GOD`S GREAT BANANA SKIN A CLASSICALLY STYLED REFLECTION OF CHRIS REA EMOTIONS

https://youtu.be/eJMEMTHdLvU?si=BXuj7eVS61aGL15x

Never one to set the charts on fire or be a music revolutionary, Chris Rea nonetheless has long established himself as being a gritty and grainy solo artist who doesn`t stick to convention and who has dabbled in many different forms of music, notably blues and jazz in more recent years. 

Rea`s sound has always been spacey and non-confrontational, his deep, powerfully distinctive voice has elevated many standard mediocre pop songs to much greater heights. 

He became known in the 80`s with such
pop songs with a slightly progressive bent such as `Lets Dance`,`On The Beach` and `I Can Hear Your Heartbeat', probably his greatest rock song, disregarding his classic STONEY ROAD blues orientated double album at the beginning of the 2000`s, is the somewhat repetitive but classically styled `You Can Go Your Own Way`, a song from the 90`s that was just a tack-on to a greatest hits compilation. 

In 1992, Rea released what would probably be regarded as his best overall album, the eccentrically titled `Gods Great Banana Skin`,the title track is a witty and intelligent, biting reflection of how we should always remember that the man upstairs will have a banana skin waiting for us to slip on if we keep mucking up. 

The opening 9-minute long opus,`Nothing To Fear`, features a mesmerizing and long winded slide guitar solo from Rea which is heavily influenced in build up and structure to something you`d expect from Mark Knopfler in Dire Straits. 

`Miles Is A Cigarette` is somewhat incongruous lyrically but the final verse of it features one of Rea`s most compelling vocal performances, stereophonic and richly textured like no other.

The album is brimming with philosophical sarcasm, I`m sure with a female or two in mind on Rea`s part. `I Ain`t The Fool` is the more aggressive in comparison to the blase `There She Goes`, the former more of an ultimatum to the mystery woman who inspired the lyric, the latter more of a parody after she has gotten up and done a bolt on him and he has given up altogether. 

`Too Much Pride`is another stinging observation of love gone wrong and a reflection on somebody who wouldn`t compromise to make a relationship function properly. 

The most hard rock edged songs in the set is the aptly titled `Boom Boom` and the confessional`Black Dog`, no guessing it`s
metaphorically referring to Rea`s state of mind at the time and not a big black doberman or labrador like the title suggests. 

I have left the 2 best songs in my opinion to last, for my liking the slow starting but eventually rollicking jamfest `90`s Blues` and the classically styled smooth guitar gem `Soft Top, Hard Shoulder` are a tie for gold here. 

Rea outgrew the fickleness of his own 80`s output and all the other disposable pop which had taken over the airwaves at that time to produce a quite brilliant epic album, rock heavy in places but in true Chris Rea style spaced out and eclectic enough to make his vocals the standout attraction. 

If I had to name a Rea album you had to own

then to me this is the one - a bit of pop, a bit of rock and a bit of blues, as well as one of the most underated singers at the top of his game. Rea decided to not sell himself out.