Tom Odell’s father complains to magazine about bad review

Staff at music magazine Nme received a personal phone call from Tom Odell’s father after the British singer’s debut album was given a scathing review. The rising singer-songwriter got his big break when he was discovered by Lily Allen, also known as Lily Rose Cooper, and signed to her label In The Name Of, before winning this year’s (13) BRIT Awards Critics’ Choice prize.
However, reviewer Mark Beaumont of NME was unimpressed with the 22 year old’s upcoming debut, Long Way Down, giving it zero stars and writing, “I wish I could say there’s a place in Hell reserved for Tom Odell. There’s not. Just loads more BRITs. He’ll be all over 2013 like a virulent dose of musical syphilis, pounding and warbling away at every Papal election and Bradley Wiggins (British cyclist) finishing line.”
The harsh critique prompted a call from Odell’s airline pilot father, according to NME’s deputy editor Lucy Jones, who tweeted on Wednesday (19Jun13), “Tom Odell’s dad just called the NME office to complain about his album review…”
Music critic Simon Price of The Independent on Sunday has since slammed editors at NME for publishing the bad review, insisting, “It is a very safe and easy thing for NME to do. It is the sort of thing that allows them to pretend they are still a vicious paper with teeth, when the truth is they are scared to attack their core acts. The latest Beady Eye album was truly awful but they gave it a good review and (frontman) Liam Gallagher was on the cover that week.”