For any music fan out there, the advent of the Internet has been a Godsend. When I look back over the years when the only way to get any information about your favourite bands or music was either by listening to the radio of trawling through the various music press publications, I think how great it would have been to have the resources of the Internet way back when.
I remember going to various houses of friends and parties and discovering new music that way. Oh, those were the days. But now, with the internet there to help us, we have access to music from all over the world and a window into every possible musical genre you can think of. And probably many more besides.
Last year, I was introduced by a friend on Facebook to The Stone Foundation.
I have always liked the Dexy's Soul Sound and these guys bring that sound right up to date.
Now four albums in, The Stone Foundation have grown to be a pretty formidable outfit.
Comprising of Neil Jones - Guitar & Lead Vocals, Neil Sheasby - Bass, Vocals, Ian Arnold - Keyboards, Philip K Ford - Drums, Spencer Hague - Trombone, Lynn Thompson - Trumpet & Gary Rollins - Sax/Flute - they make a wonderful noise.
To Find The Spirit has been a few years in the pipeline but now it's here I can confidently say that it is an excellent record. There aren't that may good Soul bands out there at the moment (well, I haven't come across many) so it's great to have a band that play with passion and musical integrity.
The band really come into their own with their live performances and if you get a chance to see the band play live - then jump at the chance. Their sound fills the halls and the often extended nature of the songs brings a new dimension to their music.
photo courtesy of Allan McKay
The album features several 'guest stars' such as Soul vocalist Nolan Porter, Andy Fairweather-Low, Dexy's Pete Williams and Carleen Anderson all contributing their major talents to the album. The blend of Soul, Funk, Ska & Rock is a potent mix and produces a nicely varied album.
Indeed, you will also hear echoes of the great Soul sounds of Stax & Muscle Shoals in the music of The Stone Foundation.
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OK, I admit it. I've been waiting a while for this one.
Back last year, I came across this young man and his band by two rather tasty EPs called Painted Sky & Autumn's Flown. I bought the tickets was all set to see him live in Cardiff and illness forced me to miss the gig. I was gutted to say the least.
In a market that is oversubscribed with angsty singer /songwriters it was refreshing to hear a young man with an obvious lust for life and tunes to match. Songs that were not ashamed to be bright, breezy and designed to put a smile on your face rather than gaze at your navel.
Such as Autumn's Flown's Angel (not included on the album)
And also not included on the album, When I Believe
So Called Man kicks off with the upbeat Orion's Belt. This track pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the album. 'Where would we be without the bees', Upbeat and melodious it showcases Robbie's positive approach to life.
photo courtesy thankfolkforthat.com
Another great upbeat song is the lovely I Won't Let You Go, it's folk inspired harmonies and instrumentation sound like Mumfords on prozac. It's very catchy and infectious. Like the majority of the record.
You won't find the meaning of life in the songs but you will find mainly acoustic based songs played with a vitality and passion not heard enough these days. And several of the songs do have a story to tell.
photo courtesy of robbie-boyd.com
The songs will certainly put a smile on your face. It has been released at the perfect time and should certainly be part of your summer listening - exactly where it belongs.
photo courtesy of robbie-boyd.com
I guarantee you'll be dancing around the kitchen to songs like I Want You To Stay
The highlight for me is the lovely Less Than Friends, which by the way, has an equally lovely video to accompany it. One thing though, I wish Robbie would get the girl in at least ONE of his videos.
It would be one of my albums of 2014 just for putting a smile on my face but it's much more than that. I love it's positivity, harmonies and general joie de vivre. Which is needed in these austere time.
Indeed, I think this album should be available on the NHS it's so uplifting.
It was the first time for me to see ANY music in the Neath Little Theatre. I've seen a couple of plays there but have never seen any music there. So it was a lovely surprise to realise that I have a great venue for music about 1 mile down the road. Holding a couple of hundred people, it is perfect for roots/folk based music and tonight one of the best guitar players the UK has produced has come to town, Gordon Giltrap.
Support tonight was from Porthcawl singer/songwriter Nick Ward. His short set seemed to go down well and he reminded me of the great Glen Tilbrook of Squeeze in his vocal style and storytelling song style.
With over 40 years in the music business, Gordon Giltrap has built up a serious body of work and tonight he gave the Neath audience a masterclass in guitar playing, drawing from music going right back to the 1960s.
He played many of his best known songs tonight including the lovely On Camber Sands.
Over the years, Gordon has built up a great working and personal relationship with the Wakeman family. He has toured with both Rick and his keyboard playing son Oliver. Gordon recorded an album with Oliver last year called Ravens & Lullabies and featured two tracks tonight in their instrumental form - Fiona's Smile and Anyone Can Fly
Gordon was accompanied by 5 guitars and a variety of effects pedals which he used creatively to reproduce his music on stage tonight. And the highlight of his effects repertoire was The Dodo's Dream which got a rapturous applause tonight.
