Kate Rusby-While Mortals Sleep (2011)

A Festive Blog about a Festive Masterpiece!

Picture the scene, if you will, gentle reader. It is the first Sunday in November 2011 and I am in the kitchen at chez Marsh, preparing the Sunday roast- Beef, if memory serves, with Roast Potatoes, an array of veg and, of course Yorkshire (and this becomes a salient point later) puddings. As I am cooking (well, not me myself, I wouldn't fit in the oven) my mind turns to my end of year Top 10 albums. What would be my album of the year? There had been some strong albums out, Noah and The Whale's "Last Night on Earth", Ron Sexsmith "Long Player, Late Bloomer" and the current market leader "Rolling Blackouts" by the Go! Team, which was very much a return to form after their disappointing second outing, "Proof of Youth". As strong as all these albums were though, one did wonder whether there was time for a late release to come hurtling down the track in a Christine Ohuruogu stylee and pip everyone on the line.

Well possibly, but if there was, it certainly wasn't going to be the album playing in the background as I honey glazed the parsnips, which was "While Mortals Sleep" by Kate Rusby. Some background here will probably be useful. Rusby is an English (This again becomes pertinent later on) Folk Singer from Barnsley in Yorkshire. She had been making albums since 1997 and her second album, Sleepless (1999) was nominated for the Mercury Prize. Now I've had a fondness for Folk Music since I left University but it was more of the upbeat, protest style folk variety favoured by Oysterband rather than what I perceived to be the more reflective, ballads about girls who died style played by young Kate. I owned the Sleepless album. (I was going through a "Let's buy the albums that have been nominated for a Mercury Prize " phase and am STILL regretting the £10 wasted on Roni Size and Reprasent) but hadn't been tempted back for anymore.

That said, I did see Kate live at the Big Session festival in 2010 when she was the Saturday night headliner. I freely admit that having been on the Ale all day, I was virtually marinated by that point but I thought that Kate was superb. The music was excellent but moreover Kate came across as a witty, entertaining and vibrant performer between the songs. I made a mental note to check out more of her albums and then, of course, promptly forgot until the good wife encountered a version of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" by Kate on Radio 2.

It transpired that in 2008 Kate made an album of Christmas Songs, "Sweet Bells". I fully appreciate that, at this point, a number of you will have run screaming from the room for Christmas Music is a much looked down upon genre. To be honest, much of this is for good reason as too many Christmas songs are either overplayed ("Last Christmas", "Do They know it's Christmas"), drenched with schmaltz and saccharine ("All I want for Christmas is you", anything featuring the words "Cliff" and "Richard") or are unspeakable ("There's no one quite like Grandma"). As for Christmas albums, these tend to be the last refuge of the scoundrel (M.Buble, R.Stewart) and are the sort of thing you buy for the Mother-in-law online using your other half's credit card details.

However..............there are two things to be said here. Firstly in recent years, a number of indie popstrels have come onto the horizon bedecked with tinsel and mistletoe, looking to bring some credibility to the Yuletide Album. Emmy The Great (Self given name rather value judgement) and Tim Wheeler (He of Ash) made a very decent fist of things with their Spectoresque (In the Musical sense, I would hasten to add) "This is Christmas" whilst albums by Smith and Burrows (Sounds like a firm of solicitors, isn't) and Tracy Thorn sound more wintry than festive but are fine records nonetheless.

Secondly, Kate's Sweet Bells album was a different kettle of fish to anything described above as it was, more or less, an album not of Christmas songs but of Christmas Carols. More specifically it was an album made up of carols sung in South Yorkshire, where there is a strong tradition of community carol singing (and I would stress that this is singing them yourself rather than having them sung at you by groups of high pitched choirboys wearing silly robes and ruffs!). Kate grew up with these songs and I imagine wanted to bring them to a wider audience. Glancing at the track list some may appear familiar ("The afore mentioned "Hark the Herald", two versions of "While Shepherds Watched"), the versions are not. "Hark the Herald" in its traditional form is robust and loud, this is stripped down, thoughtful and quite beautiful. Simialrly there was a song I had never heard before called "Candlemass Eve" which again was sparse and lovely. I didn't think that the rest of the album was up to the same standard (It would have been extraordinary if it had been) but overall, it was a good listen. The wife loved it and it became a regular guest at the Marsh Christmas table.

This being the case when I heard that Kate was releasing a second album of Christmas Carols, I decided to bag a copy when I was in Basingstoke Town Centre (Note to anyone reading 20 years from hence, in those days Town Centres contained SHOPS) and put it on whilst I was a -cooking that Sunday Roast. And as I implied earlier, as the early tracks filled the air, I was distinctly unimpressed as it appeared to be a pale retread of the original. First up was "Cranbrook", which was yet another version of "While Shepherds Watched" sung to the tune of "On Ilkley Moor Bar Tat". Then came "Home", which was a Kate Rusby original that didn't grab me on first listen. Next was "Kris Kingle" which smacked of false jollity. Then came "O Little Town of Bethlehem" which was clearly this albums "Hark The Herald"................

And it was (and is) ABSOLUTELY STUNNING.

I kid you not, unprompted I stopped peeling the parsnips and stood, knife in one hand, parsnip in the other, staring at the CD player, gobsmacked. I had heard this carol, hundreds, probably thousands of times. In churches, in the streets, on TV, in the middle of nowhere. How on earth had she managed to make a version that sounded like you were hearing it the first time? How do you take something so familiar and make it sound new?

I pressed stop, finished dinner preparations (The family and my stomach wouldn't have thanked me otherwise) and then sat down, pressed play and listened to the album from the start, giving it my full attention. What unfolded was, by some distance, the best album that I had heard that year and is quite possibly the best album that I have heard this century (It's certainly the best English album).

What makes it so special, I hear you say? At this point I need to disclose two facts about myself, which are oddly interlinked. Firstly I love Christmas. As a Christian, I clearly believe the Christmas story and it's therefore a time that means a lot personally. I love the sense of celebration, the excited kids, the parties, the heightened sense of community. At the age of 49, I am very fortunate in that I still think Christmas retains a sense of wonder and magic, I love the lights, the sense of expectation, the feeling that there is something in the air, that you can't touch. I know that there's loads of people who moan about the commercialisation of Christmas but, frankly, off you pop, lads, you can see past all that if you try.

Now, clearly I love music (otherwise I wouldn't be writing this stuff) and therefore, it's unsurprising that I love Christmas Carols. OK I admit there's some stinkers (usually anything written for Children "Away in a Manger", "See Him Lying in a Bed of Straw" and another one we'll come back to in a minute) but nothing makes me feel like Christmas like a carol, particularly if it's either played by a brassband (Again, more later) or played in a country church or in the middle of nowhere....

And that's the second thing to mention. I was born on the outskirts of a Kentish Town but I am at heart and will always be a country boy! I love the English Countryside. Both my parents were farm workers and loved the land, I spent most of formative years in the countryside, usually walking or cycling through it and during my teenage years, I went to a country church. The highlights of my year were the annual Carols by Candlelight service and the carol singing we did for charity around the villages and hamlets (Or in English, one house in the middle of nowhere). To me that was Christmas, singing carols out in the English Countryside, under a starlit sky, with no one around for miles (with the exception of a few sheep).

Then. of course, life takes over. You move to a different place, you acquire responsibilities, Christmas becomes a time of busyness, of kids school plays, of combining Christmas preparations with jobs that refuse to get any less busy, of the tours of the relatives and so on. Don't get me wrong, I still love it but part of me longed for the peace and stillness, of standing there in the middle of nowhere in the English Countryside, hearing a beautifully sung carol under a starlit sky.

