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4 / 10 Benjamin Darvill used to be a member of 1993-hogging adult-contemporaries The Crash Test Dummies. He makes bawdy jump-blues. He beatboxes his drumbeats. He has written a song about how Nike exploits third-world workers. He is enjoyed by Jools Holland. All of which constitutes strong evidence that he should not be allowed to live any longer. His fifth solo record isn’t entirely without charm. The title track might be a spry counterpart to Harry Nilsson’s ‘Coconut’. But rehashing a dead genre always sails close to anachronism and ‘Shake A Bone’ is like watching grown men re-enacting the Battle Of Bosworth Field. Except without even the enticing chance that someone could get whacked in the groin with a pike.

Gavin Haynes

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