I’ve been really impressed with Jack Badcock’s work in Dallahan, the Scottish/Irish/World folk band that he helped found a decade ago. This month, however, sees him release Cosmography, his first ever solo album.
As with Dallahan’s 2023 album, Speak Of The Devil, it’s a showcase for his gifted acoustic guitar-playing and distinctive tenor voice. But whereas that last album took us on an exhilarating, frenetic journey across a number of folk traditions, this one takes us into lush, atmospheric, singer-songwriter territory. And a very fine debut he’s turned out in this new guise, too.
Badcock’s vocals are soulful and emotive and he’s proving himself to be an ever more impressive songwriter, here tackling themes from the future of humanity (‘Life In Three Dimensions’); the sixteenth century explorer who was the first Englishman to reach Japan, (‘The English Samurai’); and the much more personal ‘Too Many Things’, described as “almost a therapy session that tackles the excessive indulgences of myself and peers in the music industry.”
What really makes this album, however, beyond the poignant songwriting and superbly mellow vocals, are the rich layers of instrumentation. Euan Burton, who also plays bass on the album, does a sterling job as producer and leaves us with a solo album that’s polished and fully-formed. With a stellar line-up of supporting musicians, including some especially beautiful piano from Tom Gibbs and simply gorgeous pedal steel from Connor Smith, there’s much to fall in love with here. Folk luminaries like Siobhan Miller, Josie Duncan and Joy Dunlop line up to provide lush backing vocals.
Don’t expect Cosmograpy to be much like Dallahan but do expect it to be exceptional. It really is outstanding.
Running this blog I often get bands (or their PRs) offering to send me free CDs. Almost without exception it’s usually when they’ve got a new album to promote and are looking for a review.
Recently, however, I received the following email from a guy called Todd Jasko who was once in a band called the Brick City Three:
“Quick random question for you: my band is trying to get rid of our CDs. We’re goofy party hard rock. Can I send you one for free? More detail: we had a band. We had a blast. Our drummer got sick and passed away. Now I’m left with 30ish CDs and I would rather give them away free than try to sell them. Happy to mail you one for free if you like! Or if you want to check us out first, we’re called Brick City three and we’re free digitally on Bandcamp. Let me know, and thanks for your time!”
Intrigued, I checked them out online, instantly liked what I heard and emailed Todd back to take him up on his very kind offer.
A few days later, said CD arrived in the post all the way from New Jersey. Quirky, punked-up, party rock with witty self-deprecating lyrics and irresistably catchy hooks, it’s been blasting out of my stereo all week. As per the email, it’s not a recent album. It came out in 2008 and the back cover still advertises the band’s Myspace account! So I’m going to resist doing a full blow-by-blow review but the good news is that the band still have some unreleased tracks and Todd is planning to put a final album together. That, I definitely will review.
A bit more background on the Brick City Three:
Brick City Three was formed in 2006 in Newark, NJ (aka “The Brick City”.) Mike (bass) and Cal (drums) grew up in Jersey listening to Rush and Yes, but none of their friends enjoyed rock music, so they didn’t know any local guitarists. In the early 00’s, Mike met Todd through Mike’s coworker (Pete Levine – former drummer of Flowerhead), and Todd’s habit of remembering people’s birthdays led to him reach out to Mike in August of 2006. Mike remembered Todd from some previous jams at Pete’s house, and he asked Todd if he would want to come out to play some music with Cal and him. Considering Todd was anything BUT an in-demand guitarist, singer, or songwriter, he jumped at the chance! Their first jam included covers of “Rockin’ in the Free World”, “Dig In”, and “Space Oddity”, and they enjoyed it so much that they decided to do it again!
One of their improvised jams during that initial meeting stuck in Todd’s head, and he asked Mike and Cal if he could try bringing an original tune to their next jam. Their second jam birthed this first song as a band, “Show Me”. Eventually, this song would be their album opener as well as every show’s closing number.
Rehearsals continued most Saturdays in Newark, and by the spring of 2007, the band had enough solid originals to start playing shows. What they lacked in talent they made up for in enthusiasm! After a few months, they settled on the moniker “Brick City Three” since Newark was such a big part of their formation.
