of it. Great album. Picks up right where Adam & Eve left off. I don't hear anything resembling Wishville other than the fact that it's the same guy singing and, in general, it just sounds like a slightly more stripped-down Catherine Wheel.