A well chosen support act can make an evening and Ben did a great job when he picked Talia Rae. Ben has written songs with Talia and tonight gave her the opportunity to give an emotionally intense performance with some excellent songs and performance. Definitely a lady to look out for in the future.
Not A Heartbreak
No Surprises
It was definitely late 90s. I picked up a magazine - can't remember which one. It had a free cd. Now normally I'd find about one track that vaguely interested me on this type of cd but this one had THREE.
Three young male English singer songwriters. Just about to start their journeys, they hadn't even released an album yet.
The three were Blair Dunlop. Luke Jackson & Benjamin Francis Leftwich. Absolutely astonishing how three superb brand new artists all appeared on this one cd. Just blew me away!! And I've actively followed each one's career ever since.
Luke - The Voice. Blair - The Musicality. Ben - The Sensitivity.
All just brilliant and each has found their own place in the company of the finest singer songwriters that the UK has to offer. Normally I manage to catch up with Luke & Blair every year but with Ben, he's a bit more enigmatic and doesn't tour as much as the other two fellas. So I hasn't seen him since his Cardiff Globe show. Not the best place to see him but more of that later.
Ben has just released his 6th album - Some Things Break. Another beautiful statement to add to the fabulous canon of work he is building.
albums and eps to date
2011 - Last Smoke Before The Snowstorm LP 2012 - Into The Open EP 2014 - Home Covers LP
2016 - After The Rain LP 2018 - I Am With You EP 2019 - Gratitude LP 2019 Elephant EP
2021 - To Carry A Whale LP 2024 - Some Things Break LP
He begins his set with a track from said album New York.
NEW YORK
Ben has always had the most sensitive voice of the three boys and his songs reflect this. Armed mainly with just an acoustic guitar for the majority of the evening it highlights his voice to the full.
Now over the years Ben has had his issues. he talks about this in the show but that's where I'll leave it. Suffice to say he hasn't had an easy journey which makes the quality of the songs and his albums even more remarkable. But it is what it is and at the moment he seems to be in a good place.
Accompanied by multi instrumentalist and songwriter Jamie Squire, Ben touches on most of his albums in the performance.
For the second track this evening we had the shimmering Cherry In Tacoma from the Album To Carry A Whale
Cherry In Tacoma
As I said earlier, the last time I saw Ben was in The Globe, totally the wrong venue for such a sensitive young man and his songs. However, I think Ben found his spiritual Welsh home in Acapela Studios. The crowd was so quiet and respectful during the songs you could hear a pin drop and I'm sure this must have pleased Ben no end, a crowd that actually listens to the songs.
I'm not going to give the set away - just give you a few of MY personal highlights of a fabulous evening.
Tilikum
A stunning show - like being caressed into submission with a velvet glove over a sensuous 2 hours.
One of the most intimate moments of the evening as Ben leaves the microphone to give an acapella version on Pictures from his debut album.
Pictures
I have never seen Ben look so comfortable on stage as he was tonight.
And with Jamie to back him up Ben kept the instrumentation and sound just right - simple with just guitar and keyboards with some well placed electronic flourishes via an analogue synth and pedal steel.
A Love Like That
Elephant
Ben straps on the electric for the only time in the evening for of my all time Ben favourites - the shimmeringly gorgeous Butterfly Culture.
Butterfly Culture
Here is a short film about the new album Some Things Break
For the second time tonight Ben leaves the microphone, Guitar in hand and gives the enraptured crowd a stunning acapella version of Atlas Hands. The crowd just went wild.
Atlas Hands
As befits such a reflective and quiet show, Ben and Jamie end the show with the gorgeous Oh My God Please.
I have never seen Ben perform better and I've seen him a few times. I hope he felt the love in the room and comes to visit us again in Acapela Studios.
As I said to his sound man after the show - He should have recorded tonight as a live album. It would have been perfect.
Ah, The 80s. That glorious decade where you only had to wait a week for a new Pop Star or Musical Genre. If you could stand the onslaught of Thatcherite Britain you would have had best time in the vast variety of clubs that sprung up all over the UK. Yes, even down here in Wales. In fact, ESPECIALLY down here in Wales. I can remember people coming from all over the UK just to go to Swansea's nightlife.