Gordon talked of how 60s legend Donovan inspired musicians in the 1960s, including John Lennon and went on to play his 60s inspired track Maddie Goes West
Over the years, Gordon has met and worked with many of UK's greatest musicians and you would expect him to have some great war stories. And he did. He is quite the raconteur and his between song recollections were both interesting and entertaining.
For anyone who has followed Gordon Giltrap's career over the years, 2013 was a good year as it saw the re-release of 3 of his mid to late 70s seminal albums on newly presented CDs - Visionary, Perilous Journey & Fear Of The Dark - all with new liner notes by Oliver Wakeman. And for anyone interested in his work, these 3 albums would be a great place to start.
Gordon promised us a medley of his greatest 'hit', Heartsong and he played it to close the show. For anyone of a certain age - it cannot help but conjour up memories of exotic foreign holidays as it was the theme to the very popular BBC HOLIDAY programme back in the 1970s. But it still a timeless and majestic piece of music.
The audience gave Gordon a well deserved standing ovation and he seemed genuinely appreciative of the reaction of the Neath audience.
There was no way that Gordon was going to be allowed to leave without an encore and he came back to play a song from his 1969 album Portrait called Lucifer's Cage. And explained how it was inspired by the acoustic playing of the legendary Pete Townsend.
So, a fantastic evening of virtuoso playing by one of the finest musicians we have in the UK came to an end and hopefully the warmth of the crowd will be enough to tempt Gordon Giltrap back here to Neath.
Once again, my favourite Swansea venue has come up trumps with a performance by the Brighton based Hatful Of Rain.
It was the first time I had seen the band live and I've got to say they completely blew me away.
I first came across the band on a Bob Harris session with their infectious mix of Bluegrass, Country and Folk songs. They are quietly building up a growing reputation as an exceptional live band with a growing catalogue of first class songs.
The four piece are comprised of Chloe Overton on vocals and various stringed instruments, Phil Jones on Bass, guitar and vocals, Fred Gregory on Mandolin, Guitar, vocals and James Shenton on Fiddle.
This year's tour is to support the recently released album The Morning Key which is their second album. So unsurprisingly, the set was based very much on these new songs.
Hatful of Rain joined by Tony Mear on Banjo for a few tracks
The band played two sets this evening which selected tracks from both of their albums.
The band are all obviously accomplished musicians and the humour during the show is an added bonus.
Part Two of tonight's show opened up with a delightful surprise with the band playing a wonderful version of Swedish Duo First Aid Kit track Emmylou
The songs from the second album show how the band have progressed from their debut, Way Up On The Hill. And the new album has a great production from Al Scott, who was a producer and is now a member of the brilliant Oysterband.
The set ended with a spirited version of the new single These Streets
The band finished the show with an encore of the Promised Land and the final track from the new album, Little Bird.
The audience tonight gave round applause and brought the best out of the band - The Chattery may be small but the audience is ALWAYS perfectly formed and well informed and appreciative of quality music. And tonight, they were pleased.
The first album by Luke Jackson called More Than Boys introduced a young man bursting with talent. He was justly rewarded with nominations in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards for both the Horizon Award & Folk Singer of the Year.
It was very much an album of youth and looking towards the future with fine production by Welsh musician Martyn Joseph and included some great songs such as Baker's Woods, Let It All Out & How Does It Feel.
Very much Luke and his acoustic guitar.
With Fumes & Faith we have a young man living up to the promise of his debut and his second release shows even more maturity than his first. And where did such a young man get a voice and presentation of someone way beyond his years?
And he's never been shy of having a go at an unusual cover version.
The album opens up with Sister which is a beautiful signpost to the rest of the album.
More Bluesy & Roots based than Boys, it shows the continuing direction that Luke is traveling.
The album has a very American feel to it and is another step removed from the English folk approach of his debut. Although he has not discarded his heritage completely with songs such as Father & Son.
It's a similar situation to his fellow Award Nominee Blair Dunlop, who has also brought us a great second album this year with House Of Jacks. In Fact, Luke supported Blair on his album launch show,
If a legendary delta bluesman recorded this album then we wouldn't blink twice at the integrity of the music. Yes, it's that good. There's even a gospel flavour in some of the songs. Luke has definitely looked across the pond for inspiration for Fumes & Faith. Just check out Ghost at The Crossroads for evidence of his transatlantic influence. And once again the production has been kept simple allowing all the music to breathe and highlight the varying dynamic nature of the music.
Luke has said that the debut was about 'his' journey and for Fumes he has used observation of those around him to form the narratives of his new songs.
