We’ve Been Expecting You is the third album, from Tony Patterson and Doug Melbourne, who toured last year for the final time with the eminent Genesis tribute band, ReGenesis. It is a tough ask following up their previous excellent album Dark Before Dawn and their fine 2019 debut The Divide, but yet again these high-quality musicians and songwriters have produced an outstanding release filled with fascinating themes, engaging melodies and top-notch musicianship.
For an album called We’ve Been Expecting You for the duo from ReGenesis, if one is expecting this to sound remotely anything like classic early 70’s era Genesis may be in for quite a surprise! For those more familiar with their own original material We’ve Been Expecting You is another assured and accessible contemporary rock album encompassing various styles, all composed and performed with great elegance and style.
The stand-out song on the album, and for this reviewer simply one of the best songs of 2024, was the delicate and yet strangely powerful Small Boats. Patterson and Melbourne gradually released songs from the album throughout 2024, akin to Peter Gabriel’s approach to his i/o album in 2023, and this song came out during the U.K. general election which led some to try to descend into dog whistle politics playing on some voters fears and prejudices. The simple beauty and feeling of Small Boats reminded us of the humanity at the centre of such desperate stories, and Melbourne explained: ‘… the song is not supposed to be pro-migrant or anti-migrant. But… politicians were having a right old to-do about the problem of people coming over in small boats, the ghastly Rwanda scheme and so on. I felt that the humanity had been lost and the no-one seemed to remember that these are all real, actual, people. Not boats. And that’s it.’
The album opens rather dramatically in Don’t Lose Your Soul with a descending synth drone dropping down to an undulating piano section which Doug Melbourne has likened to the famous Tony Banks ‘cross hands technique’, although we are hardly in classic Genesis territory here, even if it is probably the most ‘proggy’ in nature (whatever that means?!) on the album with different evolving sections. A mischievous fading keyboard end section faintly echoes a rather iconic Prog classic – I’ll let the listener spot that one for themselves! Tony Patterson’s yearning vocals ooze a sense of regret reflecting the lyrical theme, described by Melbourne as being ‘about the way one can lead a busy and superficially fulfilling life meeting other people’s expectations, but somehow along the way, we start to lose sight of who we actually are. Ever felt like that?’ This multi-faceted but fluent piece atmospherically disappears over the musical horizons with a sinuous but restrained synth solo flowing by Melbourne over a bed of mellotrons, and is an excellent introduction to their classy song writing. This quality is reinforced by Darkest Hours, about depression, which contrasts the darkness of the lyrics with trippy piano and a softly hypnotic rhythm. The ‘black dog’ never sounded quite so attractive, and to top it off the mysterious ‘Fred Arlington’ adds some subtle horns to the coda.
What is striking about this album is the high quality and intuition displayed in Tony Patterson’s orchestral arrangements, particularly the rather chilling Brighter than the Sun, which deceptively pulls the listener in with a smooth jazzy feel but lyrically appears to focus on a nuclear attack. Their ReGenesis band mate from their most recent tour, Stewart Colley, embellishes this impressive piece with a soulfully fluid guitar solo.
Patterson’s voice is often understandably compared to Peter Gabriel but there are also hints of another great vocalist who also hails from the North-East – Sting. This is particularly evident on Sandcastles, which has distinct echoes of King of Pain by The Police. Patterson, who was the main songwriter for this piece, has described this as a song about resilience, and somehow surviving. Considering the personal challenges and loss he has faced in recent years this is obviously territory with which he is only too well aware.
Melbourne has shared that Patterson came up with the majority of the melodies on the album, but he was main instigator for the melodies in the gorgeous Grace. There is an almost hymnal quality to the early passage which gradually builds majestically. On the second chorus Patterson is vocally joined by Patterson’s daughter Rebecca and Melbourne, which gives the piece an uplifting feel. This is apt for a song Melbourne has explained is ‘about falling in love, the play on words being between the name Grace, but also thinking about things on a more spiritual level, or a “State of Grace”.’ To raise this piece even higher they invited Steve Brown from the Rush tribute band Moving Pictures to embroider the finale with a rather ethereal and atmospheric guitar solo – it’s a beautiful ending to another highlight of the album.
The sequencing of a really good album is crucial, so to follow Grace with the softly flowing Oceans Apart is perfect, and also reminds us that Patterson has also had a successful career writing soundtrack music for TV productions. After nearly two minutes of the evocative marine soundscape, a gentle piano and beguiling vocal enchants us alongside some subtle orchestration… and then just the soothing sea. The affectionate nod to classic espionage films, Spies, follows and it was clearly inspired the Bond-esque title of the album. (Patterson and Melbourne also devised their own excellent attempt at a Bond theme in 2019 called No Time to Die… well worth checking out.) The Morse code-like piano and rhythms immediately evoke images of Spies. Throw in some tongue in cheek lyrics and some John Barry type flourishes and you have an entertaining homage to the world of Spies. Heal is the ‘chill down’ coda for the album with a smooth feel underpinning a positive song about the power of Love – something we probably need a bit more of these days. Heal meanders its way dreamily along on a lush bed of synths and horns, and lays us all gently down at the conclusion.
Tony Patterson and Doug Melbourne follow their own distinctive course, producing albums filled with superbly written, perfectly performed and excellently produced contemporary rock songs, showing such calm assurance and feeling. It seems strange that with their developing canon of high quality material that curiously they still somehow fly under the radar of many music fans. An album filled with brilliant and heartfelt songs such as Small Boats and Grace deserves to be heard.
We’ve Been Expecting You was one of my fave albums of 2024, and with the CD version out very soon in early 2025 it deserves to be heard.
‘Do you expect me to talk?’
‘No, I expect you to buy, Mr Bond!’
TRACK LISTING
1 Don’t Lose Your Soul (5:59)
2. Darkest Hours (4:54)
3. Brighter Than The Sun (3:40)
4. Small Boats (3:32)
5. Sandcastles (4:11)
6. Grace (5:07)
7. Oceans Apart (4:09)
8. Spies (6:56)
9. Heal (5:01)
Total Time – 45:23
MUSICIANS ~ With:
Stewart Colley – Electric Guitar Solo (3)
Steve Brown – Guitar (6)
Rebecca Patterson – Backing Vocals (6)
Fred Arlington – Horns
The Clive Winterbottom Ensemble
Gladys Pippins – Harp
Teddy Smalls – Brass Ensemble
Betty Swallocks – Voice (5)
ADDITIONAL INFO
Record Label: Independent
Country of Origin: UK
Date of Release: 26th September 2024 (Download)
LINKS
Tony Patterson & Doug Melbourne – Facebook | Bandcamp | YouTube
Tony Patterson – Facebook
Doug Melbourne – Facebook