And to fill these nightclubs they needed a wide variety of Music. And by God, did the 80s deliver - In Style!!
And from the industrial lands up north in Sheffield came a warrior, dressed in Gold lame, he delivered in his debut album possibly THE Best Album Of The 80's. The warrior's name was Martin Fry and together with his band ABC they brought glamour and sophistication to an audience SO ready for it they hit the heights almost immediately.
With a clutch of hit singles, that debut album, The Lexicon Of Love, has shone like a diamond throughout the 80s and ever since.
ABC, now Martin with some added musicians came to Cardiff tonight and helped the mainly middle aged audience relive it's 80s fantasies.
I've seen ABC several times over the years and they have never let me down, not once. Martin has always given 100% and with the luminous Anne Dudley as a musical cohort tonight conducting the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra, he and the orchestra and the Band excelled from the first notes of the orchestra warm up.
The show was a show of two halves. As Martin put it, in Part One he opens the 'ABC Songbook' and performs classic cuts from throughout his 40+ year recording career.
For Part 2, we are treated to a complete performance of the whole of Lexicon Of Love, as it was released.
It was a masterclass in performing with an orchestra. The sound was fabulous, which I must admit did surprise me in the barn-like Cardiff Arena so a big THUMBS UP to the live sound engineers who did a splendid job.
The Orchestra, conducted by Anne Dudley took to the stage and played a gorgeous version of the Lexicon Of Love Overture then Martin and the band appear and launch straight into an ABC classic - When Smokey Sings.
WHEN SMOKEY SINGS
Straight away you could see Martin was in fine voice tonight. Before you could draw a breath the band went straight into the lead single from the sequel to Lexicon Of Love with Viva Love. With the Orchestra earning their money on this one it shows just how good The Lexicon Of Love 2 actually is.
VIVA LOVE
With their foot still firmly on the pedal the show returns to the Alphabet City album, that also gave us Smokey earlier, for the next track The Night You Murdered Love.
THE NIGHT YOU MURDERED LOVE
The next track came as a real surprise as the band played the off beat How To Be A Millionaire. For those who remember this one, it is an electronic track with a heavy beat but thanks to Anne Dudley's tender touch it translated beautifully into an orchestral Tour De Force and it got one of the biggest cheers of the evening.
How To Be A Millionaire
With the Orchestra now truly warmed up and sounding sensational, they showed turned once again to the string laden Lexicon Of Love 2 for it's opening track The Flames Of Desire.
The Flames Of Desire
Staying with The Lexicon Of Love 2 the pace was slowed right down with the track The Love Inside The Love with it's John Barry 'Russian themed' Strings and James Bond guitar for me it was another highlight.
In fact I would have been well happy if the show was just The Lexicon Of Love 1 and 2 played in their entirety. And as if to tease me, the next track is the gorgeous ballad from Lexicon Of Love 2, the beautiful Ten Below Zero. Wonderful stuff indeed.
Ten Below Zero
After a string of ballads the mood needed lifting and what better than the dance-inspired track from the 1989 album UP, One Better World.
ONE BETTER WORLD
With too much dancing going on, as soon as I saw the bass player reach for his fretless bass I knew what was coming next, one of my favourite ABC songs, the lovely Ocean Blue.
OCEAN BLUE
They couldn't leave Part 1 on a downer so it's straight back to 1985's How To Be A Zillionaire album for the danceable Be Near Me.
BE NEAR ME
It's easy to forget how many fabulous hits ABC have had over the years and these new treatments with the Orchestra were just fabulous.
My only gripe about Part 1 was that the band didn't play anything from the excellent 1997 album Skyscraping or the follow up to Lexicon, the often over looked Beauty Stab which is 40 this year!! - such as the excellent Skyscraping opener Stranger Things or Beauty Stab's hit S.O.S.
STRANGER THINGS
S.O.S.
After a short intermission it was time for The Lexicon Of Love.
