Monthly Archives: May 2025

Folk: album review – Christina Alden & Alex Patterson ‘Safe Travels’

Album reviews, Folk music, Uncategorized, , , , ,

When Norwich-based folk duo, Christina Alden & Alex Patterson, released their debut album, Hunter, back in 2021 I found it a highly enjoyable listen and was struck by the duo’s lovely melodies, heart-warming vocals and charming story-telling.

We’ve had a while to wait but now they are back with a brand-new album, Safe Travels, featuring ten original songs and a duo-composed instrumental.

Recorded at the couple’s home studio in the centre of Norwich, they outline the genesis of the album as follows:

“We began making this album at the start of 2022 as the world was emerging from the global pandemic and just before the birth of our daughter, Etta. Some of these  songs are like old friends that have travelled many miles with us, while others came about in the final stages of production. This is a collection of songs and tunes that feel as if they have grown and changed with us over the years. Those keen listeners among you may even hear some of our home life; our old cat pottering and meowing around the house; our daughter talking in the background or the sound of city life just beyond the city walls. We are so proud of this album and it’s been a real pleasure creating the music together.”

A number of the songs on the album are highly personal, such as the lovely ‘Etta’s Song’ (above) celebrating the birth of the couple’s baby daughter; the charmingly infectious ‘Our House’ which recalls Alden’s memories of growing up in a home filled with music; and the poignant ‘A Hundred Years Ago’ which, rather than being an epic historical folk tale, is all about recalling momentous events in one’s own life. However, as with the previous album, songs celebrating the beauty of the natural world also feature heavily and, as in the case of the ecologically-themed ‘The Mountain Hair’, the threat that the effects of man-made climate change poses to our natural landscape.

Both Alden and Patterson are accomplished multi-instrumentalists and finger-picked guitar interwoven with beautiful string arrangements make for a gentle yet versatile backdrop for Alden’s crystal clear lead vocal and Patterson’s warm harmonising. As with the debut album, pleasing melodies and heart-warming story-telling is the order of the day.

After a four-year journey Safe Travels has finally reached its intended destination and it’s an album that’s been well worth the wait.

Released: 9th May 2025 https://christinaaldenandalexpatterson.com/

Related review:

Folk: album review – Christina Alden & Alex Patterson ‘Hunter’

Live review: Supergrass at the Roundhouse, London 21/5/25

Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , ,

Given I spent the battle of Britpop firmly in the Blur camp, I passed up on the chance to buy tickets for the Oasis reunion when it was announced last summer. A couple of weeks later, however, when Supergrass announced that they would also be reforming to celebrate the 30th anniversary of I Should Co-Co, I was in the online queue as soon as tickets went on sale. Always my favourite band of the Britpop era, a chance to hear Supergrass’s debut album performed in full promised to be something rather special.

The Roundhouse is absolutely packed and although my gig companions for the evening have tickets for the main standing area, given that I sprained my ankle a few days before and thus hobbling around with a walking stick, I’m actually quite relieved that in the initial mad scramble for tickets I ended up with a seat right up in the gods.

After support from Rizzy & the Gents and Rialto, Supergrass took the stage to the siren blast and opening riff from The Sweet’s ‘Blockbuster’ before launching into ‘I’d Like To Know’ – track one from their debut album. Then, and now, the songs on I Should Co-Co fizz with youthful exuberance and pop-punk energy. “Like a nude Noddy Holder starting a fight,” is how Mojo described the album at the time. And it’s incredible to think how young the band were when they made it, especially given many of the songs had been written and demoed at least a couple of years earlier.

None more so than ‘Caught By The Fuzz’, the band’s first single and a gloriously relatable account of Gaz Coombes’ heart-pounding, stream-of-consciousness panic as he’s arrested for cannabis possession at the tender age of fifteen. Then it’s straight into ‘Mansize Rooster’, a song about a very young man with a very large appendage, followed by the ubiquitous teen summer anthem, ‘Alright’. These are a songs that have been a regular highlight of their set over many tours, of course, but there’s others from that first album getting a rare airing on this anniversary tour. Songs like the raunchy blues-rocker ‘We’re Not Supposed To’ or the swirling, psychedelic-tinged ‘Sofa (of My Lethargy)’ have barely been performed since the ‘90s.

