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I thought it might be interesting to have a quick dip back into my thoughts at the end of 2012 and update with some comments and observations about the albums I chose as my top 12 to see how we are all getting along :

 

Big Big Train – English Electric 

Yep – still up there on regular play and as stunning as the first listen.  East Coast Racer has moved up the league though and is currently one of my favourite BBT tracks of all time. This track is simply a masterpiece. Brilliant subject, amazing vocals, outstanding arrangement and superb production.  The Underfall Yard has yet to be beaten though

Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisted II 

Not played this as much as I thought after the first few listens – it’s there, in the background, but not on the playlist as much as I thought it would have been – still love it though.

Pineapple Thief – All the Wars

A regular feature on my playlist. I just love the crisp sound, the overall feel and urgency of this melancholic record.

 

Nine Stones Close – One Eye on the Sunrise

Still an absolute belter of an album and one which just gets better with each play.  A regular first-teamer this one. Shame no-one seems to know them ….

It Bites – Map of the Past

A marvellous album but one that somehow doesn’t shout out for attention as much as some others for me.  But every time I play it I marvel at the catchiness, melody and arrangements …. should listen to this more !

The Rumour Cubes – The Narrow State 

A quirky favourite of mine and a regular feature. Haunting cellos, violins and a beautiful Mono-esque feel to it. Brilliant.

Anathema – Weather Systems

One of he few albums that needs to be played all the way through, in one sitting, to get the full deal.  A regular on my commute and one that relaxes, enchants and adds spirituality to my day.

Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

Not worked for me this one !  To be frank I find it annoying so it’s been relegated to the naughty corner at the moment.

Headspace – I am Anonymous

This is turning out to be an absolute corker of an album. A brilliantly conceived slice of power metal and a favourite I turn to on a weekly basis. Powerful, engaging, interesting – it’s got the lot !

Twilights Embrace – Traces  (EP) 

These lads from Nottingham have produced two cracking EP’s and they are high on my list as I seem to have expanded my metal taste to incorporate some melodic growls.  Tremendous stuff and being EP’s short enough to blast every week at least.  A further discovery in this genre has been Finnish band Swallow the Sun and their epic ‘Emerald Forest and the Blackbird’ – thanks for the recommendation from Matt Spall (@ManofMuchMetal)

Neal Morse – Momentum

This was a late entrant and is mid-table in plays I reckon.  It’s good, it’s upbeat and fun but some of it I find a bit obvious (nothing wrong with that though !)

Echolyn – Echolyn

I really like this album and it has grown to be firm favourite.  I enjoy it’s simply class and elegance with great musicianship, songs and atmosphere. Lovely.

That’s it folks !

I was out with some old friends recently – friends with whom I grew up listening to Rush, camping out to see them at Manchester Apollo, enjoying carefree days of 2112 and Hemispheres.

The memory of seeing Rush close-up, from the front row, as the dry ice trickled out at the start of Xanadu will stay forever. 

We reminisced about school days and about concerts, about girlfriends and what we got up to, and then one of the lads said “Hang on – I’ve got a photo from 1980 of us all when we were camping”

Then he flipped this photo on his phone and there we were, 30 years ago, youthful, hairfull, optimistic, happy, thoughtful, serious.

Suddenly 30 years melted away in a moment …… it was a very atmospheric moment as we silently reflected ….

 

I’m on the left by the way and you can just see my 2112 t-shirt.

To think we are all still in contact, sat next to each other in a Manchester bar – older, not much wiser, still into music, still the same people …..

Memories.

 

Seeing as my funds for purchasing new music have run dry,  I’ve drawn a line under a fantastic year for music and decided on my top 12.  

This didn’t really take me long to put together,  my favourite albums of 2012 are quite clear.  There are some omissions  that other may find strange (Rush, Marillion) but it’s my list and it’s for me to choose who goes on my list …. so there

Big Big Train is my stand out album which is no surprise and the others follow in a random order.

 

Big Big Train – English Electric 

Simply stunning throughout. Not as epic as The Underfall Yard but a timeless English masterpiece evoking village greens, stone walls and fields but tinged with darkness and seriousness …. a true classic

 

Steve Hackett – Genesis Revisted II 

A beautiful re-working of some classic Genesis and Hackett songs. Not quite a homage as new vocals add variance. Beautifully produced and a sonic wonder as Hacketts guitar is brought right to the front of the mix

  

Pineapple Thief – All the Wars

Classy, snappy prog-pop wonderfully produced with a raw edge of emotion throughout – superb.

