Kevin Coyne - Heartburn (1991)

1976's Heartburn was simultaneously one of Kevin Coyne's most eagerly awaited and most ultimately disappointing albums. Coming at the end of that spectacular sequence that drove him from Marjory Razorblade to Matching Head & Feet in little more than two years, and with Zoot Money now confirmed within the band, Heartburn was the album that threatened to push Coyne into at least an approximation of the mainstream. Instead, only a handful of its contents merited more than a second glance, and too much of it -- the cod-reggae "Don't Make Waves" and the rent-a-rocker "Daddy" included -- simply didn't go anywhere. The paucity of worthwhile new material was further evidenced by a less than breathtaking reworking of Siren's "Strange Locomotion," although it must be said there were few better boogies being recorded that year.
The breathtaking dynamics of "Games Games Games," however, ranks among Coyne's finest '70s compositions, while Andy Summers certainly paints his musical ambitions loud and proud across "America," with a guitar line that all but invented arena rock, before Coyne and the band lumber in with a marvelous lament for the decline of old England. "Shangri-La," too, allows the guitarist to shine alongside one of Coyne's most sensitive lyrics (and most infectious rhythms), but still Heartburn winds up a mere shadow of the album it ought to have been. - Dave Thompson, AMG