The band’s precocious youthfulness when they wrote these songs is encapsulated in the on-stage banter when ‘She’s So Loose’ is introduced. Drummer Danny Goffey explains that it’s “about underage sex with older women.” “We might not have written this in 2025,” Gaz Coombes quickly reassures us. “We were like fucking sixteen!”

No matter. All are played to perfection tonight, the band summoning up hitherto untapped reserves of teen energy as they rip through this furiously-paced album at break-neck speed. The Roundhouse audience responds with waves of affection and impromptu crowd sing-alongs throughout the set.

After Coombes grabs his acoustic guitar and the audience sings along to the whimsical album epilogue ‘Time to Go’, there’s a still some time for a quick canter through some of the highlights from the rest of Supergrass’s back catalogue. Given the time constraints they choose well given the time constraints. The second and third albums are well-represented with three songs apiece, while there’s just one additional song – from 2002’s Life On Other Planets album. This is about celebrating the ‘90s after all!

After the monster riffing of ‘Richard III’ there’s time for the more reflective, melancholic side of Supergrass in the shape of ‘Late In The Day’, ‘Mary’ and the ever-gorgeous ‘Moving’. Then it’s another full-energy romp with a truly life-affirming rendition of early noughties single, ‘Grace’. They depart the stage to well-deserved applause.

Of course, there still two songs that we’re all still waiting for. It’s long before they are back on stage for an encore of ‘Sun Hits The Sky’ which then segues straight into a glamtastic ‘Pumping On Your Stereo’.

Supergrass absolutely nailed it. This will be the best Britpop reunion of 2025 bar none.

supergrass.com

Setlist:

I’d Like to Know
Caught by the Fuzz
Mansize Rooster
Alright
Lose It
Lenny
Strange Ones
Sitting Up Straight
She’s So Loose
We’re Not Supposed To
Time
Sofa (of My Lethargy)
Time To Go
Richard III
Late in the Day
Mary
Moving
Grace
Sun Hits the Sky
Pumping on Your Stereo

Related posts:

Supergrass Live at Crystal Palace 2021

Supergrass Live at Alexandra Palace 2020

Album review – Supergrass ‘Live On Other Planets’

Gaz Coombes at ULU 2018

Gaz Coombes at the Roundhouse 2016

Album review – Gaz Coombes – Matador

Vangoffey at the Social 2016

Folk-rock: album review – Merry Hell ‘Rising of the Bold’

Album reviews, Folk music, Rock music, , , , ,

After a five-year gap since their last album, Emergency Lullabies, Merry Hell are back with a brand-new, full-length studio release. Rising of the Bold is very much the Wigan folk-rockers’ ‘getting-it-together-in-the-country’ album, when the eight-strong band converged at a country house in Shropshire to assemble material for this latest release.

That idyllic pastoral setting may have had an influence some the eventual output because, overall, this comes across as a more varied and slightly more sophisticated take on the trademark Merry Hell template. It’s still effortlessly catchy folk rock, packed with bags of rhythm and memorable melodies but the quota of sing-along, festival-friendly anthems seems to have been dialled down a tad in favour of a little more light and shade.

It makes for a compelling set of songs. From the pounding folk rhythms of album opener ‘Pick Yourself Up and Dance’, to the defiant storytelling of the Levellers-esque ‘Vagaband Army’, to the darker, brooding sound textures of ‘Changing Times’, to the breezy, jangling, Byrds-like aura of ‘Changing Just The Same’, to the joyful optimism of ‘Singing in the Morning’ (which rounds off the album) there’s certainly no shortage of highpoints. It all manages to remain unmistakably Merry Hell, however, and their personalities both as songwriters and as performers shine through.