And sitting there in the kitchen, with the smell of honey glazed parsnips and roast beef filling the air, I realised that that was what Kate Rusby had given me back. Listening to "Little Town of Bethlehem", "Home" (In my view Rusbys greatest original song), "Holmfirth Anthem" "First Tree in the Greenwood" "The Wren"  "Diadem", I was back there in the Heart of The English Countryside, overwhelmed by this beautiful, stately music. Even the more upbeat numbers had that wonderful timeless, pure festive feel "Cranbrook" "Joy to the World" , "Seven Good Joys" She had captured that feeling for me again with these songs from her South Yorkshire upbringing, for they were the same as the ones from my East Kentish upbringing, just arranged differently, same England, same Christmas.

How had she done it? Well first and foremost, you have her voice. Kate Rusby has an amazing singing voice, pure and clear. She could stop traffic with it and it is so well suited to these songs. Secondly the arrangements, she handles these songs straight, there is no hint of irony or cheese (nor thank goodness, choirs of small children, there's a time and place for them but it isn't here!) or over over reverence or bombast or over complication. Most of the songs are simply arranged, with reasonably limited arrangements, this lets the songs and Kate Rusby's voice weave their magic. As said, these songs are mostly very old and familiar but everything sounds so fresh.

And then there's the Brass band! "Now, hang on a minute", I hear you say, "I thought you said there was no bombast. I've heard Brass Bands, they are as subtle of a flying mallet (Timmy or otherwise)". Normally I would agree with you, I love Brass Bands but they are usually used to drive the song, they are forceful and they are at the front of the arrangement because they are LOUD (I once heard one indoors, my ears were ringing for a week). But here, the Brass is wonderfully subtle. Take "Little Town" for instance, it fades in gently, reinforces the song and then plays the song out but not in a way that detracts from the simplicity and beauty of proceedings. And, of course, it adds to that wonderful, pure Christmas feeling. It's a trick that's repeated throughout the album.

Part of me would like to conclude this review right now. However that would be being dishonest. There is one song on this album, that to me takes the record from "Great" to "Masterpiece" and that is Track 8 "Rocking Carol". "I don't know that one", I hear you say. Well I think you do because it's also called "Little Jesus, Sweetly Sleep". At which point I imagine your reaction is to splutter whatever beverage you are drinking all over the table/laptop/dog nearby and to tell me to SOD OFF (or whatever your expletive of choice is). And until I heard Kate's version is I would have agreed you. From the moment I first heard "Little Jesus Sweetly Sleep (Or LJSS)" and I was 7, I thought it was ABSOLUTELY UNSPEAKABLE. It was sappy, it was saccharine soaked, it made your teeth rot as you sang it. As I grew older I kept encountering Sunday School Leaders and Church Ministers who thought it was a good idea to have a collection of afore mentioned Small Children to sing it in Nativity Services. This was always a BAD idea for Two Reasons: 1. It was CRAP 2. Said Small Children would inevitably transform themselves into a horde of would be Freddie Mercury's as soon as they reached the chorus of "We will Rock You".

The ghastly thing was therefore beyond redemption and when "Rocking Carol" commenced and when I realised with, frankly, horror that Kate had chosen to foist LJSS on an unsuspecting public I reached for the CD player intending at best to press "Forward" or at worst to eject the album and turn it into a frisbee.

1 minute later, I had tears running down my face! As I say, I type this through gritted teeth (if that's physically possible). I am not the sort of person moved to tears by music or film (unless it's with laughter and that certainly wasn't the case here) but, I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself, it was completely involuntary. And why? Part of me can't explain but I think it was something to do with the fact that she had taken such frankly unpromising material but had slowed it right down, added brass that was so sad and full of longing and transformed it into a thing of true beauty (and if that sounds cliched I don't care). It was, and is, a truly remarkable song and one of the loveliest things I have ever heard.

So, when the 1st November clicks round each year, it always puts a spring in my step now because that's when I'm allowed to play "While Mortals Sleep" without someone saying "Turn it off, it's too early". In one sense, I would disagree with that because music this lovely and this atmospheric shouldn't be restricted to any one time of year but on the other hand, I can see their point, because to me now, this album is such an essential part of Christmas because it conjures up what Christmas is all about to me. A truly amazing and beautiful album.

Owen Thomas- Languages (Or: Get Dark and Find Yourself) (2012)

I freely acknowledge that this sounds incredibly sad and geeky but every year I list my Top 10 albums (Never mind the Brits and the Mercurys, this is the list that everyone making music REALLY wants to get onto) and without wishing to cause anyone to shout "Under two months til Christmas!", it will soon be time to  meet with my mate, Alex, in a pub in London for us to go through our respective 2013 Rolls of Honour.
With that in mind I thought I'd take to the Blog and write about my Favorite Album of 2012, Owen Thomas with his debut solo album, Languages (Or: Get Dark and Find Yourself).

At which point, it is highly likely that anyone outside of the USA will go "Mr Marsh, I know that you have a fondness for the obscure but you have outdone yourself!  You wrote about the Miracle Mile a while back but at least they've been mentioned in the Music Press but I have trawled every 2012 issue of Mojo, Q, Uncut and Hello and there's no mention of him! Who is he?"

Before I answer that question. I have to point out that, from a personal perspective, 2012 was a very strong year for Music. You had great comebacks from Dexys, Love and Money and Graham Parker and the Rumour, a fantastic debut from Merry Hell, tremendous records from two consistent contributors to my Top 10 (Mary Chapin Carpenter and Bruce Springsteen) and a surprisingly (from my perspective) strong album from Keane. But the best of the lot by some distance was Owen Thomas and it's a record that deserves your attention and, frankly, some of your money.

So who is he? Well Owen Thomas was the lead singer of The Elms. Again the furrowed brows of my audience! Simply put the Elms were one of the best kept secrets of the US music scene in the last ten years. They came out of the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) arena in the US at the start of the 00s but to be honest didn't sound like most of their CCM brethren (who tended mostly lesser carbon copies of "secular" acts e.g. there were CCM acts at that time who sounded like they owned every album U2 owned and not much else). The Elms first album "The Big Surprise" (2001) wore it's English influences very heavily on its sleeve, there was a strong 60s vibe at work. It was a confident rock and roll record with some great tunes ("Who got the meaning?" and "Lifeboat" in particular).

As good as the first album was, the follow up was a leap into the stratosphere. Truth, Soul and Rock and Roll (2003) is, to be blunt, one of my favourite albums of all time. It pulls off a fantastic trick as it wears it's influences (Rolling Stones, Oasis, Tom Petty amongst others) proudly but ends up sounding like the Elms. It also revealed Owen Thomas to be a wonderfully literate and empathetic lyricist, a man wise beyond his years (He was 22 at the time).

I have to confess to not being a big fan of the Elms' 3rd album "The Chess Hotel (2006)". It was no fault of the Elms but when you like an album as much as I did "Truth Soul and Rock and Roll", maybe I was always going to be disappointed in what came next. I just found it too dense and heavy (which I admit makes me sound like a wuss).

However, the next album "The Great American Midrange" (2009) was an absolute cracker. Here the English influences were turned right down and instead what we had was a American Heartland rock and roll record, in the vein of Tom Petty (him again) and John Cougar Mellencamp. Yet again it transcended those influences and was indeed a better record than either of those gentlemen had made in almost 20 years. Reviews described them as the "best little rock and roll band in America" and that was about right. The Elms had long since moved outside of the confines of CCM but were still relatively little known outside of the dedicated fanbase. This, though, felt like a breakthrough. It was confident and full of songs ("Back to Indiana", "Country Fair", ""This is how the world will end") that people who like American Rock should hear.