He has such an expressive voice which can feel like touching velvet and then switch to touching fire between a verse and a chorus. To see such a young artist grow before your eyes is a real privilege.
And with songs such as No Redemption not even getting on the album, Luke's future success seems assured.
Fumes & Faith is an album that rewards repeated listening and many of the songs will become classics in future years.
From the mid 1980's to the early 1990's Canadian Daniel Lanois was on top of the world as a record producer - having produced albums such as U2's Joshua Tree, Peter Gabriel's SO and Robbie Robertson's eponymous debut. His ambient and atmospheric approach to sound helped many of these artists to reinvent themselves for their audience.
In 1994, it was Lanois' debut solo album Arcadie and his production of Bob Dylan's No Mercy that brought him to the attention of Emmylou Harris.
From the 1990's, Emmylou's profile was staring to slip as the radio programmers switched their attention to the younger CMT influenced Country Artists.
But in 1994, Emmylou got together with Daniel Lanois and in 1995 recorded one of the best albums of the 90s. It was called Wrecking Ball.
So this very short UK tour is a 20 year celebration of that album, which has been re-released in a deluxe format.
Emmylou says during the show that this was the album that reignited her love for music and it shows in the performances tonight.
The show opens with Dnbiel Lanois taking to the stage to play a pedal steel guitar - it featured his now trademark echo and sustain and was a precursor of the delights to follow. I, like most of the crowd probably, had wondered how he would achieve the atmosphere that is on the record. He has his own small box of tricks that he uses with his guitars and recreates some terrific sounds, which just goes to prove how little keyboards are actually used on the original album. He does a sterling job with just himself, Steve Nistor on drums and Jim Wilson on bass.
Daniel then performs his own set of songs from his albums such as the French infused Jolie Louise and ended his set with an improv song which he entitled Bristol Town.
The set warmed up the crowd nicely and after a short break, Emmylou appeared for the main event. The performance of Wrecking Ball in it's entirety. The album has a timeless quality to it. It's not really Country and it's not really rock.
The songs absolutely shimmered and glowed tonight as Emmylou and the band worked their way through the album.
One of the many highlights for me was the title track Wrecking Ball where Emmylou's tremulous and delicate vocal breathes new life new into the Neil Young penned song.
photo courtesy of detroitnews.com
Many of the songs on the album have been written by the best songwriters that music has to offer including Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Earle & Lucinda Williams.
It was a brave decision to take back in the 90s but the results were to colour the pallete of many of Emmylou's future solo recordings such as Red Dirt Girl & Stumble Into Grace.
After the last song - Waltz Across The Ocean - there was a tremendous applause and then Emmylou went on to talk about the reissue and what the album meant to her. She had also recorded two of Daniel Lanois' songs from his Arcadie album in the recording sessions for Wrecking Ball. And she the preceded to give her interpretations of Still Water & The Maker - both excellent tracks at least one of which deserved a place on the original release - although both can be found on the new deluxe version of the album.
photo courtesy of jeffsingerphotography.com
After the obligatory standing ovation and encore, Emmylou and the band came back to give us the classics Boulder To Birmingham from the 75 album Pieces Of The Sky and & Townes Van Zandt's Pancho and Lefty from 77s classic Luxury Liner.
She then remerged to give a gorgeous version of Calling My Children home before finally completing the show with the Jesse Winchester song, Songbird. Which is wrought with emotion as Jesse only passed away in April after a long fight with cancer.
But this just gave added poignancy to an evening dedicated to a classic album sung and played with integrity and emotion.
Then, at the end of 2013 I got to see Blair live for the first time. And he was as good live as he was on record.
Blair & Macwood
Before the show I managed to have a decent chat with the man and we discussed how the follow up to Blight& Blossom was coming along. He played 3 songs that would appear on the album that night. They were SongOf Two Bridges, The Station and 50 Shades Of Blue. And they were ALL excellent.
I also asked him how the new album differed from Blight & Blossom. He said that the new one was more electric and that his Telecaster had been dusted off and given a bit more action for the new album.
Well, I have waited patiently (well, not really patiently) and finally it is with us.
And the album is House Of Jacks.
So, has House Of Jacks lived up to the promise of Blight & Blossom. You bet your life it has. And more.
Where Blight & Blossom was a delicate, beautiful, poetic work, House Of Jacks is a much tougher and dynamic proposition. Anyone who has heard Blair's work with the institution that is The Albion Band, will know that there's more to the man than just delicate finger picking.
With some beautiful artwork and photography by the talented Elly Lucas and production by Mark Hutchinson at Rooksmere, House Of Jacks opens up with the first single Something's Gonna Give Way, which sets the tougher tone of the album. It's a contemporary song about a boy who is being bullied at school and leads to some dark places. And indeed, Blair DOES get the Telecaster out.
