7 May 1988
As a Kerry person I am pleased to confirm the strong Kingdom connections of this record: Eddi Reader has family on her mother’s side from Tralee, and ‘Perfect’ was used in a ’90s Toyota ad on Irish television that also featured the mellow north Kerry tones of the poet and academic Brendan Kennelly even though the great man never learned to drive.
Beyond those compelling bona fides, ‘Perfect’ is a pleasant bit of skiffly acoustic pop, a solid song by Mark E. Nevin, and a fine introduction to Reader’s sweet, yearning voice. A whole album or concert of this would be too much even for my pop tastes, but let’s not let ‘Perfect’ be the enemy of good.