So what happened next? Yep, they split up! I was gutted! Apparently it was all very amicable. They just felt things had run their course. You had to respect their decision, of course, too many bands these days go on too long when the muse hasn't just left them, it's buggered off with all their money and probably the clothes they were wearing (Oasis leap to mind at this point). HOWEVER that wasn't the case here. This felt like a band that, creatively, had hit a rich seam. Surely there were more great records to come. But, no, they were gone and, muttering "Why couldn't Maroon 5 have split up instead" I just had to accept it.

And then, something wonderful happened. On 27th November 2012 with hardly any fanfare it was announced that that very day Owen Thomas was releasing a solo album. Possessed by an excitement unseemly for a man of my age I rushed onto Owen's website where the album was streaming (Whilst many of my generation mourn the passing of those days when you scoured the local record shop for a new release- oh the romance of it all etc.- there is a lot to be said for the wonders of the Internet where you can hear a new release without waiting for a goon of a DJ to play it and buy it without leaving the house!).

Now....I have to admit that upon first hearing my brow was somewhat furrowed. I don't know exactly what I was expecting but I suppose somewhere in the back of mind I thought I was going to get "The Great American Midrange Part 2". From the opening seconds of the first track, Houdini, it was clear that that wasn't going to happen. As mentioned the Elms had evolved into a classic American Heartland rock band, with a very clear anthemic sound. But from the opening seconds of the first track, Houdini, it is clear that we are confronted by a very different beast indeed. A somewhat distorted guitar leads into a sound which strays the lo-fi arena for want of a better phrase. Slightly fuzzy guitars, slightly murky production, mostly medium paced songs as opposed to the straight ahead rockers that the Elms arrived at. If the Great American Midrange strapped the listener into an open top car and sped off down the highway, Languages was going on foot and wandering around the backstreets, we had time, there were things to see!

But unlike some records that you play once and think "Mmm not sure, might be a grower!" and then three months later, it's boot fair bound, there was something about Languages that made you want to play again.....and again...and again. It became, frankly, addictive. I listen to a lot of music and something has to be VERY special to demand repeated plays (because there's so much music and so little time). But LANGUAGES clung like a limpet to my computer!!

The thing that initially grabbed my attention were the lyrics. I mentioned that right from the start of the Elms' career that Owen was a very gifted lyricist. "Truth, Soul, Rock n Roll" contains many absolute gems, "Life is just all your moments in a row" from "Burn and Shine" is one of my favorite lyrics going. What made the lyricists particularly poignant and powerful on Languages was that Owen made quite clear on his website that this was an album borne out of difficult personal circumstances. The previous two years had been intensely emotional for him. He had been in a very close relationship with a girl and felt strongly that this was the one but then they had split up and it is clear from the lyrics that he was left absolutely heartbroken. At the same time he lost his grandmother who he was clearly close to. But then out of all that heartache, he felt that he really found himself (Hence the subtitle of the album). To quote from his website "I got dark. I really let myself feel the things that were happening. I decided that I had to properly hurt before I could properly heal. It was an experience of the deepest kind of discovery. It was brutal. And it changed my life"

Now I know that many of you may be going "Oh Lord save us, we're in Phil Collins territory. I only have to play this and waves of mawkish sentiment flow out of the speakers". Allow me to firmly reassure you that this is definitely not the case. This album should go with a sticker that says "Sentiment free!" Owen Thomas pulls something off that is rare amongst songwriters, he writes about real emotions in such a way that doesn't make you reach for either a sharp object or the sick bowl. Instead this is an extraordinary honest record with lyrics that one can understand and empathise with. He is often direct and scathing ("I Don't Miss Caring (or "Cracks and Potholes")), which was one of those great "Two Fingers to your ex" songs but then can be wise and reflective (The truly magnificent Factors (Or:"Things will turn out fine"))- by the way, one of the few quibbles I have with this record is that Owen does need to make up his mind what he's calling songs and the album itself- enough with the brackets already! But whatever situation he is addressing, you feel like going "Hey I've been there!" Like I said, that takes some doing. And along the way, as can be guaranteed with Owen, you get some great quotable lines, such as "You know I'm still a recovering heartbreakaholic". Tremendous!

This, of course, may all sound like HEAVY GOING! The fact that it isn't is down to two things. Firstly this album isn't just about the heartbreak and loss that Owen went through but how he came to terms with it and feels that he came through the other side a better person. This doesn't mean that you get 11 songs of misery and anger and then a huge jolly sing along at the end which sounds like it's dropped by from a different album if not a different planet (Try listening to "Everything's Different Now" by Til Tuesday for an example of THAT). That sense of coming to terms with what's happened permeates the whole record so whilst the last track ("Who knows?") is indeed a positive closer, it feels like a logical and satisfying end to the record.

Again I can hear you going "Great stuff Marshy. But it still sounds more like Prime Time Drama than a Rock and Roll record". Well that my friends is where you're wrong because the second thing that makes this record fantastically enjoyable as well as emotionally satisfying is the sheer quality of the tunes and arrangements. As mentioned on first listen, this is much less straighforward record than the Elms' work, the production denser, the instrumentation more acoustic. But then that suits the lyrics. we're talking about a real person's experiences here rather than "Mama We're all Crazee now" (And yes, smartarses, I know that was Slade and not the Elms). However this doesn't stop the tunes coming to the fore after a few listens and, once they do, they stick limpet like to the brain. All the way through the album. There's not a dud here. And there's tremendous variety as well. The afore-mentioned "Houdini" has a great tension to it but has that confidence that all great American rock songs have, "I Don't Miss Caring" just swaggers, "Travel Through" feels likes you're driving along a deserted road at night, the street lights overhead whilst "Factors" is just the most beautiful acoustic ballad (I love that song in case you can't tell!). Meanwhile "Take My Heart Down To The Bottom" has a great chorus complete with "Woo Hoos" (All great choruses should have Woo Hoos). It is a GREAT ROCK RECORD.

So the record leaves Owen in a Good Place. And it leaves the listener reaching for the repeat button. For such an open and honest record, dealing with weighty subjects, the overall effect remarkably uplifting.
It also leaves us with two questions.
1. What now for Owen? After the Elms split up, I quite expected that that would be the last I would hear from him. I certainly didn't expect a solo record THIS good. And now I want more!!
2. Languages is on i tunes. When are you going to buy it?

Kings of the Wild Frontier- Adam and the Ants (1980)

"A new Royal Family, a Wild Nobility, We are the Family"
(I'm sure I caught some of you singing that already)

One of the truisms about the Punk Explosion of the late seventies was that the musics' influence was far greater than its sales. The best selling Punk album was "Never Mind by the Bollocks" by the Sex Pistols. Given the number of times that it is cited as influence by the great and the good (and not so good), you may have expected it to have been the best selling album of 1977, its year of release (and probably the height of Punk) but whilst it went in at No. 1, it was only the 13th best selling album of the year behind such cutting edge classics as 20 Golden Greats by the Shadows, The Sound of Bread, bloody Hotel California, and, Lord help us all, Endless Flight by Leo Sayer. The only other Punk Albums in the years best selling list were Rattus Norvegicus and No More Heroes, both by the Stranglers (and there has always been a long debate as to whether The Stranglers were actually punks or 4 chancers from the Pub Rock scene who caught a ride on the Punk bandwagon). Of such august Punk names as The Clash and The Damned there was no sign.

