The Fooler. Nick Waterhouse

The Fooler is Nick Waterhouse's sixth album since his debut in 2012. For some reason I read the name and thought to be able to dismiss the album. Wasn't this guy into modern electronic semi-dance music? Nothing on The Fooler comes close, so I must be mistaken. Instead The Fooler is an album with a modern sound where old fashioned music is played. Early The Rolling Stones, as in real early and other 60s pop comes by on the album with Waterhouse singing as if the Beat invasion never took place. So expect a little 50s as well.

Is Pat Boone still alive? If so, he must be pleased to hear a song like 'Play To Win'. He could have scored a hit with the song, along side 'Bernadine' or 'Love Letters In The Sand. This is total nostalgia, however without trying to sound exactly like Pat Boone would have sounded in 1950-something. This is why I like this album and do not like many of the copycats' albums recreating the era.

The Fooler is a relaxing record. Nick Waterhouse takes the backseat and slowly shares his songs with the listeners. The more surprising 'Late In The Garden' is with its The Velvet Underground guitar. Two chords and a little riff that just keeps going and going. As tough as things get on The Fooler, the song is a nice change to the softer songs preceding it. Waterhouse shows how an extremely elementary song, just two chords going up and down, can remain interesting from the very first second.

Photo: Benjamin Heath

There are more rock and roll oriented songs as well. 'The Problem With The Street' is a song that moves towards The Walker Brothers and Nancy & Lee. A trumpet or two truly define the sound. The classy kind of rock and roll with a dark, undefinable edge. Nick Waterhouse is able to bring this feeling across quite nicely.

Listening more often to the album, I do get the feeling that for each song he tasked himself to come up with a song in a certain genre or in the style of a specific artist, all from before 1967. 'Plan For Leavin'' is in a The Animals/Them style. A little cleaner but unmistakably so. What catches my ear, is the richness of the sound. The song is filled with details, that leave enough to discover after the first listen sessions.

Nick Waterhouse was born in 1986. Musically his birth lies at a minimum 45 years before that and probably several years more. There's nothing 2023 about this album, except for its clear sound and recording technique. Will this music go down with youths of today? I doubt it. The people who were buying these records in the 50s and early 60s are old or have died already. This makes for a precarious career path in my estimation. That said, The Fooler is a good album because of its original approach to old music. How ever to produce this live in a successful and financially manageable way, I have no clue. Let me put The Fooler on once again instead and stop worrying.

Wout de Natris

You can listen to and order The Fooler here:

https://nickwaterhouse.bandcamp.com/album/the-fooler