I remember seeing Doyle perform to a tough crowd just out of London. This was before I got to play with him there. I thought this guy can sing. I mean really sing. I remember thinking that I hadn’t heard blues singing this good for a long while. I remember he was first on the bill and the headline act had seen him perform before. They came out and sat right in the front row to watch him before they did their own set. Malachi slayed em. He wasn’t singing no Muddy Waters or John Lee Hooker songs. This was personal blues sung from the heart. It was just after he released the album ‘Flood Alleviation Scheme’ A magnificent piece in itself. Later in the set he was pop, choirboy and Rocker all rolled into one.

The one plus one record is a snappy piece of life. Recorded back in his hometown of Melbourne it opens with the upbeat ‘We just gotta wait’. Guitarist Mario Genovese announces himself with the crisp and tasty style that compliments the whole record beautifully. Doyle is a real poet with great lines like “tears flood the world in an hour” and “hold my head coz of worry and scotch”. Other lyrics have a great realism to them. In ‘Child in Me’ he sings of jealousy the singer reprimanding himself with the simple line “it’s not the way I wanna be”. ‘Goin to the Airport’ is a real radio hit. A flat out love song as a lot of them are. ‘Baby you been gone too long’ is a personal favourite with its subdued blues and magnificent guitar playing from Genovese. Doyle sings, “you lift my melancholy ways” and manages somehow to insert the words “telecommunications are all good and well” and make it fit perfectly. Doyle ramps it up with full band on ‘Crazy for Her’ a good time 70’s style pop rocker! Another sure hit. ‘Head case’ sounds like its name a frantic but brilliant account of panic attacks, insecurity and speaking the truth. ‘I lived in a town’ presents with a beautiful melody brilliantly sung. The tale of a town one might want to miss on the tourist trek. The album finishes with ‘I walk the streets alone’ perhaps a late night stumble through the same town as the previous song. Doyle exhales a final take on his surrounds and emotions. “Pretty faces in a city of mixing races. Love is deeper than the skin. Where ego ends and the spirit begins”

In a plastic fantastic world where dishing up shit on a plate is the order of the day The 1+1 album stands out as a musically impressive and very real alternative. Real good singing, real good guitar playing, real good songs. (Terry McCarthy, Hot Spot 3000).

Band email: artshallbefree@yahoo.com