“This time next year Rodney, we’ll be Meal-ee-on-airs” so regularly prophesied Del Boy on the much revered Only Fools and Horses. Adopting this aspirational mantra for their debut album, Good Health Good Wealth, are however, giving more just than just a soundbite – these are stories about a life, full of grind, graft, heartache, anxiety, poor choices, peppered with glory, euphoria and quick wins on a beautiful gloomy urban backdrop.
This Time Next Year We’ll Be Millionaires contains seven tracks, a non-linear walk through the diary of a week in the life of lyricist Bruce Breakey. He doesn’t sing; he rolls through a train of thoughts – a conversation, like in a busy pub. Backed by multi-instrumentalist Simon Kuzmickas, Good Health, Good Wealth have fashioned a unique sound, blending indie guitar riffs, spoken word, and UK garage breakbeat.
The contrast may baffle first time listeners but its not a forced, confused or complicated sound, it really works. The Cafe feels like a regretful hangover. White Men is a hazy Saturday night out. Beautiful Boy is a devastating yearning and revel in nostalgia for a father’s love and connection. Each track feels genuine and different, but what is emerging is a quite unique and relevant 2025 soundtrack. Whatever your situation or outlook, there is something deeply connecting and grounding about this album.
With a sold out UK tour this month and a 2026 support run for Big Special, Good Health Good Wealth are coming for you.
My one note for this album is probably more of a dig at the ancient Babylonian astronomers. They observed seven celestial bodies (the sun, moon and five planets in the sky) which was later adopted by Emperor Constantine The Great who formed the seven day week in the Roman Empire. The fact that there is no room in Bruce’s diary for an 8th day track, namely the 2021 release Guinness – an incredible song that would have been absolutely perfect on this record – is a minor blot on a fantastic album that will surely launch the band up the music mountain, arms swinging, battered, bruised, smiling, pints in the air and heads held high.