 

Nine Stones Close – One Eye on the Sunrise

The second NST album and a tremendous effort with atmosphere, great guitars and an absolute killer track in ‘Frozen Moment’.  Hints of Gilmour, Page and others but has it’s own sound.

 

It Bites – Map of the Past

A glorious pop-prog masterpiece with a hefty whack of emotion thrown in – catchy as hell.

  

The Rumour Cubes – The Narrow State 

Beautifully layered string instruments build to guitar crescendos reminiscent of Mono at their best – ‘The Gove Curve’ is a track to die for.

 

Anathema – Weather Systems

Emotion, power, beauty, wonder – what else can you say ?

 

Storm Corrosion – Storm Corrosion

Quirky, low-key, strange, inventive and an album I keep returning to time after time but somehow can never play the whole thing through in one sitting…..

 

Headspace – I am Anonymous

Powerful, edgy new rock of the highest order.  Well-structured songs, great production and a very, very convincing album.  Excellent

 

Twilights Embrace – Traces  (EP) 

A stunning EP with tight, hard songs infused with Anathema moods, Opeth growls and a mood and atmosphere all it’s own. A great surprise.

 

Neal Morse – Momentum

A late entrant and gloriously rowdy and upbeat album of brilliant musicianship – cracking stuff.

 

Echolyn – Echolyn

A stunner. Reflective, clever, tricky, tuneful – a grower.

 

So there you go !

All the best to everyone for the coming festive season and I hope you continue to discover, enjoy and share the wonderful music that is being created in this very special time.

 

 

This is not a review, so please don’t expect a review.

Rather it is mind-meander, a jumble of thoughts, a mind-fart if you like

 

As I settled in to the sumptuous Swedish leather of my up-market estate car, cocooned in blue-backlit luxury, ready to drive home to my lovely modern detached, warm, comfy house,  listening to Big Big Train, I began to ponder ……   where did it all go wrong ??!!

You see, although I’ve been a good Dad and a loyal husband and I have certain talents (if you consider running up muddy hills a talent), there is one thing nagging away at me that I suggest nags away at a lot of people (men, mainly) who are into music and are of a certain age. 

You see, I really really wanted to be good at playing the guitar.

It all started out so well.

 At 16 I got my first guitar. An Angus Young look-a-like Gibson SG copy.

In front of the mirror I was a God.  Long hair, denim, attitude.

I was into Rush, AC/DC, Motorhead.  All I had to do was look like them and I would be them – easy ! 

Then the problems started. 

First problem : the strings were so far from the fret board you could drive a bus between them. Rubbish. 

Second problem : I’m small, very small and my hands weren’t big enough to form chords or even press hard enough to get the strings down to touch the fret board. 

Third problem : I couldn’t, and still can’t, read music so had to do everything by ear.

 Fourth problem : I couldn’t hear very well because my hair was so long it covered my ears. At least it covered my eyes as well so I couldn’t see, or hear, my mum screaming at me to ‘Turn that bloody rubbish down !’

Fifth and last problem : LOFT.  Lack Of F… Talent.

 

Anyway, persistence and a touch of youthful arrogance saw an epic battle against all odds and eventually a semblance of music was made and a burgeoning career as a talented rock-god lay round the corner.

A group was duly formed with school mates with the usual mix of who’s Dad had the most money, who had the best girlfriends and who had got the most pocket money for the pints after practice.

It somehow worked and we ended up doing gigs, yes, gigs, concerts.

We were called 4-Wheel Drive and we specialised in hard rocking and cutting edge post-rock.   Actually, we thought this but the reality was we played Eagles and country and western !!

Our gigs were local pubs, Working Mens Clubs and the occasional heady heights of the local school fete.

Usually we were on before the pub disco started (so as to not get attacked by bottles and drunken women) or squeezed between sets of Bingo “Now then ladies, we’ll have a break from t’bingo whilst we listen to these lovely lads from Manchester playing some music for you all”.

