Monthly Archives: November 2024

Singer-songwriter: album review – Steve Knightley ‘The Winter Yards’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , ,

In 2023 Phil Beer and Steve Knightley announced a final tour before putting Show of Hands on indefinite hiatus, pledging to “prioritise their well-being, creativity, and longevity above the demands of the road.” There was no suggestion, thankfully, that either of them would be giving up performing altogether and for those feeling a Show-of-Hands-sized gap in their lives the good news is that Steve Knightley is back with a brand-new solo album – his first in seventeen years.

Steve Knightley: “I’ve spent much of my career weaving the West Country and English landscapes into my music, seeking to capture the essence of rural life and the stories that define it. But with Show of hands now on sabbatical, I’ve found myself at a crossroads – a moment to pause, reflect and consider new directions.”

“This album marks a significant departure for me, both musically and personally. Inspired more by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel, The Winter yards reflects a fresh journey, venturing more into urban and transatlantic landscapes. But while it explores unchartered territory I believe it stays true to the voice I’ve always had, finding new ways to tell stories that matter.”

The Winter Yards is not simply Show of Hands in exile but without the fiddle and the mandolin. Clearly, however, Knightley’s unmistakeable voice, both as a singer and a lyricist, is very much at the heart of the album and there’s plenty here to appeal to long-term fans of the duo.

Lyrically, the album tackles themes as diverse as the Post Office scandal, immigration, the emotional toil when friendships breakdown and youthful, sun-kissed, summer romance. Knightley also revisits a handful of Show of Hands songs, including ‘Requiem’ and ‘Exile’ but one of the few ‘everyday story of country life’ songs that Show of Hands were best known for is one inspired, not by the tribulations of rural life in Devon or Somerset, but rather an anthemic celebration of the village of Wickham in Hampshire, the county Knightley was born in.

Musically, there’s a lush palette of sounds, incorporating keyboards, guitar, drums, dobro, violin and more, and Knightley has pulled in a wealth of talent to perform alongside him on the album. Phil Beer even gets to guest on a couple of tracks.

Poignant, tender, thought-provoking and rousing, in turn, The Winter Yards marks a triumphant return for Steve Knightley as a solo artist.

Released: 4th October 2024

Visit Steve Knightley’s website here

Related posts:

Folk: album review – Show Of Hands ‘Roots 2: The Best Of Show Of Hands’

Live review: Show Of Hands at St Mary in the Castle 4/5/18

Live review: Hawklords at The Carlisle, Hastings 9/11/24

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , ,

Hawklords was originally a late 1970s spin-off project from the space rock legends, Hawkwind, during a time the main band was on a brief hiatus. Fast-forward to 2008 and the name was resurrected as the name for a new band featuring a handful (of the many!) former members of Hawkwind. Just like Hawkwind itself, there have been numerous changes in personnel since then but former Hawkwind members have always been a strong presence in each iteration.

Currently, Hawklords is composed of Jerry Richards on guitar and vocals, who was part of Hawkwind in the late 90s-early 00s; Mr Dibs on bass, who did an 11-year stint in Hawkwind until 2018; and Dave Pearce on drums, who was never part of Hawkwind but was a member of psychedelic-rockers, The Bevis Frond.

While most spin-off projects from veteran rock acts tend to make very liberal use of their parent band’s back catalogue, with set-lists composed mostly or entirely of a compendium of classic cuts, this is very much not the case with Hawklords. They certainly capture the sound, spirit and ethos of classic-era Hawkwind but the focus these days is very much on performing new, original material.

The band are currently promoting a brand-new album, Relativity, and there is a heavy focus on material from that on this current tour. But, as the publicity blurb aptly spells out:

“Sounding, at times, as if the music has fallen through a worm-hole from the classic 1970s era of space-rock and psychedelia, the new release explores themes including Artificial Intelligence, ‘machine learning’ and how Humanity can, in part, come to terms with all that entails.”

This is manna from heaven for any space rock devotee and fans of 70s era Hawkwind will find the key ingredients all present and correct at a Hawklords gig: the light show, the sound effects, the spoken word interludes, the hypnotic riffs, the whole shebang – but, crucially, all with captivating new songs, addressing contemporary themes relevant to the modern age.

The vintage material isn’t neglected entirely and the band give us a blast of ‘Brainstorm’ from the Space ritual album. Nick Saloman of The Bevis Frond is also invited up on stage as tonight’s guest to give us an additional blast of guitar, serving to make it an even more memorable evening. I was completely transfixed from start to finish. I also picked up a copy of the new album, Relativity, at the gig. Really well-produced it’s already had repeated plays since the weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/TheHawklords

Related posts:

Book review: ‘On Track: Hawkwind – every album, every song’ by Duncan Harris

Hawkwind at The Old Market, Hove 2014

Live review: The Blockheads at White Rock Theatre, Hastings 7/11/24

Hastings music scene, Live reviews, Rock music, , , ,

I’ve found the way I choose which gigs to go to has really changed during the time I’ve been living in Hastings. When I lived in London, my approach was very must based on keeping an eye on what all my favourite bands were up to, checking out their UK tour schedules and working out which was the best venue to get to. 

My approach has now changed completely. I tend to look at what’s coming up in the two main venues closest to me (Hasting White Rock Theatre and Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion) as well as a selection of nearby smaller venues and choose accordingly. Because we are so well catered for in terms of live music on this small section of the East Sussex coast, it means I rarely travel further than a three-mile radius to get to gigs these days. However, it’s also meant I’ve tended to see a broader selection of artists, bands for whom I might be completely unfamiliar with but just fancy seeing or bands where I own just a single best-of compilation rather than their entire back catalogue. The Blockheads very much fit into that latter category. Although I ‘d seen and enjoyed them before, back when I first moved down here in 2016, I’ve still not progressed beyond that one compilation CD but I was hugely impressed with what I saw last time and keen to see them again.

