THE INEXPERIENCED ~ THE INEXPERIENCED

Charming, warm, melodic and varied pop in a dozen assorted pastel colored flavors. Ranging from Brit-funk, to mellow balladry, and tracks that sound like lost 70s rock hits. Lilting reggae-flavored soft rock, spacious lighter-than-air flights of fancy and wishful idealism. Catchy compressed pop nuggets spilling out like brightly colored candy. None of feels particularly deep or meaningful, but it’s all quite clever, often ‘60s-infused, and well constructed.

Reviewed in Dream Magazine by George Parsons, USA

I expected something quite psychedelic and alternative in this debut album from Alex Meadows, but that’s not what I got. Chin up, though, because what it actually delivers is quite special. This collaborative project pulls many musicians and a variety of vocalists together to create a psychedelia that has a funk sensibility – or should that be the other way around? From the opening upbeat soul of 'Note To Self (So Slow)', with its glittering, twirling groove, it’s delicious slide guitar and its full and certain recognition that no song can go wrong that has hand-claps, to the beautifully and brilliantly understated Lennon-worthy dreamscape of 'Love Is All', this is an album of tight and agile surprises.

The best vocals here belong to Meadows himself and Pete Howarth. The former offers a cool, psychedelic soul that recalls the early ‘80s precision of Green from Scritti Politti (although he sounds like he’s auditioning for The Streets on the opening track), while the latter lets go with wonderful and excitable Scissor Sisters stylings. As enjoyable as 'Statesman' is, Simon Jaymes’ admittedly very rich voice threw me a little, sounding more AOR than these others. But musically this album not only jangles along, it accesses other areas of pop/rock’s canon to offer glimpses of other genres, such as Britpop, or superb almost-‘80s funk and reggae in the stand-out tracks 'Keep On Dancing' and 'Stay'. With its warm mood and perfect performances from all involved, I think this is an album you’ll find yourself listening to all summer.

Reviewed in Music-Zine by Elton Townend Jones, UK

The wonderful Pink Hedgehog label, purveyor of all that is good in the world of ‘intellipop’ etc., has made a most auspicious start to 2010 with the release of a quite brilliant album by The Inexperienced. It turns out The Inexperienced aren’t really inexperienced after all. In fact, their leader and producer Alex Meadows is currently on tour with Tom Jones and has played with Electrasy, Jamiroquai and Il Divo. He is joined by Pete Howarth (The Hollies/Cliff Richard) and Rick Fenn (10CC) and some of London’s other finest musicians. There is really no point in talking about any particular song for this album is a joy from start to finish reminding me in places of a UK version of Sly and the Family Stone mixed with the musical nous of Ian Dury’s Blockheads without the Cockney rhyming slang (No lyric warning then!) ‘A corporate-free product- made with love’, The Inexperienced album is also available at a price that everyone can afford and nobody can afford to miss.

Reviewed in Zeitgeist by Phil Jackson, UK