New fiddle player Simon Swarbrick, nephew of the late folk legend himself, gets to make his mark across the album with some fine playing. Moreover, in true Swarbrick fashion he gets to contribute a jaunty, foot-tapping fiddle-led instrumental in the shape of ‘Lizard On A Log’.

Don’t fret. The sing-along communal anthems haven’t been banished entirely, the centrepiece of which is the self-explanatory ‘Peace Can Be Louder Than War’, with accompaniment from the Thousand Voice Choir.

Merry Hell’s status as a perennial festival attraction was never in any doubt but this latest release is proof that the band continue to deliver on the album front, too.

Released: 9th May 2025 http://www.merryhell.co.uk/

Related posts:

Live review: Merry Hell at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention August 2023

Album review – Merry Hell ‘Let The Music Speak For Itself’

Album review – Merry Hell ‘Emergency Lullabies’

Album review – Virginia Kettle ‘No Place Like Tomorrow’

DVD review: Merry Hell ‘A Year In The Life’

Album review: Merry Hell ‘Anthems To The Wind’

Rock / Blues: Double A-side single release – Joe Hodgson ‘Since You Had a Hold on Me’ / ‘Stick or Twist’

Music news, Rock music, , , , , , ,

Single release: 9 May 2025

“The best guitarist you’ve never heard of” “a brilliantly adventurous player, right up there with the likes of Satriani and Vai” – Steve Newton, Ear Of Newt

After a four-year hiatus, spent travelling, writing and recording, Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson returned to the scene in March 2025 with a double A-side instrumental offering, “The Grass Is Greener” and “Shapeshifting”.

The follow-up, another double single, marks a departure from Hodgson’s customary all-instrumental fanfares and features Irish vocalist Glen Harkin on the smoky bar room blues song “Since You Had A Hold On Me”. This is coupled with “Stick Or Twist”, a hard-hitting, in-your-face instrumental rocker which flirts with funk and soul, as Hodgson continues to straddle and blend musical genres with the introduction of brass to his sound.

Joe, whose playing has been described as ‘elite’ by Guitar World magazine says, “Since You Had A Hold On Me” is about the realisation that a relationship has not only run its course but that your partner no longer controls you’. We see the gravel-voiced Harkin remembering the good times but determined to walk out that door all the same. The blues is the perfect medium to express this, and while Hodgson’s mantra, ’words can lie, but my guitar can’t’, initially appears like a contradiction, the inclusion of vocals poignantly emphasises that love is often peppered with half-truths and downright lies. The track begins and ends with aching lead guitar lines, as Hodgson puts his undeniable stamp on the music.

The second track on this double single, the raucous instrumental “Stick Or Twist”, could be viewed as a precursor to the blues track. Hodgson explains, ‘This track is inspired by the moments of uncertainty and the -Will I? Won’t I?- experiences we all encounter’. The restless, edgy nature of the music underlines the unease that underpins its meaning, as Hodgson shifts pace and guitar styles through the many twists and turns of the song.

These tracks, taken from his forthcoming album, “Fields Of Redemption”, capture feelings of introspection, pain, hope and joy, and they come from a guitar player who is certainly not afraid to take chances in pursuit of his art.

About Joe Hodgson:

Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.

After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album “Apparitions” to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. While ANR Factory described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.

On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, “Fields Of Redemption”. As a forerunner to this, he released a double A-side single in March, comprising “The Grass Is Greener” and “Shapeshifting”, which garnered glowing press reviews.

The follow-up, which drops on Friday 9th May, is another double offering: “Since You Had A Hold On Me”, featuring Irish vocalist Glen Harkin, and the instrumental “Stick Or Twist”.

Released: 9th May 2025

Website: https://joehodgsonmusic.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joehodgsonmusic

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joehodgsonmusic

Related post:

This week’s featured artist: guitarist Joe Hodgson