However Punk gave birth to New Wave and commercially that was a different kettle of fish altogether. From 1978 to 1981, New Wave bands had an extraordinary amount of commercial success in the UK. 1978's Top 40 albums included New Boots and Panties by Ian Dury plus Blockheads, Tonic for the Troops by Boomtown Rats and Plastic Letters by Blondie. And it was Blondie who took the whole thing into the stratosphere by becoming the biggest Pop Band in the UK in 1979, they had two No. 1 Singles (Heart of Glass and Sunday Girl) and the best selling album of the year with the mighty Parallel Lines.

Hot on their heels came The Police, who also had 2 No.1 singles (Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon) and the No 9 (Regatta De Blanc) and No 14 (Outlandos D'Amour) albums. In 1980 The Police overtook Blondie by having the No 2 (Zenyatta Mondatta), No 6 (Regatta) and No 18 (Outlandos) albums as well as the best selling single of the year in Don't Stand So Close To Me.

(At this point Singles Charts Nostalgics and Paul Weller Fans may start to belly ache and claim that The Jam were the Biggest Band in 1980. This is largely fuelled by The Jams' achievement of being the first band since Slade to go straight in at No 1 with Going Underground. Whilst this made for a memorable playground experience, The Police kicked Weller and the lads off the park sales wise (Going Underground/Dreams of Children was only the No. 14 single of the year whilst Sound Affects was a pathetic 47 in the 1980 bestselling list behind Sometimes you Win by Dr Hook and Wheels of Steel by Saxon!!)

New Wave's domination seemed so great the obvious question was who's next?

The answer came from a totally unexpected source and produced, in my mind, one of the most unique multi- selling albums of all time. An album that didn't seem to have much relevance to what came before (Unless you count a drum sound that came from Burundi and echoes of Duane Eddy- scarcely a prominent influence at the time) and more or less doesn't appear to have influenced anyone since. That album was Kings of The Wild Frontier and the band of course Adam and the Ants.

My first enounter with Adam and The Ants was when I went to WH Smiths in Petersfield, where they had the Top 50 singles on display (Ooh those were the days!) and there at No.48 was Kings of the Wild Frontier. Now I was somewhat confused. I thought of myself as being up to speed with the Hit Parade (Apologies for sounding like Bruno Brookes) and I listened to the radio a lot but I had never heard of this waxing. Now if I had been listening to David "Kid" Jensen in the evening, I would have stumbled upon it but I was too busy studiously doing my homework (That's actually bollocks, I was at this stage of my life put off the Kid as he tended to play spiky stuff like Wire, Devo or early Echo and the Bunnymen!).

Now if the internet had existed in those days, I could have discovered more about this bizarrely entitled combo. Sadly not christened Adam Ant, the singers real name (as all Antfans are no doubt screaming) was Stuart Goddard. Stu was caught up in the punk movement, hanging around with such luminaries as Siuoxsie Sioux and the Arthur Daley of Punk, Malcolm McLaren. Clearly Stuart Goddard was no name for a punk (or indeed a wouldd be rock star) so he chamged his name to Adam Ant.

He released an album called Dirk Wears White Sox (Spelling the Bands Own), which was clearly a post punk album and the lyrics featured such commercially attractive subjects as Art History, Fetishism and that old favourite, Adolf Hitler. Whilst it was warmly received critically, the public stayed away en masse. The band therefore appointed McLaren as manager, hoping that he would do for them what he did for the Pistols. As was the way with McLaren, however, he promised Ant that he would make him famous then promptly nicked his whole band (The unsurprisingly named Ants), found a schoolgirl called Anabella Lynn and founded Bow Wow Wow (Most of the punk bands had REALLY bad names, Penetration and The Lurkers being other examples). Ant therefore had to start from scratch.

It turned out though that McLaren's shenanigans were a blessing in disguise because this turn of events brought Ant into contact with a gentleman called Marco Pirroni. Pirroni had briefly been the bassist in Siouxsie and The Banshees (Punk was INCREDIBLY incesteous). Pirroni and Ant started to write songs together which lead  to a change in sound and recruited a full band, including two drummers! They then embarked on a long tour of the UK's less salubrious venues (I located a copy of the itinerary on the internet, it included High Wycombe- I rest my case).

All this was unknown to the 16 year old R.Marsh esq. I forgot all about them after seeing the single nestling in Smiths until on 16th October 1980 I switched on Top of The Pops and there they were with their new single, Dog Eat Dog. (You can find the clip on Youtube but watch out for the endless interview with a clearly drunk Michael Palin beforehand). I was geniunely mesmerised. Now I have to say at this point that at the age of 16, I was a true child of Punk in that I thought that Music started in 1976 and that anything before then was BAD, especially if it was made by HIPPIES (Notable exceptions to this were 60s ska, Motown and the Original Mod stuff but that was all made a LONG time ago). I therefore had some trouble in working out who had been influenced by what. All I knew is that most of the Bands that I loved sounded broadly similar and the music sounded as if it had been made after 1976. Even the ska revival bands such as the Specials, Madness and The Beat had post 1976 influences and in case Ska wasn't made by HIPPIES so that was fine!

This though sounded like it had been beamed down from another planet! For a start there was that drum sound! At this point in my life the furthest abroad I had been was a day trip to Belgium. I had certainly never been to Burundi and heard that drums like that but that was because they had never popped up on a pop song before. Also I had never seen a spaghetti western so couldn't have told you that the guitar sound was influenced by Ennio Morricone.  There was a lot of chanting in there which reminded me vaguely of the name that we can no longer mention- G@ry Gl@tter. There was WHISTLING near the end (And this was before Winds of Change by the Scorpions made whistling on records legitimate.....er no it didn't). The lyrics also were unlike anything I had encountered before, stuff about truth, warriors, innocence and pride. What it all meant was anyone's guess. The combined effect was, to be honest, somewhat threatening. There was a definite edge to this music. It was tense, distinctive and exciting.  It was also undeniably catchy.

What undoubtedly added to the whole package though was the image! There were many things you could say about Punk and New wave but from an image perspective, they were as dull as ditch water. Many of the acts wore suits or clothes that this day would be manufactured by Tu or George. Several of the acts weren't exactly oil paintings, Joe Jackson, sundry members of Squeeze and Ian Dury himself leap to mind here. I would say that I would have fitted right in but as one of my nicknames then was Elvis Costello I probably did. The exception to all of this lack of glamour was, of course, Debbie Harry but that is because she was as sexy as hell. Here, though, was a band with an image! And what an image. They appeared, frankly, to have raided a fancy dress shop. For a start, there was a ruddy stripe across Mr Ant's face. What was that all about? He looked like a Red Indian (Before you write to complain, this is 1980, before they were all called native Americans, OK). Mind you then there was that jacket, which made him look like a pirate. And the trousers! Whilst the other members weren't quite so distinctive, they certainly wouldn't have been mistaken for members of the Jam!

Over the next few weeks, the record ascended to Number 4 (Behind, if memory serves, Special Brew by Bad Manners, What You're Proposing by ver Quo and that bloody abomination of a Number 1, Woman In Love by Barbara Streisand, it wasn't all Classic Hits in those days let me tell you).

