Saturday 12 January 2019

Three more CD Reviews

With the first crop of 2019 New  releases now arriving, here are some  more  album reviews published previously in Folk Monthly Magazine. I've played tracks from all these albums already on "Anker Folk" during 2018. They can be heard via a Listen Again facility-but you might have to dig around a bit for them here...https://www.ankerradio.co.uk/

Through The Wild                 The Willows         Elk Records

Released November 30th 2018

       The Willows have been described as a “Cambridge Supergroup.”  Well,there's enough of them,they have an immaculate pedigree and they certainly look the part. They've been going for some eight years now, recording three studio albums since 2013,so you might well expect The Willows to make a decent album.
      Which they do. They have a stellar line-up. Ben Savage also collaborated with Hannah Sanders to record one of my favourite releases of 2018. Percussionist Evan Carson is occasionally one of Sam Kelly's Lost Boys.Jade Rhiannon,her husband Cliff Ward,Katriona Gilmore and John Parker complete the line-up. Collectively,that assembles together bass guitar, electric guitar,acoustic guitar, dobro,banjo, fiddle,drums, mandolin and double bass.
    The Willows have played support to Richard Thompson,Seth Lakeman and Peatbog Faeries. Whispering Bob Harris describes them as “gorgeous” and some bloke called Mike Harding,(never one to sit on the fence) extols their “fabulous music.” No pressure for the first listener then,on giving it a spin.
      In fairness,the sound on the 10 tracks is lavish,with the production expertly layered by Mark Tucker. Those seeking Trad.Arr. will find none in the accepted sense,as virtually the entire album features original material only. That said, they are often narrative songs,recording events which actually happened. And instrumentally,you can hear subtle influences,distant echoes and faraway strains from many genres throughout.
      Vocally adept and musically sublime,it is essentially a very showy studio album. However I have no doubts that they can (and apparently they do) reproduce this high standard in “live” performance. The breathy and distinctive vocals of Jade Rhiannon hallmark each song. Sounding by turns like a chain-smoking Sandy Denny and a Folky Melanie Chisholm, Jade's voice has a distinctive smoky timbre. It possesses that very marketable commodity, the ability to distinguish and identify her singing instantly within a few opening bars of music.
       Standout tracks for me were the accurately researched and written “Perfect Crime,” the atmospheric “False Lights” (results of too much Adnams?) and the opening track “Coda” “Pearl Hart” is a noisy,quirky piece which celebrates the life and times of the eponymous lady who ran off to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. My Grandad once featured in an iron-bending contest at one of those shows. I wonder if they ever met?.
         Released late in November this collaboration between the West Country Folk Mafia and the renowned East Anglia Folk Posse is a very capable piece of work. It will be competing in a very crowded arena, that of the multi-faceted Folk “supergroup,” with new releases flooding in monthly. “Through The Wild” holds its own in this congested market,though I remain to be convinced that comparisons with Alison Krauss or Fairport Convention are either accurate or helpful. It seems to me that they are The Willows. First and foremost. Just take it as that.

Turn To Fray          Hickory Signals         GFM/Proper Music

Released November 16th 2018

        Quite independently this October (and from three separate sources), I was sent three different Brighton-produced albums with a view to reviewing them. When I began listening to them and reading the backgrounds of the respective artistes,it soon became evident that two of them had a lot of shared characteristics. Hickory Signals are Laura Ward and Adam Rochetti, a Sussex duo whose debut album was released in November 2018. They are also both part of the Brighton collective “Bird In The Belly,” whose debut album was released earlier this year.
        Turn to Fray has a nice Retro feel to it. It features an eclectic mix of instrumentation and some very distinctive vocals. Recorded in Brighton at Studio 95,Laura's singing and flute playing form an effective counterpoint to Adam's work on guitar and banjo. Also contributing are Tom Pryor,Scott Smith,Phil Ward and Deborah Stacey.
      Some artistes write and sing about challenges and difficulties third person or from a distance. Which doesn't necessarily demean the end product-but you could never point a finger at Hickory Signals and sugggest they are writing about something second hand. Laura and Adam have lived active and varied lifestyles which is reflected in their work. Living home and abroad supporting charities,displaced persons and victims of substance misuse. Aiding refugees or Special needs teaching are all within their direct experience. So there is a wordliness to their arrangements and their delivery. There's a knowing air to some of their work that says “been there, done that.”
         The title track is about women coping with change and risk. Laura herself describes it as “a song about a woman leaving one place for another.” “ Here I Am” is an American flavoured romp with twinkling banjo sections and U.S. Style choral harmonies. It has an earworm of a chorus,whereas by contrast, Frankie Armstrong's “Doors To My Mind” is almost bleak, in its resonance with the subject matter. Laura delivers it unaccompanied save for a muted percussive background.
       “Bushes and Briars” has a rustic feel to it which is entirely appropriate. A hollow,echoing vocal,by turns single tracked and harmonised. “Kana” features a sensitive string arrangement and is beefed up by another emotional vocal. “Zelda” is the brief story of F.Scott-Fitzgerald's wife. Based on letters written to her husband, it is mature and serious:a layered arrangement which is symptomatic of the measured and thoughtful production throughout.
      Mixed by Stick In The Wheel's Ian Carter,re-mixed by Nigel Palmer and produced by Tom Pryor,“Turn to Fray” is a mature,inventive and imaginative album. Seven originals and two Trad.Arr songs,all packaged in a plastic watch case with a comprehensive leaflet which includes all credits and lyrics. All of which made me turn with enthusiasm to explore......