Now I'm not going to run through every track. Suffice to say the band played it in track order with the 4 brilliant hit singles, the backbone to a seminal album.
TEARS ARE NOT ENOUGH
POISON ARROW
The true beauty of the album is shown as the orchestra adds that final piece of the jigsaw that stirred Trevor Horn & Anne Dudley's Magic Dust to create a fabulously dynamic record that has the power to elevate, inspire and conjure hope in the darkest of times. And with the words of Martin Fry ringing across the arena, as the crowd sang every word of the album it truly shows the power of music to unite & heal. Everyone, transported back to their youthful selves for an hour.
ALL OF MY HEART
And finally after the album finished we had the encore - and what song would that be, well a track so good, and sung so well by the audience on the night, they played it twice - the classic
The Look Of Love.
THE LOOK OF LOVE
Proving they can still be relevant if they want to be with The Lexicon Of Love 2, they have cornered the market with magnificent orchestral pop, now all they have to do is come up with another album. Tonight the tour proves they have an audience if they want to continue to make new music. I hope Martin feels so inspired.
Photo of Cardiff Show by the Front Row Queen - Elizabeth Ursula Hirst
Right from the first time I heard this back in the summer it has been the one to beat. Nobody did.
It's a stunning album from a lady with a stunning voice and songwriting skills to match.
Expertly produced by Oscar De Jong of Kraak & Smaak it has a multitude of splendid musicians who bring the music to life.
Album number 3 from Izo it cemented her as a classic soul artist. Topped of by an appearance on Later With Jools, 2023 was a great year for her - just got to convince her down to Acapela Studios now for a live show!!
Out at the beginning of the year is 30 minutes of loveliness from Richard Olsen. Previously of the band The See See and currently with The Hanging Stars he conceived and wrote a gorgeous album during Lockdown and recorded it in 2022 for release this year.
Now, I would write my usual track by track review but when a journalist of the quality of the lovely Sean Hannam sits down with the man and discusses the album then I'm just going to hand over the reigns to him, A journalist of quality and distinction and more importantly, integrity, he is one who's opinions I seek out and trust. Sometimes our tastes are identical - sometimes not. In this case I think we are both singing off the same Hymn Sheet, so over to you Sean & Richard. Tell the punters all about this album on your splendid Blog - Say It With Garage Flowers. Dive in People!
One thing I have always loved since I was a kid was a story song.
This young lady, Hannah Rose Platt, is an absolute Master of them.
Very much in the Country/Americana/Singer-Songwriter camps she has now weaved her delicate way through three exquisite long playing records of which this is number 3. And it's the best work she's done. So far! In a very wise move indeed she enlisted fellow singer songwriter, Ed Harcourt to take the productions reigns and for his instrumental prowess which features throughout the album.
I've been lucky enough to meet her and see her live and her broad Liverpudlian brogue will light up any room she enters. Diminutive in stature and often voice, she will seduce you into submission on this record as she has in her previous two albums, Portraits (2015) and Letters Under Floorboards (2019).
But believe me, Deathbed Confessions is an absolute killer - if you'll excuse the pun. It's full of dark, gothic themes and visuals. Imagine Tim Burton recording an album with the voice of an angel and you'll probably be in the correct ball park, or cemetery!
The album open with the chugging of a train and we're into Track 1 - Dead Man On The G Train.
Full of electrics and atmosphere it bowls along at a pace. A fabulous start.
'Doesn't see me pull a pistol out of my left thigh.'
Dead Man On A G Train
Track 2 - Heddy Lamar is a beautiful and graceful song in the shape of waltz.
It's based around an acoustic guitar and piano motif with Hannah's gentle voice.
'I'll edit these frames and the shame into scenes I can bear'
Heddy Lamar live at Wolf Cabin
Track 3 - House For Wayward Dolls is an unsettling and almost childlike song. With lots of sound coming in and out of your speakers and it brings to mind the title sequence of the old ITV show, Tales Of The Unexpected.
Indeed, the album is very cinematic and the songs easily conjure images into your head and credit here must go to Hannah and Ed for creating such a soundscape for the songs to work their magic.