Then the lad Ant (Aided and assisted by his record label, CBS- not short of a few bob) did something incredibly clever. He rushed out a follow up, Antmusic, whilst Dog Eat Dog was still meandering down the charts. In one sense this was a bit of a gamble, as there was always the risk that it would get lost in the flood of Christmas releases, these being the days when there were still such things. (Actually 1980 was infamous for having in my view the worst Christmas No 1 ever, "There's no one quite like Grandma" by St Winifred's School Choir, a record that still brings me out in HIVES after 33 years!). However we are looking at a time when records generally went in relatively low and then rose steadily. This meant that Antmusic was still around and getting airplay after Christmas and before other acts could release new material. Antmusic therefore reached No 2. In fact if some bastard hadn't shot John Lennon then he would have had his first No.1. As it was he had to wait a few months for a certain Dandy Highwayman to rectify matters.

But what Antmusic did was to maintain momentum. And that momentum continued as CBS re-released Young Parisians off Dirk and then in February re- released Kings of the Wild Frontier. No hanging around in Smiths at No.48 this time. No sir, it rose to No 2 (Again my fading memory suggests that it was kept from No.1 by another artist who changed his name, this time from Michael Barrett to one Shakin' Stevens)

Just before the release of Antmusic, Adam and the Ants had released the album, Kings of the Wild Frontier. it went in the charts in the Top 10 where it stayed over the Christmas period. On 24th January 1981, buoyed by the success of Antmusic, it reached No 1. We then had a break for John Lennon's Double Fantasy and Sir Philip of Collins' "My wife has left me for the decorator" inspired opus "Face Value" but on 24 March it hit the top of the charts again where it stayed for an astonishing 10 uniterupted weeks.

I bought the album after it got to Number 1 (The glory hunter that I was). As alluded to earlier, to this day I don't think it sounds like anything else. And I struggle to think of another album I could say that about (with the possible exception of Big Science by Laurie Anderson but that's unlistenable old shit and features one "song" where the backing is simply the sound of a baby crying, it's as bad as it sounds, trust me). Because of this, I don't think it's aged at all. There is always a Proustian element to hearing records from back in the day and they transport you back to the time when you first heard them. But that aside, this sounds as fresh now as it did then.

The problem though is that when one mentions Adam and the Ants to people who weren't into them, they tend to react in one of two ways
1. "Oh Stand and Deliver, costumes, video with Diana Dors, dreadful appearance on Live Aid. Summary: Bit of a joke really"
2. Didn't he go mental?

As a result, this album, its undoubted quality and the massive success it had is forgotten. That is a huge shame and in my view this album is worth rediscovering.

The first thing I would say about it is that it creates its' own world. We have become used to artists constantly referring to themselves in songs. My suspicion is that rap popularised this (Enimem for example) but it then spread to the wider pop world (Behold, Lady Gaga). The lyrics are a constant reference to the band, to Adam himself and to what they are doing and represent. The lyrics to all intents and purposes are a manifesto. What has gone before has had its' day and now here is a new breed (Time's a coming when a new breed say, welcome to tomorrow- Los Rancheros) coming to bring a new music "Unplug the jukebox and do us all a favour, that music's lost it's taste, so try another flavour"- Antmusic.

Now to be honest a lot of this is all a tad vague in hindsight (or bollocks if you're being brutal). They were a pop band for crying out loud so describing themselves as warriors (Antpeople are the warriors, where's the warrior without his pride and so forth) seems like an inappropriate metaphor. A number of the lyrics pointed to a persecution complex ("Too emotional am I?"- Feed Me to the Lions,) which would a couple of years later come through in the lyrics of Kevin Rowland on Too Rye Ay and (and I appreciate that this is probably a less welcome comparison) Michael Jackson on Thriller (Read the lyrics to Wanna Be Startin' Something if you don't believe me). Then there's the constant use of the ant as the totem for the tribe to which his followers belong. Ants are tiny creatures to be trodden on rather than the afore mentioned warriors.

However, unless you're an anthropologist or an arse, there is no real mileage in applying detailed scrutiny to the lyrics of pop songs. The fact was that this all created an identity which distinctly appealed to an audience of teenagers, particularly boys. Now I went to an all male school and people generally were very proud of the bands that they followed (With the possible and understandable exception of Spandau Ballet). This was the age of the Musical Tribes. As well as Punk and New Wave, you had Heavy Metal, Mods, Ska, PROG ROCK (Confined to 6th formers and people who didn't wash). The New Romantics were about to swing by with their eyeliner and bizarre hairdos. We even had a couple of lads who were into the Rockabilly Revival (The Stray Cats, Darts, Matchbox and even, heaven help us, Showaddywaddy. We would like to have laughed at these people but one of them was East Kent Judo Champion so we demurred in this regard).
Perhaps uniquely Adam and The Ants fans formed their own tribe and the playground was soon awash with people wearing "Antmusic for Sexpeople" badges, which as far as I recall didn't go down too well with the Deputy Head! Sadly I don't remember anyone coming in with a white stripe painted across their face, that would have been something! But they were the Kings of The Wild Frontier! They were a New Royal Family! They were a Wild Nobility (But you knew that)!

(Incidentally, a point of order here. At the age of 48 one's memory does play tricks but I recall that the teenage male following started to drift away when Stand and Deliver sold by the bucketload and it had gone almost completely by the time the Prince Charming album was released. Leaving aside the fact that that album was a dog, there were two reasons why this occurred. Firstly, they had become too popular and the idea of belonging to a distinct gang had dissipated. You couldn't belong to a group of WARRIORS if your leaders were appearing on the Royal Variety Performance. Secondly because of said popularity, they had started to attract two other fanbases which were anathema to Teenage lads a) GIRLS- Adam was after all a handsome lad b) Boys Under 10! Again WARRIORS could not share the same band with girlies and brats so it was time to move on!)

The attraction of all this, particularly to teenage boys was reinforced by the fact that there was a sense of danger about Adam and The Ants at the time of Kings of The Wild Frontier. To people who know of Adam and the Ants only by the Panto style video to Prince Charming, this may sound unbelievable but it was true and it generated from both the lyrics and the music. Lyrically the songs are peppered with the sort of subjects not found on multi million selling records in those days, all the afore mentioned warrior references for example, there's an underlying threat to a lot of the songs ("My Times a coming when those despised take shelter from the power of my Kiowa Eyes"). Then there's the whole question of SEX! When you look at the REALLY popular groups of the late 70s/early 80s there weren't many explicit references to the Rumpy Pumpy. Debbie Harry was all about sex of course but most of her songs were actually quite chaste (the nearest she got to a blatant reference was the line in Dreaming "You asked me what I want, a movie or a measure, I'll have a cup of tea" which is one of the most bizarre lyrics ever). The Police were too busy singing about Moons and Bottles and De Do Do Do De Da Da Da! The Jam meanwhile were all about being ANGRY and the concept of Paul Weller getting his legover was frankly ridiculous. But here were Adam and the Ants flagrantly using the word Sex in songs and stating that Antmusic was for Sexpeople. Now I don't think anyone in my class could have been described as a sexperson and most of us wouldn't have known what a bra looked like, never mind unclip it. But the fact was that sexpeople sounded dangerous and risque. Hence the appeal.

Then you had the music. I've already mentioned that when I first heard Dog Eat Dog, it sounded threatening. Several of the songs on the album had that effect. The music is frequently atmospheric and draws you in to its own world. I find it almost impossible to use the album as background music even after 33 years so attention grabbing is the sound of many of the songs.

