Gary Moore - Dark Days In Paradise (1997)

Year: 26 May 1997 (CD 1997)
Label: Virgin Records (Europe), CDV 2826
Style: Pop Rock, Rock
Country: Belfast, Northern Ireland (4 April 1952 - 6 February 2011)
Time: 67:30
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 462 Mb

Charts: UK #43, AUT #19, FIN #27, GER #32, NOR #27, SWE #23, SWI #22.
Eschewing the blues focus of Moore's prior work for a more contemporary feel, Dark Days in Paradise is a diverse and rhythmical album that incorporates many styles, including drum and bass, soul, folk, jazz, Irish folk, Eastern music and ballads. Instead of blues rock, Moore utilises electronic beats alongside his soaring guitar playing. According to critic Andrew Hirst, the album's wide range of styles are "alien to [Moore's] usual blues output", highlighting the jungle track "Always There For You", the Britpop song "One Fine Day" and the soulful "I Have Found My Love in You", but noted that each style is accompanied by Moore's guitar work. Neil McCormick describes it as an "understated song-based collection" encompassing lo-fi pop (as on "One Good Reason"), as well as shades of hip hop, world music and jungle. Colin Larkin comments that the record has "little blues on offer", instead attempting "rock, AOR and pop", while Jones says that the album saw Moore "[take] up the Britpop challenge". The Irish Times called the first of two consecutive experimental pop albums recorded by Moore, followed by A Different Beat (1999).
Moore said that Dark Days in Paradise "encompasses all the influences I've had in my career over the years and a few new ones. There's a bit of everything in there. I've been listening to a lot of hip-hop, drum 'n' bass, reggae, R&B, very rhythmical stuff." He added that the record was not a response to people's perception of him as an artist, bur rather "just what I wanted to do. The same when I started, or went back, to playing blues, I just felt it was time for a change." The production buoys the melodies with elegant string arrangements, with guitar solos generally minimised. Of the more unusual material, "One Fine Day" has been described as a Beatlesque song containing a bassline evocative of the Beatles' "Rain" (1966), while "Like Angels" is a keyboard-heavy ballad reminiscent of late 1980s music, whereas "Always There for You" uses racing jungle rhythms as a backdrop for an otherwise soulful track. Though Moore had abandoned blues on the album, song titles such as "Cold Wind Blows" and "Where Did We Go Wrong" still betray a moodiness reminiscent of Moore's blues work.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Days_in_Paradise)

01. One Good Reason (03:02)
02. Cold Wind Blows (05:26)
03. I Have Found My Love In You (04:53)
04. One Fine Day (04:58)
05. Like Angels (07:32)
06. What Are We Here For? (05:44)
07. Always There For You (04:33)
08. Afraid Of Tomorrow (06:42)
09. Where Did We Go Wrong? (06:36)
10. Business As Usual (18:02)

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