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Hercules is actually two fellows (namely Peter Baldwin and Ben Sumner) who have collaborated on the songs found here with Zacharias on vocals, and many guest musicians handling the orchestral parts.
Listening to the debut CD from this US/UK duo, one gets the sense that whoever wrote the lyrics here has just been dumped. "Good For You" is delivered with a tinge of sarcasm, the words of a guy who's smiling bravely as he sees his ex-girlfriend with a new beau. "Me Against the World" is the ideal anthem for the brokenhearted, featuring a gorgeous 1960's Bachrach-like orchestral sound with cello, violin, and some delightful chimes tinkling along the melody line. And, then there's "It's A Big World", which is as down-trodden and lonely as it gets with lead vocalist Gordon Zacharias sounding almost Morrissey-esque at times.
A few of the songs here are lovely instrumentals, including the wistful "City Slicker" and the very dreamy "Rain, Rain". Then there's the surprising "Don't Cry" which fades out in a burn of unexpected chugging psychedelic guitar, and also features backing vocals from Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne.
Even the story of the making of this album is interesting: apparently these songs were originally captured using 2 four-track recorders and 1 crappy dynamic microphone onto normal everyday cassette tapes, that were then loaded into a computer...whew! But the great part about this is listening to this CD, the production is so sophisticated-sounding, you'd never guess it came from such humble beginnings. Needless to say, I hope the title of the last track "Temporary Like Hercules" is not accurate, and that these guys stick around for more CDs in the future! (janice.09.04)
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