Sam Roberts - The Inhuman Condition Review

Posted by Tim Moysey on 09.25.2002

While short, this EP packs quite the punch in the 23 minutes of music it gives us.

Sam Roberts burst onto the Canadian music scene this
past summer with the song Brother Down. The
six song EP that this song is from, The Inhuman
Condition, was originally released in 2001 (and
this release consisted of Roberts burning copies of
the CD is his parents’ basement). However, it caught
the attention of the small record label, MapleMusic,
and the disc was re-released this year.

The Inhuman Condition is short (it runs just
over 23 minutes), but it does not have a shortage of
good songs. The opening track, Don’t Walk Away
Eileen, in which Roberts sings about feeling of
love that were not reciprocated, is a very good song,
and is probably the only other song on the CD that has
‘single potential’, but I’m not sure as to whether
Roberts’ will release another single off of this disc,
as a full length album from him is due in stores
sometime next year. Anyway, the second song is the
monster hit, Brother Down, which basically took
Canada by storm this past summer, as it seemed to be
on the radio whenever you turned it on. This is
another excellent song, and it uses bongos, which can
only add to the musical value, if you ask me. The
third track, Where Have All The Good People
Gone?, is a decent tune as well, as well as the
longest song on the CD, clocking in at over 6 minutes.
Fourth on this CD is When Everything Was
Alright, keeps up the streak of good songs, as
does the fifth track, My Love is Freeing,
although it is probably the weakest track on the disc.
The sixth and final track on The Inhuman
Condition is another solid tune, entitled This
is How I Live. You just can’t go wrong with this
CD, as even the weakest of the 6 songs is very good.

Now, I’ve heard Roberts been compared to John Lennon
in terms of music, and, from my admittedly limited
knowledge of Lennon’s catalogue, I’d have to agree.
Now that’s a compliment for Roberts, considering he’s
basically come out of nowhere in these past few
months.