'A Barbie to my left with a cut across her throat'
Track 4 - The Mermaid & The Sailor includes a duet with said Mr Harcourt and is your classic Sailor meets Mermaid seduction story but with a twist which I'll let you discover for yourself.
'So abandon your ship, come take a dip, in the depths where it's oh so warm'
The Mermaid & The Sailor
Track 5 - Wendigo Rag - a discordant and surreal stomp with some heavy bass lead and pub piano looseness with Hannah in severely spooky mood.
'Her face becomes a Jackson Pollock canvas of blood'
Track 6- Inventing The Stars (interlude) is the beautiful short interlude featuring the Budapest Cinematic Orchestra just to reinforce the point that you are listening to something conceived in as much of a visual (of the mind) experience as an aural one.
Track 7 - The Kissing Room is a beautiful (once again) cinematic ballad, piano based, it tells the story of two lovers in Grand Central Station as they meet in the Kissing Room - a real place. Look it up!! It's romantic and sweet but acknowledging the album it's in is also spooky and a little unsettling
'Sounds of bullets and hearts breaking In my ears as I roam Round the shoeshine boy still sleeping Near a booth of telephones'
Track 8 - The Gentleman gives some light in the darkness and some hope in the despair and it's the brightest track on the album with it's rolling piano motif, it's just what is needed and comes at exactly the right time. Splendid editing and sequencing.
'Strolls the streets with sincerity Looking for new souls in need Orchestrating harmony A quiet conductor of good deeds'
The Gentleman
Track 9 - Tango With Your Fear opens with some silky upright bass with it's dynamic Tango beat it dances it's way across the grooves while Hannah's voice hits number 10 in seductiveometer as she whispers and caresses your ears into submission.
'You're the one who leads'
Track 10 - Feeding Time For Monsters is probably the signature tune for the record and sums up everything that has gone before. A gorgeous slice of gothic Americana with dissonant guitar counterpointing Hannah's delicious dreamy vocals.
'The broken necks of 'could-have-been's' Swinging, dangling, from the beams Like the truth'
Feeding Times For Monsters
Track 11 - Dead Man's Reprise takes us back to track one for some spooky expansions on themes from that track.
Track 12 - For The Living, For The Lost - another piano led ballad brings some light into the record in an almost dark Brian Wilson phrasing from the Surf's Up album era and with some beautiful Lester Brown trumpet work it's the most unexpected but gorgeous moment of the whole record for me.
'Devils dressed as guards along the platform Angels holding paper cups for change Carriage full of faces so familiar Watching as you take your place'
Deathbed Confessions Interview - Part 1
Track 13 - Inventing The Stars is a 4 minute orchestral piece featuring the Budapest Cinematic Orchestra yet again, And it's just like watching the credits roll in your head. And it's a beautiful way of closing a gorgeous album.
A huge step forward for Hannah. And a glorious listening experience for the listener.
I've been waiting SO long to see Johnny Hates Jazz live. They created one of my All Time Favourite Albums(TM) and one of The Best Albums Of The 80s with Turn Back The Clock in 1988.
And if I can just apologise right now for the fact that I didn't get the name of the musicians that accompanied Clark & Mike on the night but you Musician fellas will insist on shouting out the names which I can't understand. Anyway - it was an excellent band and gave the music depth and dynamism.
Johnny Hates Jazz don't have a huge canon of Music but what they have is glorious.
With Clark leaving the group of Himself, Mike Nocito and Calvin Hayes back in 1988 their second album Tall Stories featured singer songwriter producer Phil Thornalley instead. Look out for Clark interviewing Phil on his Journey Song version of Greater Good later in the blog.
Johnny Hates Jazz
Turn Back The Clock (1988) Tall Stories (1991) Magnetized (2013) Wide Awake (2020)
And to celebrate it's 30th anniversary in 2018, Clark & Mike recorded and released a beautiful acoustic version of Turn Back The Clock. Seek it out.