Between 2007 and 2011, the band played several shows in NYC and NJ, released one studio album, and developed a repertoire of approximately 20 original songs and 15 cover songs. And they weren’t afraid to mix it up! For example: they knew that Mike and Cal’s friends at the Juke Joint (a backyard venue in Newark) weren’t huge rock fans, so they once surprised the crowd with a more dance-friendly set of covers ranging from 70’s disco to 80’s hip-hop to 90’s R&B including a variety of guest singers.
Sadly, Cal’s health slowed the band down, and he eventually passed away in 2015. But we are still left with memories, video, and hours of audio from shows and rehearsals. Todd is currently planning to put together a final, second, posthumous album in the near future to honour the band’s and Cal’s legacies.
Brick City Three and Cal – we salute you! And I very much look forward to hearing the second (and final) album.
One of the advantages of living in Hastings, now the adopted home-town of Praying Mantis founder Tino Troy, is getting the chance to see the band performing tracks from their new album, Defiance, down the road in your local rock pub within days of its worldwide release. Indeed, introducing the title track of the new albumtonight, Tino Troy acknowledged it would be the first time it has ever been performed in public.
First, however, we hear from Gypsy’s Kiss who have the claim to fame of being the first band Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris played in. Like Praying Mantis, they formed over fifty years ago, with their first gig being played back in April 1974. Founder Member and guitarist, David Smith, reformed the band in 2018 with a new line-up and they’ve gigged solidly since then, as well as releasing an album and a couple of EPs. Indeed, this is their third time playing the Carlisle and they’ve built up quite a local fan-base now. They play a mixture of songs from their original tenure and off their new album and if you like that brand of good, honest, 1970s, guitar-driven hard-rock, in the vein of say Stray or a heavied-up Wishbone Ash, it’s a very enjoyable set. Not to mention the historical curiosity element that comes from hearing the songs that were performed by Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris at his first ever public gigs.
And then it was on to the main event. The set from Praying Mantis included material from the early days like ‘Captured City’ and ‘Praying Mantis’ alongside more recent material, like ‘Keep It Alive’ and ‘Cry For The Nations’, together with two tracks from the brand-new album, the aforementioned ‘Defiance’ along with ‘Standing Tall’, with its unexpected dance-beat. A packed-out Carlisle gave the band a rousing reception, with bass-player Chris Troy, in particular, visibly moved by the response. The band rewarded the crowd with an encore that included a rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Simple Man’ and their own ever-green ‘Children Of The Earth’.
But what of the rest of the album? Eleven tracks that are “a perfect blend of classic Praying Mantis with a contemporary twist,” as bass-player, co-founding member and principal song-writer, Chris Troy puts it.
As well as nine original songs and an instrumental track, there’s all a cover of the Russ Ballad-penned classic, ‘I Surrender’, a huge hit for Rainbow in 1981 and a track I absolutely loved as a young teenage rock fan and still love today – a song that marked the high-point of Rainbow’s post-Dio embrace of more accessible, melodic hard rock. Rainbow are now long-gone, of course, but who better to continue flying the flag for accessible-but-intelligent, polished, melodic, hard rock than Praying Mantis? Interestingly, Praying Mantis, themselves, were actually in the running to release this song back in the early ‘80s but were overtaken by events when Blackmore and co. were given the nod to release it themselves. They certainly do it justice here. Other album highlights include the instantly-catchy rocker, ‘Feeling Lucky’ and the nicely mellow ‘One Heart’, with its lovely keyboard flourishes and Spanish-style guitar.
Both a highly-enjoyable album and a equally enjoyable album launch, Praying Mantis have definitely earned themselves the right to be a tad defiant these days.
I first came across the Julie July Band in the band’s early days when they were performing their lovingly-collated and extremely well-received tribute to Sandy Denny. Time has flown by and the band have been together a decade now and are about to release their fourth studio album.
