The very complete Nick Frater

 By Henry Lipput

Glenn Tilbrook, lead singer, lead guitarist, and the melody half of the Difford and Tilbrook musical partnership, didn’t make a solo album until 2001’s The Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook in between one the many Squeeze retrofittings. But, just for the sake of argument, what if he had made such an album between his band’s Argybargy and East Side Story?

That album would sound very much like Nick Frater’s Aerodrome Motel (Big Stir Records). Like Tilbrook, Nick Frater is always there with a cracking tune. And his latest, his third album in three years, is no exception.

The lead-off track from Frater’s Aerodrome Motel, “The Pleasure is Mine,” is a perfect example, not only in the melody but also in the vocal.  It’s what Frater does best; he adapts a style and makes it his own.

Frater has always seemed to be something of a musical magpie; in earlier reviews (for 2020’s Fast & Loose and 2021’s Earworms [a very apt title because that’s what his songs are] I’ve compared the sound of his songs to Raspberries, Wings, Elton John, Emitt Rhodes, and Big Star.

But the songs on Aerodrome Motel have more of a consistent sound and in doing so make the case (whether he's aware of it or not) for the solo album Glenn Tilbrook didn’t make. Frater’s music has always looked back to the 70s and 80s for inspiration so it’s no surprise he’s picked one of the most melodic bands (and a specific musician) from that era to dig into and to pay tribute.