by Rick AndersonBoo Hewerdine is the former leader of the Bible, a British pop band that enjoyed modest success in the late '80s. Since then he's been mainly pursuing a solo career (interrupted by his brief sojourn as a member of Fairground Attraction, on which he collaborated with the similarly inclined British folk-popsters Eddi Reader and Clive Gregson), writing great songs for himself and others and gaining more critical acclaim than commercial success. Thanksgiving finds him wallowing in a soft, billowy, acoustic sadness which is sometimes very pretty in a Beatlesque way ("The Birds Are Leaving") and sometimes moving ("Bell, Book and Candle"). On the other hand, it can also be almost excruciating tuneless (the hideous "Swansong") or eye-rollingly maudlin (the lines "For you this is Thanksgiving/For me, a working day." That the album title comes from this song is almost unforgivable.). The best moments are the most Beatlesque ones, like the chorus to "Eve." That fact is a problem in itself, but they really are good moments.