Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS & RELATED ARTICLES

20/20 MAY 1989 - by Louisa Young

THE NEVILLE BROTHERS: YELLOW MOON

The Neville Brothers have changed labels, put themselves in the hands of producer Daniel Lanois, bared their political hearts and come up with their best album. It's completely different to the dancing-on-the-tables Neville Brothers we know and love, and yet completely the same. They were never exactly kids, but even so they seem to have grown up, and grown dark and ancient with it. Where they have always dripped sweet honey and fancy footwork, here they are swooping and marauding, slinking and wailing through blood and jealousy and the smouldering sense of purpose in every displaced race. Haiti crops up more than once. There's God (in a hair-raising cover of Dylan's With God On Our Side), there's Fire And Brimstone, Voo Doo, Wild Injuns, a 'Spirit Call' and a Yellow Moon to put the fear of God into anyone with a mere notion of infidelity. And those are just the song titles - think what a lyric can do. And Eno makes some spooky keyboard noises in the background; the Dirty Dozen Brass Band gleams out of the sludgy harmonious interweave, and Aaron... well, if you don't know what Aaron Neville can do, you have some big pleasures ahead.