Pointing the Finger
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Pointing the Finger
| type = album
| artist = Kevin Coyne
| cover = Kevin Coyne - Pointing.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1981
| recorded =
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Rock
| length =
| label = Cherry Red
| producer = Kevin Coyne, Brian Godding
| prev_title = The Dandelion Years
| prev_year = 1981
| next_title = Live in Berlin
| next_year = 1981
}}
Pointing the Finger is a studio album by the rock artist Kevin Coyne, released in 1981.{{cite web |title=Kevin Coyne: An Overview |url=https://www.furious.com/perfect/coyne.html |website=Perfect Sound Forever |access-date=24 August 2023}}{{cite book |title=The Rough Guide to Rock |date=2003 |publisher=Rough Guides |page=237 |edition=3rd}}
Critical reception
{{music ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite web |title=Pointing the Finger Review by Dean McFarlane |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/pointing-the-finger-mw0001878741 |website=AllMusic |access-date=24 August 2023}}
|rev2 = The Encyclopedia of Popular Music
|rev2score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2011 |publisher=Omnibus Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_NNmFiUnSmUC&pg=PA377}}
}}
The Globe and Mail wrote that "Coyne, like Van Morrison, can be repetitious and his emotional range seems limited at times—but, when it comes to anguish, he has few peers."{{cite news |last1=Lacey |first1=Liam |title=Pointing the Finger Kevin Coyne |work=The Globe and Mail |date=15 May 1982 |page=F6}}
The album was described by Mark Cordery of the New Musical Express:
:"The themes of this LP are generally the hoary old ones of 'Alienation'; the difficulty (and in many cases the tacitly accepted impossibility) of communication, and the insubstantiality and hence inadequacy of 'Religion'. Dealt with here in the 'soul-baring' 60's singer-songwriter style; mostly stripped of imagery, and completely of metaphor, it's a bleak but uncompelling vision. Not to say a narrow one."
The title track dates from 1977 and Coyne's musical "England, England", and is described by him on the sleeve notes as covering "some of my ambivalent feelings about England and its vanished Empire."Pointing the Finger, Cherry Red Records: BRED23, 1981, sleeve notes{{Cite web|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/we-need-to-talk-about-kevin|title=WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN - Record Collector Magazine}}
Track listing
Personnel
- Kevin Coyne – vocals, guitar
- Brian Godding – electric guitars
- Dave Sheen – drums, backing vocals on "Old Lady"
- Steve Lamb – bass guitar
- Steve Bull – keyboards, synthesizer
;Technical
- Producers: Kevin Coyne and Brian Godding with G.L.S. (Godding, Lamb, Sheen) at Alvic Studios, West Kensington
- Engineer: Mike Gregovich
- Cover artwork: Kevin Coyne
References
{{reflist}}
{{Kevin Coyne}}
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