Play 90 second soundbite of 'Flooded Quarry' @ 'CD quality'
No great variations on the theme, no massive changes to the now long-standing Nizlopi musical ethos, just another superb and richly entertaining album of exquisitely worked tracks from this dynamic and hard working duo. 'Make It Happen' does though have a nicely mature feel to it - altogether more cohesive than their debut 'Half These Songs Are About You', it's probably more true to the 'live' Nizlopi than its predecessor. Yes, they call on some outside instrumental help here and there but this time around it's done much more subtly and bolsters the Nizlopi sound rather than interferes with it. Now that's not a criticism of the earlier album at all, it's an observation that I feel, with hindsight, I can now make. 'Certainly, 'Make It Happen' will appeal to the Nizlopi faithful - there's a more tangible thing goin' on here - you can almost feel that Nizlopi are with you as you listen - it's real and it's cool!!
'Make it Happen' better showcases the excellent, often poignant but always gritty, writing of Luke Concannon. Concannon always has his say and makes his points but he never sounds as if he's preaching or trying to change the world on his own. Concannon is an astute, observational, educated lyricist that says what he feels, says as he finds and says from his heart - that's all there is to it!! The wonderfully subdued and limited use of any 'extra instrumentation' here allows John Parker to cut loose with his stunning bass work and more succinctly project the essentially jazzy side of Nizlopi. This is much more Nizlopi as originally conceived; a wonderfully creative and original duo that had the knack of making the listeners feel part of things rather than just being watchers and listeners.
It'll be interesting to see how the general media take to Nizlopi now - hopefully people will realise what a talented act Luke and John actually are - hopefully they'll give Nizlopi a real chance to prove themselves without having to harp on about 'JCB' and 'one-hit-Xmas-wonders' for too much longer. 'Make It Happen' is Nizlopi fully on track, Nizlopi at their best, Nizlopi as only Nizlopi can be! Bloody great!!!
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