One memorable New Years Eve we played at Collyhurst Working Mens Club, a bleak and post-industrial suburb of Manchester.  After setting our gear up we waited for the crowds.  We waited.  And waited.

Our encore of ‘The Crystal Chandelier’ was performed in front of an 80 year old woman with no teeth who had got lost and a 75 year old drunken ex miner who thought he had come to see strippers …..  my guitar broke, an amplifier broke down …..  it was not a good night.

Our highlight was playing at Piccaddilly Railway Workers Club, in a magnificent club under the arches in Manchester. The steward welcomed us and took us down a swanky corridor to a changing room !  A bloody changing room, with one of those mirrors surrounded by lightbulbs.  Well,  we thought we had made it but then when another guy came in and said ‘Fred’s drumming for you tonight” we were made up.  Changing rooms ? A house drummer ?  Wow.

On we went and were confronted with hundreds of folk all looking happy and settled in a huge club.

By this time I had given up with the guitar and was sent to the bastion where ex-guitarists go – bass guitar.  In other words,  there are fewer strings, you don’t have to play chords, you don’t have to do solos – any idiot can play bass – that was me.

As I moved to my position I looked at Fred the drummer and saw what can only be described as a very, very old man.  Well into his 80’s, thin as his drum sticks, no teeth, whippet at his feet and a pint of stout to one side.

‘Do you know Hotel California ?” I asked

‘No lad’, he replied ‘ but I’ll join in !’

Fearing the worst we played the moody, atmospheric intro as the dry ice swirled around our feet and the gorgeous girls on the front row gazed longingly at the rock gods in front of them (reality check : wizened old hags who’s bingo had been interrupted sulkily looked on whilst their husbands dutifully sat there nursing their pints…)

Just as we get to the part where the drums come in – BANG !

 

Little old Fred absolutely nails it. 

 

Neil Peart eat your heart out. Gavin Harrison (had I known him them) couldn’t shake a stick to old Fred – he was fantastic, knew every trick and never missed a beat.

It turned out to be a great concert – the best we ever did !

We never went far from there, we all went separate ways into families, careers, wandering round the world.  I recently found out our guitarist, who was talented now works as a Doctor in Australia and saved several lives in the Bali bombing.  That makes my hill running look a bit feeble but then one of the other guys ended up as a dustman in Droitwich so that makes me feel better.

When I see the likes of Matt Stevens up close and Bruce Soord from no more than two feet away,  I can only stand and gaze in awe at their talent and skill and think …

‘ … where did it all go wrong ?’

 

 

 

 

The Rumour Cubes – The Narrow State 

A simply tremendous little album that will blow you away if you like sweeping crescendos of violins building up into a wall of noise with spine-tingling effect then being thumped right in the chest with the most amazing spoken word section of The Gove Curve :

 Cold white fish, on wood beneath a river

Fast right schools bleed silver

Contract, bend stab bend

Touch on light on scales

They divest and vie patterns

On tiers of municipal glass

“The money follows the child”

Attend to the fish bone

The slim neck

Crooked hush

A down, put down handle

Stab in the dark

In a film handle

An old black phone “what ?”

For this one is the Gove Curve

No, this one is the Gove Curve

The river, the silt

Smoothed cling film

Gutted gape of rock

Where guts slip

Deep

Red

Oak grain

The State is narrow and you are basically gone

Gone all bone scuba

It is in the varnished fucking floor

Your face a rut around us

Build to up crinckle shine

Like the winds that hurt us

On Mars

float perfectly sad leaf,

float bight fresh green

fold

feathers torn the dead wing

sunk in the wreath boat

sunk in fine claps of copper flame

orange and green flecks

silent carnival

blinkless

eyes …..

 

Rumour Cubes are a 6-piece ensemble from London who’s music captivated me the first time I heard it with their EP ‘We Have Sound Houses Also”.

With wonderful titles such as “The University is a Factory”, “Triptych” and ‘Tempus Fugit” it might be easy to dismiss this as an art-house fancy by some bright young student types – but it goes way beyond that and has a real depth suggesting some true talent at work here.

That they play instruments well is beyond doubt – many aspiring bands can play perfectly well – but Rumour Cubes blend this with a marvellously cinematic sound borrowing cues from the likes of the aforesaid Mono, with hints of Sigur Ros and Explosions in the Sky but all the while managing to sound like, well, The Rumour Cubes.