While the first one stuck to material that had been written or performed by Sandy Denny herself, subsequent albums have been composed of original material. The last album, the post-lockdown Wonderland, saw the band draw on a more eclectic range of influences. With Flight Of Fancy they continue on that journey still further.
The band themselves characterise it as “music inspired by the folk, rock and blues movements of the ‘60s and ’70;s with a 21st Century twist.”
The title track picks up that laid-back, sun-kissed, US country rock -meets- English folk rock vibe which Sandy Denny’s post-Fairport outfit Fotheringay delved into so wonderfully but there’s many, many more influences here beyond Denny, Fairport and Fotheringay. From the psychedelia-tinged ‘All In Our Minds’, to the funky reggae party of ‘Boho Woman’, to the wistful minor-key singer-songwriter vibe of ‘Lost In A Crowd’ to the sparse, delicate beauty of piano-and-vocal closing track, ‘Simply Yours’, it’s like a magical mystery tour through a fifty-year-old, recently-rediscovered record collection for the discerning buyer.
Holding it all together is Julie July’s crisp, clear vocals; great five-part harmonies, thoughtful but accessible songwriting, and a superbly versatile band – now with an established line up of Steve Rezillo (Lead guitar), Caley Groves (acoustic guitar) Dik Cadbury (bass), Mick Candler (drums) and Carol Lee Sampson (keyboards).
Flight Of Fancy is a really enjoyable album and it’s not at all fanciful to conclude that the Julie July Band continue to soar and continue to deliver great music.
Away Beyond The Fret is the third album from husband-and-wife folk duo, Lucy and Jon Hart, and the follow-up to the highly-enjoyable Journey Through The Roke, which I reviewed back in 2021.
Lucy Hart:“Many of the songs on this album focus on our Suffolk home and the close bonds of family, friendship and community.”
Fresh-sounding, slightly genre-hopping and once again deeply rooted in the history, culture and landscape of their Suffolk homeland, Away Beyond The Fret is delivered with the duo’s characteristic elegance and beauty. The highly-talented duo of Lucy and Jon Hart continue to delight and this, their third album, is proof that Honey & The Bear have blossomed into something truly magnificent on the UK folk scene.
Three Galleys is the debut album from Holly & The Reivers, a project formed back in 2017 that brings together Holly Clarke (vocals/guitar), Merle Harbron (vocals/fiddle) and Bertie Armstrong (vocals/banjo).
Holly & The Reivers:“Three Galleys reaches into the depths of the darker side of folk song and brings forth the messages in the songs that are deeply rooted in human experience through history. Each track has been meticulously arranged to help interlace the story with a musical setting that enthrals listeners to submit and be swept away in a journey of rich storytelling.”
This is an older live video but still carries their instantly-recognisable signature sound based around the trio’s banjo, fiddle and guitar and their contrasting but complimentary vocals. Beautifully atmospheric soundscapes combine with stunning interpretations of traditional ballads that tend dwell on the darker side of human existence, borne of an enduring fascination of folk horror cinema. In Three Galleys, Holly & The Reivers have served up a highly impressive debut album.
Martinmas is the fourth and final release in Gavin Marwick’s Quarterdays series, and this one sees the Scottish fiddle-player and composer team up with pianist and accordion-player, Phil Alexander. The two have played together both socially and professionally over a number of years.
Gavin Marwick:“Martinmas celebrates the life of St Martin of Tours, the only actual historical figure to appear in the Quarterdays canon. Born in what is now part of Hungary, serving in the Roman army and ending up as Bishop of Tours and ultimately one of the patron saints of France, Martin offers a very broad European vision of the spread of the early church across the continent during this long ago fourth century period.”
Marking the final season of the year and celebrating the life of St Martin of Tours, whose feast day is marked on November 11th, the six tune-sets, all composed by Marwick, distil Scottish, Eastern European and French traditional influences alongside more contemporary ideas. Once again, Marwick hits us with more wonderfully expressive fiddle and he and Alexander deliver some nicely evocative tunes that perfectly capture the time of year. Quarterdays has been a fascinating project and Martinmas is a worthy finale to the series.
