Before it all went right for him (and wrong for us) Guy Chambers had a credible history with Karl Wallinger’s World Party and his own band the Lemon Trees. Chambers is best known as Robbie Williams songwriting foil which has spawned countless mega hits yet it could have all been so different if the Lemon Trees’ ‘Open Book’ had taken off. This was the bands only major release and its lack of success is hard to counter when you compare it to the insipid Williams’ back catalogue. Released at the back end of baggy it boasted the requisite groovy textures as well as some of the most gorgeously simple melodies imaginable. ‘I Can’t Face The World Today’ is driven by a sea-saw trumpet and is soaked in Chambers hammond excursions. Paul Holman’s singing is wholesome yet alert to the possibilities presented by Chambers fertile imagination. There are so many different noises popping in and out of the song this could be possibly be one of the happiest sad songs ever written. KD
The Lemon Trees – I Can’t Face The World
Album: Open Book
Year: 1993
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I have the CD single- it’s a perenial favourite. Didn’t realise the Robbie Williams connecton
How can you single out “I Can’t Face The World” when it stands deep in the shadow of “The Way That I Feel”, one of the most gorgeous slices of melodic 6:8 pop of all time? Brilliant, brilliant song.