 A fantastic discovery and well worth your attention.

 

 

http://soundcloud.com/rumourcubes/the-gove-curve

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a long time Blue Nile fan, and in particular their wonderful, evocative, rain-swept masterpiece that is ‘Hats’, their later recordings were something of a disappointment as Paul Buchanan moved towards an almost cabaret style of pared down and rather drab songs seeming to rely on past glories. Their earlier recordings told micro-stories of moving ordinariness of wet, dreary Glasgow streets and city life in winter with characters struggling against day to day life.

One the best pieces of music bar none to listen to whilst driving along a city street, in the dark, in the rain is ‘Headlights on the Parade’ – I could quite simply have this on repeat for hours on end it’s that good.

‘The Downtown Lights’ is a must-listen with the stunning semi-spoken section driven along by the synths and electro-drum beats a real highlight: 

The neon’s and the cigarettes

Rented rooms and rented cars

The crowded streets, the empty bars

Chimney tops and trumpets 

The golden lights, the loving prayers

The colored shoes, the empty trains

I’m tired of crying on the stairs

The downtown lights

 

What made me notice Steve Adey’s magnificent album several years ago was the producer – none other than Calum Malcolm who mastered the Blue Nile albums.  I’m a bit of a sucker for good production and have often followed the producer rather than the artist.  Daniel Lanois being a good example as I remember the fantastic sound of the Joshua Tree by U2 which he produced.  He then added the same magic to Emmylou Harris’ ‘The Wrecking Ball’ which led me onto his own albums and a brief sojourn with Creole music.  The way music trails twist and turn and take you down, sometimes blind, alleys never ceases to amaze me.

The other startling thing about ‘All Things Real’ is the similarity to the Blue Nile sound, not surprising considering the producer, and in particular the vocals.  Steve Adey’s voice has the same timbre as Paul Buchanans but also has a deeper warmth – both sharing the same knack for extracting every ounce of emotion from each note.

‘All Things Real’ is a beautifully produced piece of work. The sound is very ‘close up’, you can hear fingers scrape on guitar strings, you can hear the air in the harmonium, you can hear breathing between words – you can almost hear the creak of wood in the chairs as the musicians shuffle around whilst recording.

The album has a very organic feel as though it was laid down with only a few takes,  if not just one take in some cases, and it resonates with a sombre, seriousness that to some ears could come across as maudlin.  To my ears it is beautiful, deep and rewarding.

There are elements of Talk Talk in the hushed drama and great swathes of the Blue Nile in the vocals and production qualities. But the overall feeling is of high quality, structured songs put together with absolute love and care.

Take the two cover versions that bestride this album – ‘I See a Darkness’ and ‘Shelter From the Storm’.  Adey does not just play it by the book, he strips these two classics down, re-builds them and makes them entirely his own.

Dylans ‘Shelter From the Storm’ takes on epic proportions as Adey slows it down to an almost funereal pace with each verse adding extra layers as the drama of the song unfolds – at one point you can sense him almost spitting out the words in barely controlled emotion.  This is a stunning track.

A re-working of Will Oldham’s ‘I See a Darkness’ is no less stunning and is my personal favourite on the album – a brooding, dark masterpiece that is quite frankly a huge improvement on the original and also on the Johnny Cash version. This is a sweeping and emotional tour-de-force and being the second track on the album makes you wonder how it can go on. The power is quite intense as he sings …..

 

         Many times

            We’ve been out drinking

            Many times we’ve shared our thoughts

            But did you ever, ever notice

            The kind of thoughts I had

 

Well go on it does – there is not a weak track.  There is a rolling version of a sea-shanty with ‘The Lost Boat Song’ which carries on the mournful feel throughout the album and there are also very intense moments of simple personal feelings, ‘Tonight’ being a good example.

 

Tonight

This very silent night

I give it all to you

I render it to you

Through love and war and hate

And tomorrow I must fight

Amazed and bleeding child

I send my love to you

 

This is one of those albums I find hard to categorise when someone says ‘what type of music is it ?’. In many respects it is folk, with the same home-spun vibe as, say, King Creole & Jon Hopkins’ ‘Diamond Mine’.  In other respects it has the sweeping panorama of earlier Blue Nile which is definitely not folk.