The Crowing           Bird In The Belly                   GFM Records

       Released earlier in the year than “Turn to Fray,” this album also features both Laura Ward and Adam Ronchetti, plus Hickory Signals's Producer Tom Pryor and performance artist Jinwoo,aka Ben Webb Also included are Epha Roe and Barry Ward. Ben Weedon and Tom Pryor oversaw the production engineering and mixing. The personnel,content and delivery on both albums are similar,but not identical. If you liked one, you will probably (as I did) like both.
    Some websites have labelled The Crowing as Americana. Although there are recognisable transatlantic influences,I'm not so sure they are as easy to pigeonhole as that. BITB themselves describe each song as “an old British story:long forgotten or never recorded.” Song titles like “Horace in Brighton,” or “Shoreham River” tend to prove the point. The research and background put in beforehand by the band on this project is impressive. It speaks volumes that they intend to release a film of the interviews recorded whilst collecting material, some time in 2019.
       “Give Me Back My Heart Again” is a high point. It is an orginal piece of work released as a single. It adapts a lyric they found in the Bodleian Library. A powerful and at times anguished vocal by Laura opens out into a more rollicking folk classic. “The Lilies” is an almost gothic, an eerie,a capella piece of vocalisation complete with sound effects. Not everyone's cup of tea perhaps,but I loved it.
    The Crowing is (obviously?) more musically complex than Turn to Fray and slightly more sophisticated. The imagery in both albums is at times melancholy metaphysical and atmospheric. The BITB album contained a lyric sheet but no information about the origin of the songs. Each of the tracks are a very compact and listenable size. Which is a Folk Show's presenter's dream when working out the complicated mathematics of a one hour format radio programme.
      Both albums have really grown on me. They demand some hard work concentrating in order to pay them due attention-simply because they are emotion-filled pieces of work and require serious listening. I'll play them both again. When the lights are low,with a glass of red wine in my hand and the wind is moaning outside. But not before I've locked all the doors,maybe.  



Friday 4 January 2019

Happy New Year!

            Happy? And then some! What better way to kick 2019  off than with The Queen's Hall rocking? All seats taken,and standing room only with Sir Kevin Dempsey pulling them in.  (O.k. he was overlooked again,by Liz in the New Year Honours List, along with Ralph Mac T  but surely it is only a matter of time?)  Complimented by some quality floor spots and with a spattering (is there such a collective noun?) of Folk Glitterati in the audience,it was an epic night.     
     Jim Park (Paper Circus),Des Patalong (Thrup'nny Bits). Jan Richardson,Brian Phillips and Neil Parker,(both once of Phutnote), Julie and Steve Wigley and Wes Hall,were  audience members on Wednedsay night. All or any could have played the venue (and most have done so previously), but we just could not fit them all in. Nor could we accommodate on stage the legendary Pete Melodeon-aka Pete Grassby. Pete has been a good friend to BPS and  is still the only local Folk Club organiser (Rowington) brave enough to engage  yours truly as a Solo Guest. We'll get him back I promise and we'll give him a spot,because NFC audiences would love him and he's a damn fine musician.   
      People came from Norfolk,from Derbyshire ,from the Lake District and even from as far afield as Hinckley to savour the evening. They were not disappointed and were well rewarded for their journey.  I confess, both Kevin and I were a little apprehensive about settling on this date when we initially re-arranged it,long ago, after a previous unavoidable cancellation. I suspect The Crew Guv'nor Richard Burlingham also had his doubts too. Hangovers? Hogmanay? Lurgies? Would they reduce our numbers? We need not have worried. As the upstairs room filled and queues formed at the bar, it was obvious that we were in for a good night. 
         Nunc kicked us off. Starting the New Year in by making a Folk statement. Resurrecting "Cold Haily Windy Night"  from way back,  All that Americana aside, we can still celebrate our roots you see.It is a song Nunc started doing as a duo,in 2014. (Seems like a long time ago now).  We followed it by "Bring It On Home" which got the audience murmuring rather than hollering the responses. But we got them proper warmed up with John Kearney leading Petula Clark's "Down Town." Quintessential English Folk (!!)  led by our Man of Cork. here's a lovely shot of the band taken by Ray Buckler. John Wright took some stunning black and white shots, of which,,more later. 
           One of The Sons of Treacle Town Ian Bourne followed, with a typical trio of songs demonstrating his admirable vocal range.  By request (obviously) he finished with "Hello Cruel World," which got everyone into party mood,winding up the audience with some decent chorus singing.here is Ian suffering for his art,or maybe just suffering. 
          Malc Gurnham and Gill Gilsennan gave us  acuople of traditional songs along with a very original arrangement of " Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" which they dedicated to those absent friends and relatives who were not able to join in all the fun and festivities each year. Food for thought indeed.  

