Album Review: Jeremy Neale - Getting The Team Back Together

Singer-songwriter Jeremy Neale has been a staple of the Brisbane scene for years now, firstly fronting garage rock party-starters Velociraptor but more increasingly of late in his equally accomplished solo guise.

After a steady stream of constantly evolving singles and EPs, Getting The Team Back Together marks his debut solo album, and it's a perfectly fitting encapsulation - and extension - of all that's come before. He assembled a dream team of Brisbane musos for the project but it's Neale's idiosyncratic style that shines through, everything liberally slathered in pop hooks, gang harmonies and earworm melodies.

Despite these recurring retro sensibilities, there's plenty of room for diversity - the album is bookended by the rock attitude of the punchy Averse To Try It and the full crooner-mode of Light My Way with plenty of sonic change-ups in between. Only an epic curmudgeon wouldn't tap their toes to tunes like Dancin' & Romancin' or Video and for someone renowned for his confident onstage swagger, Neale allows plenty of vulnerability to punctuate tracks like Loose Cannon and The Heartbeat Of Life, showcasing the huge difference between being serious and taking yourself seriously. Pure fun from go to whoa.