The Last To Know - from Tall Stories
Clark Datchler
Raindance (1990) Medicine Wheel (1992) Fishing For Souls (1992) Tomorrow (2007)
Journey Songs Vol 1 (2022) Journey Songs (2023)
Clark Datchler - Crown Of Thorns
Clark then went on to produce several albums in the 1990s and 2000s which he is now currently revisiting in his Journey Songs releases. These releases went on to prove that Clark was still a man who could write and make some fabulous music. Part 1 is out already Part Two is taking orders on the Johnny Hates Jazz website - link at the end of the review. He has also recorded videos to accompany these songs which you can find on Youtube,
Journey Songs 2 Trailer - set for release in November 2023
On the night The Band concentrated on the three albums with Clark, Turn Back The Clock, Magnetized and Wide Awake. With Mike taking a back of house position on stage with his bass, it left Clark to work his front man onstage magic to wow the crowd. And wow he certainly did. With a ton of professionalism he proved he still had the voice and the musical chops to cut it here in 2023.
The band kicked off with the title track from the Magnetized album and straight away the audience knew they were in safe hands for the evening.
Magnetized
Greater good came next and showed there was so much more to this band than just the Turn Back The Clock album. But it was good to see there were other die hard fans in the crowd that knew the words to these songs from the other albums.
Greater Good - Journey Songs Version with Phil Thornalley
But obviously the biggest cheers came when the band played any song from Turn Back The Clock, which they skilfully sprinkled like magic dust throughout the set. First of these was the uptempo Don't Say It's Love
Don't Say It's Love
New Day Ahead from Wide Awake quickly followed before we have another jewel from the Turn Back The Clock album in the shape of the gorgeous Different Seasons. In my opinion, many of that albums best songs weren't released as singles back in 1998.
Different Seasons
The band did have a couple surprise tucked up their sleeve for Part 1 of the show- the first was a splendid version of the Earth Wind & Fire classic, September, which was just fabulous. A great singalong moment from the crowd who upstairs were up and dancing in their seats
September
Following the exuberance we the band headed once again to the Wide Awake album for the AHA-esque No Mistakes, I can definitely hear Morton singing this and think that it WAS a A HA song.
The end of Part 1 was another highlight as Clark introduced Lottie Law to the stage, who the band had been working with for their time with the 80s Classical Orchestra album. Another excellent release worth a purchase.
Turn Back The Clock
Obviously, the crowd went wild for this one and everyone headed for the bar and the merch stand well happy.
Part 2 kicked off with another title track - this time from the Wide Awake album. another uptempo opener.
Wide Awake
ANother of those Turn Back The Clock classics comes next as the band launched into the hit, I Don't Want To Be A Hero.
I Don't Want To Be A Hero
The lovely Ghost Of Love from Magnetized slows the pace which really should have been a killer single back in the day. How Clark never settled or found his way to Nashville, I'll never know. Perhaps he had a 'Sliding Doors' moment. If I ever meet him, I'll ask him.
Ghost Of Love
Magnetized also gives us the next track, Man With No Name.
With only 4 songs left to go we are taken back to the Turn Back the clock album for the huge hit single Heart Of Gold before my favourite Johnny Hates Jazz song, Me And My Foolish Heart hits my ears, I was worried they wouldn't play it as it came so late in the set. I've included the gorgeous Acoustic version here in the blog for you to hear it.
Me & My Foolish Heart (Acoustic)
Again, we go all A Ha-esque for the penultimate track in the set, Lighthouse from the Magnetized album. It's keyboard and guitar riffs really remind me of A HA. I can see why Clark ended up writing with Mike Rutherford for several Mike & The Mechanics songs.
Lighthouse
The final track was ALWAYS going to be the band's greatest hit - the mighty Shattered Dreams, which went down a storm tonight and was the end to a really perfect night of 80s nostalgia.
Short of playing the Turn Back The Clock album in it's entirety, I don't see how the band could have done any better.
Shattered Dreams
But, I hope Clark noticed how fantastic the sound quality was and what a lovely baby grand piano Acapela Studios have. SO if he ever fancies an evening of Journey Songs live in the future I hope he considers coming back to Wales. I'd love him back, that's for sure.