Playing in bands such as Paper Tiger, Unspeakable Acts, Delicious Houdini, Bamboozle, Tom Houston and the Keltic Band and davesnewbike as well as working as musical director in theatre, Tom Houston has also had a prolific solo career and Everything In The Delicatessen is his sixth solo album. His current work encompasses spoken word, soundscapes, stories and songs.
“Everything In The Delicatessen attempts to give the listener that ‘up close and personal’ experience with ‘local produce’ of high quality,” promises the accompanying press publicity.
An album that transcends musical boundaries and is brimming with drama and musicality, great lyrics and great melodies, Everything In The Delicatessen is the kind of album you’ll come back to again and again and always find something new.
Aberdeen-based musician and songwriter, Colin MacDuff, says he “dabbled” in music and poetry when family and career commitments allowed time but things got more serious upon his retirement when he enrolled on Boo Hewerdine’s and Findlay Napier’s mentorship scheme for aspiring songwriters. With their encouragement he soon found he had more than a dozen original songs and his debut album, The Past In The Sky, was released in 2022 to positive reviews. Separations is the follow-up.
Colin MacDuff:“During the past year I wrote a lot of new songs and got thinking about whether some might fit together in an album. At first, I thought they were very disparate. But, aided by a glass or two, I had the revelation that they were all songs about different aspects of separation.”
The theme of separation in the songs extends across a range of subjects, from relationship break-ups, to bereavement to economic displacement. The main accompaniment is MacDuff’s own acoustic guitar-playing but he’s joined by Angus Lyon (accordion), Jenna Reid (fiddle) and Hugh Halton percussion, with pianist Maria Quinn also providing some beautifully eloquent piano on three tracks. With his gentle vocal and engaging storytelling, Separations acts as an excellent showcase for Colin MacDuff’s fine songwriting.
Hot on the heels of his stunning 2023 studio album, Glass Knight, released back in August, genre-fluid glam-prog-folk singer-songwriter, Joshua Burnell, follows it up with a new live album in time for Christmas.
Glass Knight, which Burnell launched when he performed on the main stage at Fairport’s Cropredy festival, picked up tons of good reviews – including from Darren’s Music Blog where I described it as “Hunky Dory-era Bowie meets folk rock meets prog” and hailed it as a bona fide twenty-first century masterpiece. Rather than giving us ‘stadium-ready’ renditions of the songs from Glass Knight, however, Live At The Crescent (recorded in the intimate setting of a gig in York in October 2022) takes us back to before Glass Knight was recorded, when many of the songs were still being worked up in readiness for the studio.
Opening with the then un-released ‘Where Planets Collide’, Burnell goes on to share with the audience a number of embryonic versions of songs that would later appear on Glass Knight, as well as some older material, including three songs from its excellent, albeit more folk-leaning predecessor, Flowers Where The Horses Sleep.
In addition to live versions of other classic tracks from Burnell’s back catalogue, there are also songs like ‘Some Things Aren’t Eroded’ and ‘Slow-Burning Cigarette’ that are yet to appear on any studio albums, giving us a tantalising glimpse of what might be coming next.
Joined by his regular band of Nathan Greaves on electric guitar, Oliver Whitehouse on bass, Ed Simpson on drums, Frankie Archer on violin and Frances Sladen on vocals; the album is a complete, unabridged recording of his concert at The Crescent that captures the immersive atmosphere of a Burnell gig.
Storm Warning won over plenty of loyal converts on the UK blues rock scene during their fifteen-year existence. I was pleased to review their latest and final album back in the Autumn of 2020. Although an impressive album its release was tinged with sadness, however, as guitarist and founder member, Bob Moore, passed away shortly after recording was completed. None of the remaining members wished to continue so Different Horizons became Storm Warning’s swansong and a lasting tribute to Bob Moore.
Happily, the story doesn’t quite end there. A chance encounter between Storm Warning’s Derek White (bass) and Ian Salisbury (keyboards), with the guitarist Steve Summers and the vocalist Mike Sebbage (both from recording project Rien de Faire) led to the inception of a brand-new band: Long Road Home.