This is all best epitomised by the most dramatic song on the record, Killer in the Home. Like most of these songs I'm not entirely sure exactly what it's about but the implication is that the singer is domesticated but inside is this DANGEROUS WARRIOR desperate to get out. On paper it sounds vaguely ludicrous. Set to a tense, well paced musical background (It's those drums and Duane Eddy guitars again, with some choice use of feedback) and sung/chanted errily by Ant,  it was to my 16 year old ears almost as scary as the words "Your elderly relatives are about to visit"

When all is said and done, though, this is a magnificent POP (in the broadest sense of the term) record, brimming with confidence and verve. In Adam Ant here was a man who didn't just want critical credibility (although as said, the lyrics betrayed that he quite fancied that too), he wanted to be a STAR. And this wasn't something that you could say about many of his contemporaries (If any). As fantastic as much of the music was, New wave (as Punk did before it) represented a stride away from the GLAMorous era Marc Bolan, David Bowie and other poster boys. The ordinary was the order of the day. Elvis Costello, Paul Weller, Difford and Tillbrook from Squeeze, Geldof, the lads from Madness and the Specials, Kevin Rowland even Sting, they were all brilliant musicians and songwriters and performers but they weren't Pop Stars. But Adam Ant was! And, in many ways he was the John The Baptist for the New Romantics and the BIG POP bands that ruled from 1982 to 1985 (Duran Duran, Spandau, Culture Club and Wham!).

In amongst all the dramatic stuff, the danger and the (oo err missus) sex, nestled and indeed fitted in perfectly well (and that was in many ways the genius of the record) 3 magnificent singles plus 2 more wonderful tracks that should have been singles: Feed Me To The Lions, Dog Eat Dog's paranoid brother and (probably my favorite track) the clearly Clint Eastwood inspired Los Rancheros.

We have already alluded to the subsequent demise of Adam and the Ants. What is good is that Adam appears to be in good fettle these days, both health wise and creatively. He has been touring extensively and released an album earlier this year. Fascinatingly my mate saw him at Latitude last year and remarked that he was the only person that he saw who thought that it was his job to entertain. Good Old Adam, still the Pop Star after all these years. This is all particularly heartening because no one should remember the way it fell apart, Adam and the Ants deserve to be remembered for the magnificent Pop band that they were and in particular for Kings for the Wild Frontier, one of the 80s defining records.

So unplug the jukebox and do yourself a favour.......................

                                                               

In Cassidy's Care- Miracle Mile (2013)

When I set up my Marshman blog last year, one of the things that I said that I would use it for was to draw to people's attention music that I felt had been unjustly overlooked. In my humble opinion, music doesn't come more unjustly overlooked than that of The Miracle Mile. I'm sure that the the reaction of people to that sentence is WHO? This proves my statement that they are overlooked to be correct at least, we'll come to the "unjustly" part in a moment. But bear in mind that no one likes injustice!

Miracle Mile are Trevor Jones and Marcus Cliffe. They started making albums in 1997. Their latest album, In Cassidy's Care, is their 8th, plus there's a compilation "Coffee and Star"s and Trevor Jones has done two magnificent solo records. Them's the facts. Here's the opinions. In my view these records form the most consistently excellent body of work (hem, hem) of any artist in the last 16 years.

Pause for BIG statement to sink in. And for those that know me to pour themselves a stiff drink to help them recover from the fact that I have been so positive, as I tend to better know for railing against musical drivel!

So you may ask, what do they sound like. these Miracle Mile people? Well without wishing to ask for a hearty slap, they sound first and foremost like the Miracle Mile. They really do have a sound of their own (This isn't as facetious as it sounds, honest, lots of artists sound distinctly like someone else: The first two Vampire Weekend albums (fine as they are) were deadringers for Paul Simon's Graceland and Stevie Wonder didn't need to make an album after 1993 because Jamiroquai made them for him). But, if you need reference points, from a musical perspective early on you could hear echoes of Crowded House and then as time passed, Steve McQueen era Prefab Sprout and possibly a soupcon of Grant McLennan's stuff both with the Go Betweens and solo.

Without heading off down the road called "Musical Cliche Avenue" then, we are in the land of richly melodic songs, wonderful evocative tunes, music with a real emotional pull. This isn't background music, boys and girls because this draws you into the world it creates. DO NOT listen to this while driving, for example, because the central reservation would beckon!

And it's not just the music that pulls you in but the lyrics as well. Trevor Jones is a truly gifted lyricist who writes songs about everyday emotions and the things that effect us all. Now that may sound like faint praise but think about how many lyricists do that, and use words that you can understand to do it with as well. I mean I liked Elvis Costello (Well, before he grew a beard and embarked on his ill advised sojourn into other musical genres such as Classical, Opera and Torch Songs, shudder) but when all the music critics said he was the greatest lyricist of his generation, I had to disagree. Most of his stuff sounded incredibly clever but what does it actually MEAN? No such problems here, try this on for size, from the new album

"I thought I was a dragon slayer but the years they just drip you dry. Now I'm just a bit part player, saying "I love you, goodbye.""  If that doesn't move you, check your pulse, you may have clinically expired!

I fully appreciate that there is no such thing as good music or bad music, it is all a matter of taste but I am at a loss as to why this incredibly talented and consistent band has not had more success. And frankly this needs to change RIGHT NOW with the release of this, their new album, "In Cassidy's Care". To my mind this has been a very strong year so far for albums, with great records from Merry Hell, Noah and The Whale, Phil Odgers, Dropkick Murphys, The National, Kacey Musgraves and the Duckworth Lewis Method to name but a few but this is right up there with them.

Although the official release date is 22nd July, I was very fortunate to get my hands on an early copy back in April so have lived with it for three months and we have got to know each other well. "In Cassidys Care" is basically a concept album (No, wait! Come Back! We're not in 70s Prog Rock territory here) with the 12 songs telling the story of a man named Cassidy (Surprisingly), the break up of hiss relationship, the impact that that has on his family and how he comes to terms with that and moves to a more optimistic place.

At which I fully appreciate that you may go "Sod that for a laugh, sounds heavier going that wading through tar with a baby rhino on my back. I'll stick to Bastille, thank you". Let me stress then, that whilst this is undoubtedly a thought provoking and emotional record, it is a long way from depressing. Reach for a cheeky glass of red whilst listening to this by all means but there's no need to hide sharp implements. Anyone familiar with the works of Richard Hawley will know that there is a thin line between sad and beautiful (Lady's Bridge) and bloody depressing (True Loves Gutter). As implied earlier, you are in the hands of a master with Trevor Jones and we are definitely in beautiful territory here. Rest assured of that.

Appreciating that most people who read this will never have heard a Miracle Mile record before, it's probably pointless to say how I think it compares to their previous records but, hey, I'm a cheeky so and so so I will anyway. I'm actually going to go out on a limb and say that I think it's their best. If their past records had a fault (and seriously we're in nit picking country), it's that they've been slightly overlong. At 12 songs of a decent length, that issue doesn't apply here. And whilst great albums don't need overarching (Steady..) stories (Out of Control by Girls Aloud didn't have one, nor did London Calling) it works here.

Along with it's melodic strength, emotional punch and lyrical beauty (Do you need anything else? You are greedy!), this album has two other great strengths: Firstly it is superbly played and produced. I am not a musician by any stretch of anyone's imagination but I am always struck by how well Miracle Mile albums are put together and how clear everything sounds. In this area, they remind me of the Blue Nile (A band of whom Trev is a huge admirer).

Secondly this is a very consistent album. Actually this has been a feature of many of this years strongest records but usually it's a rarity. Normally when downloading an album, you give a couple of tracks a miss, or if you're an old git like me, you reach for the skip button on the the stereo, knocking over the Ale bottles in the process. Not a problem here. In fact it's almost unfair for me to single out any tracks for special attention but there is one track that even in such august company, does stand out because it is a staggeringly beautiful song and the best song that I have heard this year. Track 8 (Well done lads, never open with your best song, otherwise it's all downhill from there!) "Any Human Heart". It's worth the admission alone!