It would be a disservice to call House Of Jacks a folk album. Yes, it has Blair's folk roots in terms of instrumentation and approach, in that a lot of the songs tell a story but it is SO much more than a folk album.
Next up is the first of two tracks which come at the beginning and end of the album called 45s (69) & (14), which are two songs that relate to the clubbing scene in Soho in 1969 & 2014.
45s (c'69) is a quietly rocking song that showcases Blair's electric playing and is almost Americana in feel. Blair has been working on his lyrics and this track, together with it's companion 45s c14, show he's investigating more interesting ideas than your normal singer/songwriter fare.
'And I've never been to Heaven but there's Rickenbackers there'
I orginally heard the next track 50 Shades of Blue when I saw him live in Swansea and it's lost none of it's beauty in it's transfer to the album.
The title track of House Of Jacks starts off with some lovely organ work and finds Blair revealing a doomed love affair, again with some very nice electric guitar work and a lovely fiddle break.
But I can happily reveal that Blair has not ditched his acoustic Takamine and he uses it to great affect on the next track, Chain By Design which almost sounds like a Country ballad. It's a really beautiful song and reveals Blair's growing confidence and maturity as a vocalist. The last two years on the road has certainly strengthend his voice.
I've been looking forward to hearing House Of Jacks so much, there's always a small doubt in the back of my mind whether Blair could match Blight & Blossom and more to the point how he would move his music forward. The next track answered my question and is currently my favourite track on the album.
Different Schools starts off with a lovely electric guitar riff and swirling organ before it is joined by mandolin picking. It is almost Prog rock in feel and has echoes (?) of, dare I say, Pink Floyd, with lovely harmonies and Blair's falsetto, before being joined by a fiddle layer. Very far removed from what could be perceived as folk, and totally brilliant. It reminds me of Jeff Buckley in his Sin E days.
I don't know whether it was by design, or just to highlight his background, but the next track is Viola's Reverie and it is very much a folk instrumental which shows just what an accomplished guitar player Blair is and he's joined on melodeon by Simon Carre. And with the fabulous Nic Jones as one of his heroes and influences, he's getting better by the hour.
For House Of Jacks, Blair is ably supported by vocalist Rebecca Lovell & multi instrumentalist Guy Fletcher who also appeared on his debut and Angharad Jenkins on violin & Jacob Stoney on Keyboards who are the other parts of the recent Blair Dunlop Trio, together with Tim Harries on Bass.
Anyone who has followed Blair will know of his love of Italian football (and Spurs) so it's not surprising he's found a way of slipping it into the album. He does this with The Ballad Of Enzo Laviano. It's a story song about an Italian footballer and I'll leave you to discover the story yourself. But it's based on an a Bluesy electric guitar driven tune with some nice backing vocals by Rebecca Lovell and producer Mark Hutchinson.
If any track on House Of Jacks could have fitted easily onto the debut it is the next track, The Station. And it's an absolute gem. With sublime backing vocals from Rebecca. It's an acoustic guitar driven beauty of a song with Blair again in sensitive mode - with some brilliant lyrics from the young man, 'I bet Nietzche didn't let his hair down like I do, but ideas, he had one or two.'
The second part of 45s comes next with the Club in question now in 2014. The track is also an electric guitar based rock track which describes the Club in it's 2014 incarnation. Let's just say it's not as attractive as it was in the 60s - 'It's easy to find a girl to occupy'. And it's a long way from Blair's folk roots.
It's great to see Blair branching out into new territory and not being afraid to seek out new inspiration and I just love this new rockier Blair, as he still has his sense of poetry and melody, but electric.
I've been trying to avoid mentioning Blair's well known dad as I think he has firmly stepped out of his shadow but Ashley Hutchings has written the last song, together with Ken Nicol, the beautiful Song Of Two Bridges.
It's another track very much in the feel of the Blight & Blossom album. Blair singing at his most crystalline and accompanied by his solo acoustic guitar. A touching and delicate song and a perfect ending to the album.
photo courtesy of Songs From The Shed
I feel I must give producer Mark Hutchinson a mention for his beautifully sympathetic production which lifts the album above the average folk album. And it's no flash in the pan as he's done a similar job with just voice and guitar for labelmate Fabian Holland.
There are more colours and textures on House Of Jacks than Blight & Blossom and Mark has used the extra instrumentation and wider pallete to work his magic.
House Of Jacks is a worthy successor to Blight & Blossom and shows Blair's progress as a songwriter and performer of note. It's a move away from his folk roots and shows that Blair can seek out new sounds and experiences to move his art forward. Apparently, he's already thinking of album number 3 - I would whisper just two words in his ear - Different Schools. Oh, and if I might suggest Blair, get a copy of Live At Sine E and Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk.