There have been some changes since then, however. Derek ‘The Draw’ Hussey, the Blockheads’ frontman following the death of Ian Dury back in 2000, sadly passed away himself in 2022 and has been replaced by Mike Bennett. Veteran bass-player Norman Watt-Roy also stepped away in 2022 and Nathan King (brother of Level 42’s Mark) now does the honours. The first I knew about, the second came as something of a surprise. However, Chaz Jankel (keyboards, guitar and co-songwriter) is very much still part of the band, as is John Turnbull (guitar) and Mick Gallagher (keyboards) from the Dury-led glory years.

As Turnbull told the audience at one point the band’s main job, nay only job these days, is keeping these songs alive. And a great job they do, too. New frontman, Mike Bennett, adopts a somewhat more conventional interpretation of Dury’s songs (if anything Dury-related can ever be termed conventional) than the eccentric, larger-than-life persona of his predecessor, Derek the Draw, but his approach works well and he has an engaging stage presence. Musically, the band are as strong as ever. While I missed the charismatic presence of Norman Watt-Ray, his replacement ably delivers those funky bass licks and Chaz Jankel, John Turnbull and Mick Gallagher are clearly in their element. You can see how much joy it’s giving them still performing these songs.

As for the songs, those classics come thick and fast: ‘What a Waste’, ‘There Ain’t Half Been Some Clever Bastards’, ‘Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll’, ‘I Want to Be Straight’, ‘Billericay Dickie’, ‘Sweet Gene Vincent’, ‘Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part 3’ and, of course, ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’. There’s a few I’m less familiar with and Turnbull even tells us they’ve been in the studio recording a couple of new tracks in time for Christmas. They encore with a riotous ‘Blockheads’ and a poignant ‘Lullaby for Franci/es’ with each member of the band exiting the stage one by one on the final number. A stand-out performance that celebrates the Blockheads’ back-catalogue in style and does Dury’s legacy proud.

https://www.theblockheads.com/

Related post:

The Blockheads at Hastings 2016

This week’s featured artist: singer-songwriter Jon Budworth – new album ‘In Sight of Home’

Album reviews, Folk music, , , , , ,

Born and raised in Leigh in Lancashire and now living in Otley, Yorkshire, Jon Budworth started playing guitar at the age of 11 and has been honing his skills, diversifying his repertoire and experimenting with various genres ever since, with rock, blues, folk, and jazz all featuring on his musical horizons.

Budworth’s  debut EP as a singer-songwriter, Time Machine, was released back in 2013 which was followed up by a second EP, Trees Turn To Fire, in 2014 which I was asked to review for the Bright Young Folk website. I remember being impressed by the release, writing at the time:

“Budworth’s bright, fresh sounding vocals and lovely melancholic guitar work extremely well. Budworth’s music definitely deserves a wider audience.”

What I wrote must have struck a chord because, ten years later, reading the publicity blurb for his latest album, I find that sentence staring back at me. In the intervening years, Budworth released his well-received debut full-length album, We all Share the Same Sky, back in 2020, with the excellent follow-up, In Sight of Home, coming out in June this year.

Jon Budworth: “The seed for In Sight of Home was sewn in 2019 after watching an incredibly moving BBC documentary commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of the Iolaire Disaster. I was immediately inspired to write a song and decided there and then it would become the title track on a new album.”

“It wasn’t until a certain pandemic hit that I had the time and space to continue writing. Shadow of the Chevin is a love song to my wonderful home-town of Otley. I’m originally from Leigh in Lancashire, but in 2017 I traded in my Lancashire passport, moved over the border, and became an honorary Yorkshireman! All is Quiet was written after taking a stroll around Otley on a beautiful April evening during the first lockdown – the normally bustling market town was eerily quiet and still. I wrote December on a dark and misty winter’s night as I found myself contemplating growing older and how quickly life passes by.”

“After covid, my normally hectic existence resumed and I wrote several songs dealing with the everyday stresses and strains of real life. In This Moment is about finding those rare moments of peace and tranquillity, a situation very often aided by a glass or two of wine! I Don’t Need Tomorrow is a song dedicated to anyone, who for whatever reason, is not looking forward to what tomorrow might bring. 1000 Faces is a song about fate and not taking anything for granted. Never deals with the thought of being forced to move away from a place you love.”

“Two of the songs are observations on modern life. Flatlining addresses first world problems  and many peoples need to live their lives through social media. I wrote Holyhead after visiting the town and seeing a homeless girl set against a backdrop of opulent cruise ships in the harbour. Ghost of a Girl was written after discovering a ghostly statue of Alice in Wonderland in a garden behind York Minster. She looked lost, alone and frozen in time on that grey and damp February afternoon.”

Most of the instruments on the album are played by Budworth himself, including drums, bass and guitar, but he’s also enlisted the assistance of several highly talented local musicians, as well as the as well as the highly acclaimed singer-songwriter, Edwina Hayes, who shares lead vocals on the title track.

With thought-provoking yet easily relatable lyrics, appealing melodies, impressive guitar-work and vocals that are still as fresh-sounding as ever, Budworth has come up with an extremely likeable album here which is well worth checking out, as is the rest of his back catalogue.

In Sight of Home was released by Flying Folkie Recording Co. on 7th June 2024

For Jon Budworth’s website visit here