There's so much more I could say about this marvellous record but I would end up sounding like a dribbling goon. The fact is that there is an injustice here. This wonderful band have had their work consistently ignored by the British public for the last 15 years. This album is in grave danger of following it's predecessors into the dark abyss. DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN. If you have a spare tenner in your pocket, don't spend it on beer, don't buy sweets for the kids (think of their teeth) and certainly don't spend it on Bastille. Instead do yourself a favor and do your ears a favour and go to www.miraclemile.co.uk and bag a copy of In Cassidy's Care. Listen to it and then buy all their other albums. No one likes injustice, do they?

Warning: This Band is past its Sell By Date!

A few weeks ago the opportunity landed in my lap to see the Pet Shop Boys for FREE at the O2. Excitement coursed through my veins. I had been a fan of the Pet Shop Boys since West End Girls strode to Number One on the Hit Parade back in January 1986, all of 27 years ago (A thought that I will return to shortly). In my humble opinion, this kicked off one of the great runs of singles in British Chart History: Love Comes Quickly, It's a Sin, What Have I Done To Deserve This?, Rent, Heart, Domino Dancing etc etc. Neil Tennant himself referred to this as the bands "Imperial Phase" and he was not wrong. The second half of the 80s was, frankly, a sad time for Pop Music. Even now my therapist's income increases whenever anyone mentions Stock, Aitken and Waterman to me, or Jive Bunny and his Mastermixers or anyone Jacking their Body or Pumping up the Volume. Along with Madonna, Erasure and A-ha, The Pet Shop Boys held the torch for Pop Music that was both memorable and fun during those dark years.

And so my mate Alex and I trooped along to the O2 anticipating an evening of hit after after, a veritable banquet (if you will) of pop classics. And lo, gentle reader, we could not have been more dissapointed if I had opened the door of my house expecting to see Jennifer Lawrence popping round for tea and scones, only to be greeeted by Thom Yorke in a mankini. Rather than carress the ears of the masses with a smorgasbord of hits, Messrs Tennant and Lowe decided to play a set comprising largely of songs off their last two albums and the new record, "Electric". True they did perform a few oldies but , frankly, these were half arsed versions. The evening to coined a phrase "sucked like a Dyson".

Over the next few days I couldn't stop thinking about what I had experienced. Please excuse the Anglo Saxon but why had they been so shit? Were they being willfully perverse? Were they being Ironic? What had happened? 

Now I appreciate that at this juncture you may not agree with me but my conclusion was a scary one. I realised that I hadn't actually enjoyed a Pet Shop Boys album since "Very" in 1993 and therefore a voice in my head was saying that the reason why the Pet Shop Boys were rubbish at the O2 is that they are, frankly, past it!

Like I said. I realise that this is a BIG statement and many of you may be looking in the Delia Smith recipe book for fricassed testicles. But it led me onto an even bigger thought. Popular Music is OLD. Rock around the clock is widely regarded as the first major Pop single. It came out in 1955. That's almost 60 years ago. That's pensionable. When I was young (hem hem) even the major 60s acts had only been going 15 years. Now that's closer to 50 years!

This means that there are an awful lot of acts out there, my friends, who have been going for a LONG time and they have to stare down the barrel of a gun and face up to an awful question "Are we past it?". Last year REM looked down that self same barrel. For years they had been releasing albums which the critics greeted with the mantra "Ooh it's a return to the heyday of Automatic for the People! Buy in droves!" Sadly the masses responded with a resounding "Meh!" and each successive album died on its arse. And so (and fair play to them) REM turned round and said "We're retiring" which was as good as saying "We haven't made a decent album since 1992, see ya, don't want to be ya"

Now I've singled out the Pet Shop Boys in all of this but the fact is that as Popular music gets older, many bands and artistes will be faced with the fact that time is marching on and our old friend the muse is in danger of deserting them so what do they do? Clearly the REM route is one way forward but may I suggest that here are some others when you hear the clock ticking

The Bruce Springsteen route: Keep the creative juices flowing and release albums that are genuinely good rather than simply fawned over. Back this up with live shows where you PLAY THE HITS

The Elton John route: A variation on the above. Realise that your early albums were creatively your best and make new albums that sound JUST LIKE THEM. This is tricky as it involves you engaging creative juices otherwise you will be accused of regurgitating past glories (The Neil Young route)

The Rolling Stones Route: Don’t release any more new material. Just PLAY THE HITS live

The Paul McCartney Route: Appear at every major Cultural event and play a FEW HITS. No one cares that you don’t tour regularly or release anything as this keeps you in the public eye. This is a dangerous route as there is a thin line between ubiquitous and annoying

The Bon Jovi route: Keep releasing new material but make sure it is essentially the same album over and over again

The Bob Dylan route: Make albums that are critically acclaimed but then put everyone off by becoming the byword for “Shocking live performances" (Tennant and Lowe need to be dragged screaming along to a Dylan concert as they are in danger of going down this road)

The Elvis Costello route: Branch into other musical genres. NOT RECOMMENDED!!

The U2 route: Don’t tell anyone you’re retiring but vanish so effectively you have retired

The Michael Jackson route: Die but sell lots of records posthumously. Lucrative but not recommended for perhaps obvious reasons

Heart of Nowhere-Noah and The Whale (2013)

I must admit that Noah and the Whale intrigued me right from the start of their career. They first drifted over the horizon and onto my radar with the insidiously catchy single, 5 years time. We are talking about the spring of 2008, gentle reader, and these were the days before nu-folk ruled the musical landscape like it does now, before the nations coffee tables were burdened by albums by Laura Marling (More of which later), The Lumineers, Ben Howard and, of course Bumford & Sons (I'm sorry, I promised I would try and be mature when referring to this execrable bunch of buffoons, I must try harder). Noah and the Whale, therefore, sounded somewhat out of place and this was an impression confirmed by the arrival of their debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down. They certainly didn't sound anything like the "Landfill Indie" that was all over the gaff at the time (Scouting for Girls, Pigeon Detectives, Fratellis, Hoosiers, step forward, take a bow and then bugger off out of it!). On the first few listens,it sounded like a twee Arcade Fire (If such a thing can be imagined).

Anyway I then learnt that Charlie Fink (And frankly that is a GREAT name!), the lead singer and main songwriter was going out with the lady who provided many of the backing vocals for the album, Laura Marling and apparently both Noah (plus, presumably, Whale) and Laura were prominent among the burgeoning (A word much used by music journalists to describe something that they claim is about to be very popular but you have never heard of) "nu folk" scene.

Now, lovely people, this came as a large shock to me. I had never had heard of said scene (probably because it was "burgeoning"). Furthermore, the whole concept puzzled me because the idea that these young folk (Dreadful pun intended) thought they were going to make a few bob out of folk music was beyond ludicrous. Now at this point I must state that  I will freely admit that I am a bit of a fan of certain types of folk music (A subject I will no doubt return to in future blogs). However as far as the vast majority of the British Public were concerned I thought that the word "Folk" conjured up other words such as "Hey Nonny Nonny", "Beards" "Wooly Jumpers" "Fairport Convention" and "Songs about Death", none of which lead one to the conclusion that there was a lucrative career in making this sort of music, "nu" or otherwise.