Making their debut appearance at the Cambridge Rock Festival in June 2022 (initially with drummer, Dave Norman, but Lee Morrell was soon to step in on a more permanent basis) the band began planning gigs and putting together their debut album.
Are We Invisible? is the result. Blues rock with a touch of class and bags of soul, the album comprises eleven original tunes and it took no time at all to win me over. Driving rhythms, great vocals, catchy songs, penetrating guitar solos and divinely soulful keyboards, Are We Invisible? is a highly impressive debut.
After a hugely-successful three and a half decades together Steve Knightley and Phil Beer announced this year that Show Of Hands’ days as a touring unit would finally be drawing to a close. The recent Autumn 2023 tour marked their final outing as a trio (with Miranda Sykes) and a spring tour planned for next year will be their final hurrah as a duo. To coincide with this fond farewell, they have a new compilation out. Intended as a companion piece to their original 2007 Roots‘Best Of’ of compilation, Roots 2 offers up a whopping 31 tracks across two discs.
Steve Knightley: “We’ve always strived to evolve and experiment with our sound,, all the time staying true to our folk roots. We hope the diversity of this album demonstrates that and it will be a noteworthy addition to our discography.”
Immediate proof of just how long-overdue this follow-up compilation is, immediately comes in hearing just how many of my favourites from Show Of Hands can be found on this new collection: ‘Haunt You’, ‘The Long Way Home’, ‘Now You Know’ and, of course, ‘Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed’.
The earlier material isn’t neglected completely though. There’s a new version of ‘Country Life’, for example, recorded live in Exeter and reimagined as a gentle, reflective ballad rather than the rousing twenty-first century rural folk anthem we all love and know. And things are brought up to date with a gloriously celebratory live version of their 2021 ‘lockdown’ single, ‘The Best One Yet.’
Moving, poignant, rousing, anthemic (no-one does anthemic quite like Show Of Hands after all), Roots 2 is a sterling late-career retrospective of one of the most important UK folk outfits of the past four decades.
The self-styled ‘Gaelic Supergroup’, who have now been around some twenty-five years, are back with another new album. Sula was recorded on the Hebridean island of Bernera and captures the band in fine form performing a mix of traditional Gaelic songs and new band compositions.
Dàimh: “SULA is the old Norse name for the Gannet, the largest seabird in Northern Europe. As graceful soaring above the waves as they are swimming far beneath them, Gannets find strength by gathering together in close knit communities on isolated windswept outposts and perfectly embody Dàimh’s enduring connection to the Hebrides and their surrounding waters.”
Evocative bagpipe-led instrumentals, exhilarating fiddle-playing and the captivating Gaelic-language vocals of Ellen MacDonald, this is another album that wonderfully captures the beauty, vibrancy and resilience of the Gaelic music scene.
Described in the press publicity as being “the Dad’s Army of the current folk scene” the double disc album of veteran folkie, Ian Bruce, features a host of musical guests: Barbara Dickson, Bob Fox, Jez Lowe, Allan Taylor, Mike Silver and Alastair McDonald to name but a few.
Three years in the making, this ambitious project encompasses thirty-three tracks and over one hundred collaborators and initially came about as a crowd-funded lockdown project when the Covid pandemic denied Bruce his regular income as a working, gigging musician.
Ian Bruce:“Together Forever delves into personal preferences, influences and loves of the music I grew up with.”
Although there’s an acoustic folk sensibility at its heart, this is an album that spans many influences. The selections range from traditional Scottish ballads, to songs written by stalwarts of the folk revival, like the late Rab Noakes, to an impeccably tartaned-up version of Peter Sarstedt’s ‘Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?’. The comforting familiarity of many of these songs will put a smile a smile on your face and give you a warm glow inside.
Classically-trained, professional harpist, Sarah Deere-Jones, performed for many years with symphony, opera and ballet orchestras but, latterly, she has turned her attention to performing her own arrangements of traditional songs and creating original music.