          Katherine Fear,one third of Daisybell (who are at Beworth Folk Club next week) then added further to the imposing array of Coventry and Warwickshire talent by delivering three of her original compositions. "This Road" in particular is an Anker Folk favourite which we play every Christmas. It's a clever song which can be interpreted on more than one level. Most people there knew it,and sang along cheerily. Katherine also unveiled a new song, another story mined from her family anecdotes about Grandpa Fear. 
        Adam Wilson continues to flourish and he gave us another impressive set with some songs we'd heard before and a new one for him John Martyn's "Bless The Weather." Adam is an affable young man who writes his own material as well as applying his distinctive vocal style to very authentic covers. His version of Neil Young's "Old Man" is already attracting a lot of attention. One of NFC's "discoveries" during 2018. 
          And then, having whipped the audience into a frenzy of anticipation,it was time for Kevin's first set. I always enjoy watching the audience as Kevin whips into his remarkable percussive style,using parts of the guitar others can only dream of exploring at that speed. It's good to see the jaws dropping open,and you tell the guitarists in the audience by the way they shake their head at Kevin's technique. 
        Someone said to me it sounded like he had an extra string, or at times as if two guitars were being played simultaneously. I thought that,too. Coupled with a deceptively easy going singing style,it is an impressive,infectious sound. Having started with a Curtis Mayfield cover,he finished the first set with "All For You." My personal Dempsey favourite, which demonstrates all his outstanding range of talents.

         Boxes of chocolates were handed round during the interval as the audience attempted to get their breath back, We did a brisk trade in raffle tickets,having added one of The Tilting Kettle's excellent themed Christmas cakes into the draw. We had intended to share the Santa stuck in a chimney among the audience but it would have been a Feeding of The Five Thousand Scenario to be honest. I'm delighted to say that our visitors from the Lake District won him-so they had something to eat on the long journey home. Flossy is pictured holding aloft her sister's handiwork below. 
        Nunc opened the second half with "Down Where The Drunkards Roll" and then John Kearney and Flossy MacDougal went solo with a poignant version of "Ae Fond Kiss."  It's Burns Night later in the month so that seemed quite apposite, although a few in the audience failed to get my pun about Jewish Folk music and "enjoying the Rabbi." Oh well
         We drew the raffle and then the floor was handed back over to Kevin and he damn near tore it up with a blistering second half punctuated by a few ballads which would break the heart of a hard-hearted man. Notably "Two Constant Lovers," a real tear-jerker, accompanied tenderly by some poignant audience singing. We had Kevin's inimitable version of Postman Pat and just for balance, finished the evening off with a rock and roll standard,"I'm All Shook Up." And we were. 
     Scarecrow,Gerry Colvin,Iota: Dark Horses: the gauntlet for this year is now already laid down. That's one hell of a hard act to follow. However:such is the quality of the 2019 Guest List-I'm confident that we can match this. Fingers crossed! 
       Once again, thanks to Richard Burlingham for making it all happen, when we had no home to go to,and to Tom and Harvey James and their mastery of the mixing desk. And thumbs up to Ben,behind the bar. Filling in for an indsiposed Aaron,he did a wonderful job of slaking all those thirsts.