Then things started to happen...well for Laura they did in any case. Her debut album, "Alas I cannot Swim" (Nasty people such as R.Marsh thought it should have been called "Alas I cannot Sing") was nominated for the Mercury Prize. It was a busy time in Laura's life because she split up with Charlie and started to going out with one Maurice Mumford, the somewhat portly singer of Dumford and sons (No still can't do it), who were also part of the "nu folk" massive (only obviously at this time they were still playing venues the size of toilets along the M25 corridor rather than being the stadium eating behemoths that they are now).

All well and good for Ms Marling. However, Charlie was absolutely devastated. Heartbroken he retreated to Chez Fink to pen the songs that would become the second Noah and The Whale album "The First days of Spring". There have been few albums that have been less appropriately titled "The First and, frankly, all of the days of Winter" would have been more accurate as this was a gloomfest from start to finish! Laura had clearly left a considerable mark of Charlie because this was the work of a broken man. The music critics absolutely loved the thing. Cleaners in music journalist's offices were using mops to clean up the frothing for weeks. Just as an aside, though, I wonder how many of them have listened to it since. I bought it, played it once and now its gathering dust next to Jim Noir and the Noisettes in my CD rack. Heartbreak is, sadly, part of life but unless you are the kind of person who thinks that "Blood on the Tracks" by Bob Dylan is a party record, the albums it inspires are usually unlistenable old bobbins.

Charlie then vanishes to cry into his beer. Meanwhile the nu folk scene gathers considerable momentum. Marlings's second album "I Speak Because I Can" gives her her second Mercury Prize nomination (And me, tinnitus) and then her lover Maurice's band, Scumford & Sons (I just can't do it, I'm sorry) release their debut album "Sigh no more". Initially it receives a resounding "Meh!" from the British public. But then something strange begins to happen (Well it was strange to me), very gradually the thing started to sell and sell and sell and...well you get the idea...until it was, almost literally everywhere. It was the 2010 equivalent to the Lighthouse Family, The Corrs and Shania Twain, the sort of bland, soulless dreck that everyone who never usually bought records buys. And behold, nu folk burgeoned no more, it had arrived, it was the dominant musical form (hem hem), no festival was complete without it (Indeed this is still the case with Numford (Not even amusing) and Sons headlining Glasto).

Which, as 2010 drew to a close, begged the thought, surely this was the time for Noah and The Whale to go massive? After all, they as good as started this whole thing. All they needed to do was produce...well "Sigh No More" 2 and they were in the money (Literally). Obviously that depended on Charlie having gotten (Is that a word?) over Laura but it had been a year and there was gold in them thar "nu folk" hills.

Now I was (sadly) not in the offices of Mercury Records when Charlie and the lads wandered in to let the assembled execs to have a listen to the third Noah and the Whale album "Last Night on Earth" but I can gladly picture the shock on the suits faces as what tumbled out of the speakers appeared to be, not "Sigh No More 2" but bizarrely the album that Tom Petty should have recorded after "Into the Great Wide Album" in 1991!! Now Sir Thomas is affectionately regarded by men of a certain age and there is no doubt that he has penned many a fine tune. However, I am struggling to think of any successful ENGLISH band who has suddenly decided that he was going to be their main inspiration. After all Petty's music conjures up images of the Wide Open Road, of the Endless Highway and so on and so forth. England , meanwhile, is the land of GRIDLOCK, of roadworks and the M25!

As "Waiting for my Chance to Come" filled the room, I can imagine that the pencil pushers thought "Well your chance has come, Finky, and now it's gone again because this album is going to die on it's backside!". Nu folk it certainly wasn't. However, they reckoned without two things a) The true perversity of the British record buying public and b) The quality of the tunes (In my humble opinion "L.I.F.E goes on" and the afore mentioned "Waiting for my Chance to Come" are two of the finest singles in recent years). The album went on to become a platinum seller and the introverted Fink seemed to mutate into a rock star on the live circuit (I saw them at the Roundhouse and he was clearly having a great time). The joie de vivre that both the album and the live shows captured seemed to represent a Giant two fingers to Maurice and Laura (who had split up themselves). Charlie, Noah and Whale 1 Nu Folk Goons 0.

Anyway time passes (And more of that in a minute) as it must and here we are in 2013 and Noah's career takes another turn with the release of their 4th album "Heart of Nowhere". Having been thrown a curveball by "Last Night on Earth", the bureaucrats at Mercury must have been worried that they would be confronted by "Noah the Drum N Bass" album or "Noah and the Whalesong". So they must have been relieved to receive an album that certainly appeared to have been made by the same band that made "Last Night on Earth". What was less welcome is that the album has received a commercial shooing. It went in the soaraway Top 40 album chart at a frankly underwhelming No 13 and, as I type, is currently plummeting down the charts like the previously referred to Whale jumping off a Divingboard!

And so we (At last, I am sure you are saying) come to the point of this post! Once again, I fear that the British Record Public has erred. Oddly, this is not the first time this happened. Cast your minds back to 1991 when they made "Stars" by Simply Red the best selling album of that year. Scowl as you recall 1986 when the best selling single of the year was "The Lady in Red" by Chris Burgh. Howl as you realise that the best selling album in 1995 (The height of Britpop) was NOT "What's the Story Morning Glory" by Oasis but rather it was the debut album by Robson and Jerome!

It would appear that either the British Record Public has moved onto Michael Buble, Bastille and Caro Emerald or they have lazily gone "Oh Last Night on Earth 2! Already got that" Well, anyone who is reading this is part of the Record Buying Public and I appeal to you, I am on my knees, I have rent my garments (Perhaps I need to stop there, unpleasant images are being conjured up), please give this album a try. I appreciate that my taste can be dodgier than a three week old kebab but this is a very fine record indeed and is by some distance Noah and The Whale's best record.

There seems to be some debate amongst the critics as to whether Charlie has gone "Ooh Last Night on Earth made me some moolah so I'll make another one" or if this is the kind of band they've always wanted to be. I'd like to think it's the latter. There's no one else out there making music like this (Not even Tom Petty, who to be honest hasn't made a decent record for 20 years, he doesn't need to, Charlie's doing it for him!). Mr Petty is clearly still an influence but the (cough) musical palette has been broadened to include The Cars (One More Night could be off "Heartbeat City), US 80s FM radio in general and Lloyd Cole (Not since "Easy Pieces" has anyone used girls names so often in songs). It is a wonderfully tuneful and catchy record which I keep playing over and over.

However more than that it is incredibly evocative. What am I on about? Well if the first album was about Laura, the second one about breaking up with Laura and the third one was saying "Up Yours Laura, I don't need you anymore, I've got Tom Petty", this one is about TIME and, particularly the passing thereof. The word "Time" gets mentioned more often than Prince mentions Nookie on any of his 80s albums or Lady
Gaga refers to....er..."Lady Gaga". According to his Birth Certificate Fink is 26 years old. However mentally he is older than me (And that's saying something). Most of these songs are about friends he has lost touch with, girls he has loved (NOT Laura thankfully) and is still thinking of, what was and what may still be. Themes that strike a chord with most people in possession of a heart that's still beating. It's a staggeringly mature record from someone almost half my age! It contains some of the most thoughtful lyrics that I have heard for years. My favorite at the moment being "But it's OK to not know where you want to go. And Love may not be the Cure, That's something I'll never know".

Where Charlie and his largely bearded colleagues go from here is anyone's guess. I'd like to think that I'd be celebrating my 60th Birthday (In 12 years time.....EEP!) at somewhere like the Union Chapel listening to him (and hopefully Whale) singing songs with more of his wisdom and observation about friends and loves gained and lost. If so, I hope he'll still be playing songs from this wonderful album!!