Recorded live at the Red Lion In Kings Heath, the appropriately titled Alive (Wafer Thin) finds ROB PETERS & THE SLAPDASH COWBOYS in blistering form, he on 6 and 12 string acoustic fronting a trio that also features Hannah Brown on vocals and, From Bonfire Radical, the incredible Emma Reading on electric, a sort of female answer to Clapton. Pretty much the whole two part set, edited into 72 minutes with some corrected, enhanced or replaced parts, it’s a generous 16 tracks with chat intro (and tuning) that include all bar one of the numbers off his last studio release, 2021’s The Moon That Thought It Was The Sun, opening as such with the urgent strum of A Little Box Of Forgetfulness and its reflections on getting older and proceeding through the delicate way of Inside Out, the Syd Barret-based Madam Misery, and, written for his partner, Suse Loves Cooking. As indeed, Brown on harmonies, was the 83 second strummed blues This Is Love, which was a hidden track on his last album.
Digging into the past with a preamble about touring in America with Boo Hewardine, Sister Smile dates back to 1998’s Zinc album and was co-written with Neicey Mann who recorded her own version on 20002s’ Decree Neicey album. It’s the first of three in a row from that album, next up being a powerful version of The Wheel, written by former singing partner Della Roberts (who also has a Hewardine backing vocalist connection) and followed by the urgent, driving Jesus In The Parking Lot.
The more recent back catalogue is visited with Why God Is So Slow To Punish The Wicked before returning to The Moon, etc. for Leap Of Faith, Scapegoat, The Bearer Of The Poisoned Chalice (Part One), When We Fall (which originally appeared on Copper Heart and from whence the title for the 2021 album comes) and the slow swaying Alive, the set closing up with the opening psychedelic flurry of guitar notes of Copper Heart’s near nine-minute pedal effects Finger Rain with its nods to George Harrison and, finally, from 2000’s Flatiron, the alt-country inflected poignant balladeering Our Memories. While a highly respected producer, Rob’s probably unfairly better known for his Beatles – and especially Lennon – tributes, but this is a dynamite reminder of what a great songwriter he is, one with a very distinctive voice, literally and metaphorically, of his own.
STYLUS BOY trails his upcoming Back in the Day EP with Fourteen Days (Tortoise), , his acoustic guitar shuffle here augmented with experiments in electronic beats and synth sounds and Alva Lee on backing vocals. The song’s inspired by 102-year-old named John who, now blind and unable to walk, was a WWII pilot who was shot down behind enemy lines and survived for 14 days on wild fruit and vegetables before getting back to safety, narrowly avoiding being mistaken for a spy and shot
Following on from The One That Got Away, again co-penned with mother Michelle, JAADA LAWRENCE-GREEN returns at the end of the month with another solid Euro-flavoured club dance track, You Make Me Feel Alive, this time conjuring thoughts of classic Donna Summer.
Out on May 19, COLIN HALL takes a musical swerve for Beep Beep (Money-Go-Round), a woozy fairground carousel midtempo waltzer with a kiddie chorus , fiddle and a deliberately mannered vocal delivery that evokes Bowie in his formative Davy Jones days and lyrics that take a swipe at political slight of the hand, wheel greasing and schmoozing with lines like “the government’s warning/Of tight belts and wearing more sweaters to combat the chills/But the truth of the matter/It won’t get no better, we couldn’t drink half as much as they spill” in a “them and us” society where all the “I love you fakers were cupping their hands for a loan”. There’s a great video to go with it available from May 17 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC41Iiotags
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