Can't stand just working, working and always thinking 'I'll get to my music when I'm up to date' - never gonna happen is it? Being up to date I mean ... so am just stopping now and then and listening and writing. Have to else I'll go nuts. And, for once, it would appear I am on the cusp of someone who is going to be big rather than listening to an album over 2 years old.

His name is Ray LaMontagne and his debut album is TROUBLE.

Let's start with the voice, husky, smokey and for one so young, sounds like a voice that has lived. If you check out his website you will see that he has indeed had a tough background and you can hear it. When you first get into his voice you think it would have a limited range but stay with it because he hasn't!
The title track opens the album and is probably, with just one other track, the most jaunty. But this is not a depressing album at all.
Shelter could become a standard and has the most weird time signatures which hooks you in even more.
The percussion/drums sound curiously outdated but they so work and add to the intamacy of the songs.
On Burn he adds a slight echo which makes the whole track beautifully haunting. But it's the outstanding lyrics which makes this an astonishing first album:
"...this heart on my sleeve that's bleeding" Burn
"When you kissed my mouth so full of questions" Hold You In My Arms"
"I'd walk one mile on just broken glass to fall down at your feet" Hannah

Forever Friend is my favourite track and is full of hope. This is going to be his new single. How Come is his statement on the world today - freedom, justice etc. And as we know, music has always been a potent force in which to carry a message.

And it all culminates in a breath taking, short song called All The Wild Horses. Epic in it's stillness.

And on top of that the CD cover is very cool and provocative. Listen to a new voice and some superb song writing if you dare.

Where have been? Working, working BUT some music has stopped me in my tracks and I just have to take time out to blog it.

Last Saturday was my ma's 75th birthday and so my sis and I took her out for the day. She is recovering from a heart attack earlier in January and doing mighty well so we took her to Compton Verney, an arts house as such with magnificent Capability Brown gardens.

They had an English Folk day on with exhibitions etc. We got a ride in a fantastic horse drawn carriage and enjoyed a nice lunch. It was so good and so special just the 3 of us, all that's left of our immediate close family.

But the real treat was a 45 minute set by the English Acoustic Collective. They played music that is the very roots of our musical heritage, many of the tumes being over 500 years old. It simply blew me away and many of the tunes resonated so deeply I can hear them now.

There are 3 members, 2 violins and a concertina and a vocalist. Some of the tunes were early Morris music and the vocalist, Chris Wood explained the origins of the earthyness and darkness of Morris music.

They also compose. The shop was selling a CD called Ghosts which, of course, I immediately purchased and track one is called Copernicus which I can't stop playing. Another track St george's Day/Cuckoo's Nest just puts you in such a good place!

It was all so 'special'. Special to hear REAL music, special to remember where all our music came from, special to be sitting in such an exquisite English country home and have this music played for us.

And mum, well she went home tired and uplifted with new music in her heart.

Sis and Ma

We Walk This World In Music
Chris Wood

Had to drive to Heathrow today to pick up someone so took the oppotunity of listening to a CD I got for Christmas [yes, I know it's February but this is the state of my life at the moment]. Will Young's KEEP ON album.
Mainstream pop I know, but I really loved FRIDAY'S CHILD and this 2nd album is just as good if even richer. Young is something of a dark horse. A talent TV show winner who somehow has broken away and managed to carve his own name/path and quietly recorded his own stuff rather than be dicated too by record company management.
He also writes most of his own stuff but it's his arrangements which make his songs cut away from the norm. They are lushly orchestrated and he manages to just hit the right 'groove'.
The title track is a great opener, all the tracks are strong and Happiness gives you a feeling that summer is coming!
Don't right him off as merely 'pop' there is much more here and it's worth a listen.

"This is my time and these are my needs"
SWITCH IT ON

I have not a single thing to write about musically as it seems to be work, work, work [and catching up on lots of taped TV stuff whilst Big Bro dominated] but I so miss writing in this blog that this explanation is just by way of saying I am still here.

Got a huge Trade Show in Birmingham which will keep me away from my beloved headphones for a week! But am getting some cordless ones for Valentines Day from my girlfriend which will definately improve my listening time.

It looks like it will not be till the Spring before I get to sort my LP collection out which is a pain. I keep longingly looking at the rows and rows of them each day in my home office and thinking how much I want to get to them.

Had a bit of a vinyl session a couple of Saturdays ago which was well cool though for the life of me cannot remember what I played!

Hah:D