A short review of Humanworld would simply state the obvious: as great as this album is, it is not quite How The West Was Won. A longer one should start with me being surprised at how prolific Peter Perrett has become at this point in his career. Two albums in as many years. I guess there is something to the man's recent comment that he feels like a cockroach who has survived a nuclear war. Because he has survived a lot of things, and somehow he keeps coming back with new songs of the same old vulnerable melodic wit.
First of all, the songs are great. The three singles that are all placed at the very beginning of the album are worthy of anything Peter has ever written, and no future retrospective should be without them. "I Want Your Dreams" is Peter Perrett's idiosyncratic rock'n'roll with female backup vocals and menacing undertones (the lyrics made me think of "Master Misery", that great short story by Truman Capote). "Once Is Enough" is more of the some. "Heavenly Day" may be strongly indebted to Lou Reed, but this is a classic Peter Perrett tune, simple and hard-hitting (only Jason Pierce can rival him in that respect).
The rest of the album cannot match that opening salvo, but equally Peter Perrett does not do poor songwriting. It is just that Humanworld settles for a good song ("Love's Inferno") where How The West Was Won had a near-classic ("C Voyeurger"). Still, there is a lot to be said for the great adrenaline rush of "War Plan Red" (in spite of the cheesy intro) and, of course, the closing "Carousel" which is so beautiful it hurts. I'm also quite fond of "Master Of Destruction" written by Peter's song Jamie. It may be no "Another Girl, Another Planet", and its charm could seem rudimentary, but the skill is there.
Again, none of the songs are longer than four minutes (most are under three) so they don't overstay their welcome. What is more important, however, is that nothing on this album will at any point make you forget that this man wrote The Only Ones and Woke Up Sticky. This is the very same songwriter, with the same voice and the same lyrical preoccupations. After so many years (and nuclear wars), this is some feat.