A keen environmental campaigner, Deere-Jones was inspired to put her love of nature and concern for the future well-being of the natural world at the heart of A Little Piece of Eden.
Sarah Deere-Jones:“This album particularly reflects my personal feelings on the changes in rural life, from my childhood in north Dorset, to where I live today in rural Cornwall – the crash of biodiversity, the diaspora of small communities and the damage of intensive farming, these are all changes that I have witnessed with my own eyes – but in recent years the growing rewilding movement gives us hope that these problems can be solved.”
Featuring four original songs alongside eleven traditional songs and tunes and with accompaniment from guitar, gazuki and melodeon player, Phil Williams, A Little Piece of Eden is an inspiring showcase for both Sarah Deere-Jones exquisite harp-playing and her bright-burning passion for a more sustainable future.
Gareth Williams is an Irish-born composer and singer-songwriter based in Scotland. As a musician he has always sought to work across musical boundaries, from musical theatre to pop, from chamber music to opera.
In using literature as its inspirational starting point, Williams’ latest project is not unusual for a folk-based album. What does appear to be a unique approach, however, is in merely using the final line of each story as the starting point for a song.
Gareth Williams:“These songs all have one thing in common – they begin on the final page of a book. And, all the books I chose for this collection also have something in common – when I read them, I didn’t want them to end. So I took what I found in the final lines, with no words added and none taken out, and built verses, choruses, bridges, and refrains. Stories never stay on the page anyway – these ones just became songs.”
In the hands of someone less talented this could have fallen flat and risk taking us into the realms of gimmickry. But in Songs From The Last Page, Gareth Williams pulls off something that is both thought-provoking and musically interesting. Some of the books referenced I knew (Sherlock Holmes and Treasure Island – for example). Others I was completely unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, Williams’ skills as a songwriter and musician were enough to draw me in, his somewhat sombre piano providing the main musical backdrop to each of these literary flights of fancy.
Always entertaining on stage, Blazin’ Fiddles (a project that initially started out as one-off collaboration for a short five-day tour) mark their twenty-fifth century anniversary with a new release.
Recorded as-live in the studio with the aim of capturing the spontaneity of a concert performance, the album features a line-up of Bruce MacGregor, Rua Macmillan, Jenna Reid and Kristan Harvey on their respective fiddles who are joined by Anna Massie on guitar and fiddle and Angus Lyon on piano.
Blazin’ Fiddles: “Our purpose as a band has been to promote the fiddle styles of the highlands and islands and you will find the melodies of these traditions are to the fore. We’re also a band that loves to travel and absorb cultures, so we have melodies from our trips and adventures as well as a number of new compositions by band members.”
XXV is an invigorating music celebration from a band who have more than earned their place as a fixture of the Scottish traditional music scene this past quarter of a century. Highly enjoyable.
UK-based Leonardo Giuliani is a guitarist and singer-songwriter whose music embraces elements of rock, blues, country and folk. Featuring thirteen original songs, Rogue, which came out back in February, is Giuliani’s debut album.
His sound is primarily influenced by artists and bands from the late ‘60s and ‘70s, “from acoustic singer-songwriters to electric jam bands, all of whom played something different every night and made every performance unique,” he tells us. In 2019 he had the honour of being invited to sit in with one of his blues heroes, Buddy Guy, playing at his Legends club in Chicago.
It’s clear from the album’s opening tracks that this an artist who has spent considerable time soaking up a rich array of blues influences and he’s an impressive guitarist with some nifty blues licks. As Giuliani himself stresses, however, it’s not the only string to his bow and the Americana and golden-era singer-songwriter influences shine through, too, particularly on tracks like the sublime ‘A Thousand Miles Away From Home’.
Recorded at Forward Studios in Rome and The Switchyard Studio in Nashville, Rogue is produced by four-time Grammy award winner producer, Tom Hambridge, whose empathetic production helps give the album and impeccably authentic blues/Americana feel. Hambridge also contributes drums to the album, alongside Phil Palmer on rhythm guitar, Mick Brill on bass and Peter De Girolamo who provides some deliciously soulful keyboards.
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