Review

Travie McCoy: Lazarus (Atlantic Records)

Front man of Gym Class Heroes McCoy’s solo effort is a selection box of different stuff, something for almost everyone somewhere and a coffee cream which nobody wants to eat.

From its opening featuring Cee-Lo Green it’s apparent he’ll be stabbing in all musical directions. The first single ‘Billionaire’ is bursting with sly humour which saves it from being another saccharine sweet chart entry and ‘After Midnight’ ‘Need You’ and ‘Superbad’ are all straight up Gym Class style band tunes. Although not excessive, McCoy seems to have been unable to resist the lure of autotune which has been slapped on many tracks.

The bizarre interpolation of the Supergrass tune ‘Alright’ may be the song that gets politely left in the chocolate box. Only on the last track does McCoy really bare his soul with ‘Don’t Pretend,’ but by then its all over. A worthy debut all in all though.
Words ADAM IRVING