Live at The Greyhound Inn, Llanrhidian, Gower, Swansea
November 17 2013
The album that has been the nearest to my music playing devices in 2013 has been Blight & Blossom by Blair Dunlop.
I caught on to the album in January and have been playing it almost every week. Released late last year, it followed a couple of EP releases that introduced Blair onto the music scene.
I've waited all year for Blair to come down to South Wales to play a gig and I have to say that the wait was worth it. At the moment Blair is recording his second album and he can now showcase several of the new songs in his live shows. The gig was split into two 50 minute sections and covered several songs from his debut release, traditional songs as well as new material and a couple of unexpected covers by contemporary artists. Blair was joined by Jake on Keyboards and Angharad on Fiddle which make up The Blair Dunlop Trio.
Blair showed just what a brilliant and vibrant young guitar player he is. He stated that he was clearly influenced by the great folk guitarist Nic Jones but I can also detect the other Nick - Nick Drake, in his
playing.
Blair was well supported by Angharad & Jake, who give a new dimension to the songs and will also be appearing on Blair's new album.
The new songs bode well for the second album and on first hearing, the songs earmarked for the second album are every bit as good as the ones on Blight & Blossom. Talking to Blair during the halftime break, he hoped the album would be ready by the end of spring.
Blair mentioned his parents during the show and even sang a song by his dad, Ashley Hutchings, called The Song of Two Bridges. He also played a superb version of the Nic Jones interpretation of the classic Canadee I O Tab.
Now I'm aware that Blair has a bit of a soft spot for Jackson Browne and he didn't disappoint as he played These Days.
He is such a talented young man and deserves huge success.
I’m always on the lookout for some good music and a good
friend of mine introduced me to Oysterband many moons ago.
They had just released their album Shouting End Of Life and
this album was a compilation of the best moments of the albums they had
released up to the release of Shouting..
The Oysterband had taken a few incarnations up to the point
of the Holy Bandits album in 1993 but now had a settled line up of John Jones
on vocals, Ian Telfer on fiddle, Alan Prosser on Guitars, Lee Partis on drums
and Ray ‘Chopper’ Copper on bass.
They had built their following by releasing albums with a mix
of traditional and self-penned songs which portrayed a keen eye on the
political scene and a unique ability to switch from rousing anthems to quiet
and contemplative observations.
The album kicks off with the old English song Hal An Tow.
Take no scorn to wear the horn
It was the crest when you was born
Your father's father wore it
And your father wore it too
Chorus (after each verse):
Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow
We were up long before the day-O
To welcome in the summer,
To welcome in the May-O
The summer is a-coming in
And winter's gone away-O
What happened to the Spaniards
That made so great a boast-O?
Why they shall eat the feathered goose
And we shall eat the roast-O
Robin Hood and Little John
Have both gone to the fair-O
And we will to the merry green wood
To hunt the buck and hare-O
God bless Aunt Mary Moyses
And all her power and might-O
And send us peace to England
Send peace by day and night-O
Not all of the songs are this old though. Oysterband had
written some great songs up to the album including Oxford Girl.
It is quite a varied album and showcases the band’s
excellent musicianship. Their live performances around this time were the stuff
of legend. They went on for ages and had the crowd bouncing around.
The song Blood wedding is the Wedding song to end all
Wedding songs J
They’ve calmed down a bit since then.
Following Trawler, they went on to produce some fine albums including Rise Above, Here I Stand and Meet You There.
In 2011, the band teamed up once again with June Tabor to release an album called Ragged Kingdom. This was a huge hit in folk circles and led to them receiving several awards including Folk Album of The Year.
This year saw Ray Cooper decide to leave the band. I was lucky enough to be at his last gig with the band in Treorci and get to meet him after and shake his hand and wish him farewell. With one album under his belt, he is now working on his second.
With a new album Diamonds On The Water due out in February 2014 and a new tour to support it, the Oysterband story continues. If you get a chance to see them live, just go. You'll be seeing one of the best live acts in the UK.
