Luke Toms - 'Fools with Money' (Island) Released 15/01/07

A launch of strings as a track starts is always an uplifting flavour of what's to come. Even if the string sample is the highlight of the song, it's always a compliment and a surprise to hear something other than guitars in the first 20 seconds of a track. For Luke Tom's 'Fools with Money' sounding like its travelled from the 1900s, his cross of Tom Waits vocals and Rufus Wainwright accompaniment sounds a little short of the real deal. The harpsichord sounds no more than a button on a Casio keyboard and during the vocals the orchestra takes a back seat, using repetitive unimaginative rhythms under Tom's gruff voice proving that an orchestra can make a weak track the life and soul.