Ok, let me just say that I am ready to take the howls of derision that may well follow this post. But let me also say, I don't care. Back in the mid 60s & early 1970s, Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr.,or to give him his more well know name, John Denver, embarked upon a series of albums, including Rhymes & Reasons, Poems, Prayers & Promises and Rocky Mountain High, that resulted in him being one of the highest selling artists in US history. He remains 29th in the all time best selling list of solo artists in history. Not bad seeing as he has been dead for 16 years as has not released an album since that date. His estate has not released one single new John Denver album since his death. Unlike many other artists who have recycled umpteen Greatest Hits Packages to keep the cash flowing in..
His first Greatest Hits package released in 1973 is now a 9 times platinum album and he has sold over 32.5 million albums.
John has always been labelled a MOR artist and TV entertainer. But that is taking away from his quality as a songwriter. He was actually finally inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame the year before his death in 1996.
Following the huge success of his Greatest Hits volume 1, he released the album Back Home Again in 1974 which contained his biggest single success.
The following year in 1975, he released, what I think is his greatest single album, Windsong. In terms of his songwriting, John had gathered together the strongest and probably most varied set of songs outside the Greatest Hits collections. He always hired the top US session musicians to contribute to the recording and included percussionist Hal Blaine and arranger Lee Holdridge, who contributed some gorgeous string arrangements on the album. John was a commited campaigner for environmental issues and many of his songs reflected his love of nature. I loved this about him. The album kicks off with the plaintive title track.
He was always up for a duet, which you can see if you watched any of his TV shows or specials. He sings a beautiful duet with Olivia Newton-John on this album, it also became a hit single.
As part of John's environmental campaigning, he met Jacques Cousteau, who took him on many of his missions to map marine wildlife as part of the WWF conservation programmes. It resulted in one of John's best songs. It was also the name Jacques's ship.
As I said earlier, the variety in the songwriting is what makes this album so special for me. Often an artist can write a great ballad and struggle with uptempo songs and Vice Versa. John however, can write a great song in ALL types of music.
I must admit that my favourite on the whole album is the uplifting Spirit.
Following Windsong, John released 14 albums before his death in 1997 and released some excellent songs and albums but never regained his huge success. I don't think he would have cared much anyway as he went on to have a great impact all over the world in his humanitarian and environmental campaigning.
I did manage to catch him live in Cardiff before his death. And do you know what? He even sung Annie's Song in Welsh. And apparently every time he played this song in a non English speaking country, he would learn Annie's Song in the language of the country he sang it. Now THAT'S impressive :)
He did play other people's songs as well as his own, here are two, the first written by Jimmy Webb and the second by Mike Batt.
Finally, todays artists are looking back and realising what a great songwriter john Denver was. A very special tribute album was released this year called The Music Is You.
Just check it out to see what some of todays artists have done with John's songs. It's a great tribute to him.
It was March 1985. This was when Nick Laird-Clowes, Kate St John & Gilbert Gabriel aka The Dream Academy released this single. It came before the album & was their only hit. But WHAT a hit. It was written about and dedicated to the memory of a certain Nick Drake.
With Nick's whispered vocals and anthemic chorus, it lit up the charts. It didn't sound like anything else around at the time and with Kate's plaintive oboe it conjours up a yearning and nostalgia that stays with you.
''Dr Gilbert Gabriel (MA Film. B.Mus) is a songwriter, producer and composer whose music and songs have featured in TV, Films & Radio around the world. He received an Ivor Novello nomination and was awarded Gold records and BMI certificates for radio play and sales.''
Kate went on to release a couple of solo albums and has continued to work in the music business.
Nick resurfaced in 1999 as Trashmonk and released a solo album
Nick's most recent work has been as musical director of the recent Richard Curtis movie About Time, for which he also wrote the Theme.
But Life In A Northern Town is still the crowning glory of all the band members. It has even been covered by all people Sugarland.
How many artists in your musical collection would warrant
you purchasing an album unheard? Probably, only a handful. For me, one of those artists is Swing Out Sister.
I used to work for a company who used to sell very high end
Hi Fi equipment. I went all over the country to trade fairs and
manufacturer events where we would be shown the very latest products that were
due to hit the shelves the following year. I attended a launch of some new
generation cd players and we were given the opportunity to win some new and
unreleased cds. They did this via a music quiz. A silly move on their part. I
cleaned up. One of the unreleased cds that were used to demonstrate the cd
players were by a band called Swing Out Sister. The album turned out to be It’s
Better To Travel. Of all the cds I took home that weekend, this was my
favourite.
I would love to post the original videos but they get taken down almost immediately from Youtube
With the hit singles Breakout and Twilight world, the album
was full of glorious sophisticated pop. It hinted at a subtle 60s vibe but was
very much of the time sound wise. With vocals by the luminous Corrine Drewery,
keyboards by Andy Connell and drums by Martin Jackson, Swing Out Sister hit the
airwaves and TV with initially fun videos but which later turned into sophisticated
travelogue style films with glamourous locations.
This first album went on to be a huge success and Breakout
remains one of the most recognisable tunes of the 80s.
So, I eagerly awaited the release of their second album. Now
I know what I wanted it to sound like and when I heard they had hired Jimmy
Webb to work on the orchestral sections of the new album, well, my mouth was
watering.
What they actually delivered was one of my favourite albums
of all time.
Released in 1989, Kaleidoscope World was everything I wanted a Swing Out
Sister album to be. For me, they’ve never been able to match the album.
Although they have come close a couple of times. Kaleidoscope world was tuneful, sophisticated, drenched in strings and had the 60s vibe.
The lead off single remains my favourite song of all
time. You On My Mind kicks the album off perfectly. It’s a brilliantly
uplifting song with that amazing 1960s feel & sound.
By now, Martin Jackson had left the group and Corrine & Andy have been Swing Out Sister ever since.
Jimmy Webb actually worked on to songs on the album, Forever Blue and Precious Words.
Both have an almost Bacharach sound to them. Placing them firmly in the 1960s heyday of the BB sound. But the album is full of glorious, uplifting songs that could have all been hit singles.
They have followed this album with many a great album that has gone criminally unnoticed to the record buying public. Although for some odd reason they have always been Big In Japan. Japan obviously has exquisite taste.
The bands latest album is called Private View and contains acoustic versions of some of their best loved songs and it's very nice too. So go out and discover some glorious music.
But............ You On My Mind had a terrific video based on the Thomas Crown Affair. It isn't on youtube. But it is here for you to see in all it's glorious 60s pastiche.
I've held off posting this album as I was hoping that it would have won the Mercury Music Prize. I don't normally get excited by industry awards, especially music, as it is so subjective. But of the nominated artists, I was really hoping that Laura would have won. It's not for the money obviously, as it's only £20K but the raised profile that it generates is priceless advertising. Even though James Blake has won the prize this year, most Industry 'Insiders' seemed to think that Singing To The Moon was the best album of 2013. Of the list, I think I'd have to agree.
A special mention must go to the producer Steve Brown who has done a magnificent job on the album and to Laura & Steve for the arrangements. Steve Brown has also worked on the Rumer album, Seasons Of My Soul. The album 'sounds' beautiful and soaring while also quiet and delicate in places. It is very hard to catagorise. Is it Soul, is it R&B, is it Pop, is it Rock, is it Gospel, is it Prog, is it Baroque? Well, it's all of those things really. And I'd probably throw in a bit of Classical & Choral music too. The treatment of the vocals/voices is sublime. Not only Laura's lead but the lovely harmonies that are built up behind her.
Laura has stated that one of her influences has been The Beach Boys and with the song is There Anybody Out There? you can really hear their influence.
As I said, it's a very hard album to pin down but my advice is that if you like any of the descriptors I have used above then you should invest.