The best thing is to simply recommend it and let you, the listener, decide which, if any category it sits.

I hope you are rewarded as much as I have been over the last six years.

 

Henryk Gorecki

Symphony No 3 – Symphony of Sorrowful Songs

 

 

I’ve had this album for many years now, I can’t recall what drew me to it but I’m thankful for whatever or whoever did.

Quite simply this an astonishingly moving piece of work and one which, if not listened to in the right mindset, could quite easily be emotionally devastating. 

I’m not going to critique this album from a musical or technical point of view as I do not have those skills, nor do I profess to know enough about this genre to compare this to other classical works. 

The title is enough to warn you this is not music to listen if you are looking for upbeat, stirring music.  For that look elsewhere. For a deeply profound and challenging hour where you can lose yourself entirely I highly recommend you set time aside and connect with this work of beauty.

There are three movements with each one based on motherhood, separation and loss.

The first and third movements are from the perspective of a mother mourning a lost son whilst the second movement (my personal highlight) is from the perspective of a young 18 year old girl mourning separation from her parents whilst in a Gestapo cell. 

The piece starts very quietly and as described in the liner notes :

 

“the instrumental voices enter in a stairway of fifths that rises through four octaves and eventually encompasses all eight pitches in the Aeolian mode (on E) characteristic of the 24-bar cantus firmus”

 

If that description is too technical (it is for me…) all I can is you are drawn into the music by gentle waves of gorgeously textured strings that lap at your consciousness. Then at the 13 minute mark the soaring soprano voice of Dawn Upshaw is like sun breaking through the clouds, illuminating darkened hills then just as quickly, the clouds form again and we are left with the sweeping vocals dripping with sorrow, pain and longing.

The build-up of tension is almost unbearable and yet quite, quite beautiful.

The words to this first lament include the heart-breaking words as follows :-

 

My son, my chosen and beloved

Share your wounds  with your mother

And because, dear Son, I have always carried you in my heart

And always served you faithfully

Speak to your Mother, to make her happy

Although you are already leaving me, my cherished hope

 

After this powerful vocal recital which at 16 minutes in reaches a hugely powerful and moving section, we are left with graceful strings like deep ocean waves swelling and surging but never breaking, giving us time to reflect and gather our thoughts.  Eventually the sonorous cello’s draw this stunning movement to a close.

The second movement is based on an inscription found in a Gestapo cell in Zakopane written by an imprisoned 18 year old girl which read :

 

         No, Mother, do not weep

            Most chaste Queen of Heaven

            Support me always

            “Zdrowas Mario”   (‘Ave Maria” in Polish)

 

This is my favourite piece.

Tere is a surprisingly bright start, to reflect the youth of the subject matter perhaps, but then events take a dramatic turn very quickly as the soprano of Dawn Upshaw comes in early on adding a foreboding tone alluding to the darkness of the cell.  The notes refer to an ‘imprisoned tone’ in her voice but which provides “a single shaft of vernal sunlight’ as the piece progresses.

I understand this movement was performed live in almost complete darkness with subtle lighting effects. I cannot imagine how moving this piece must be in a darkened concert hall.

Again, the only way I can describe this is like waves or looking at a range of mountains that endlessly roll on and on.  It is soothing yet haunting, peaceful yet disturbing.  There is an aching sense of loss and grief that can be overwhelming at times.

The third and last movement continues the themes of sorrow and loss and is based on a Silesian folk song of a mother looking for her son after the Silesian uprisings.

The overall theme musically is similar and continues the ebb and flow of lush sweeping strings and soaring soprano but there is a little more complexity in this piece which provides a further 17 minutes of stunning, powerful music.

 

So, I highly recommend this work and as a more modern counter-part, I would also recommend the works of MONO – a Japanese group who utilise many of the same moods, tones and swathes of tidal sound, albeit with more modern instruments.

 

Thanks for listening !

King Creosote and Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

Just a quick recommendation for a wonderful album full of beauty and stillness and warmth ….

From the opening recording of a local café where locals are just simply being friendly and going about their business we are drawn into a cosy,  world of cardigans, low-fi, old boats, relationships, struggles and raw life from Scotland.

There are little stories and reflections on going old :

“I’ve gone silver in my travels

Growing silver in my sideburns ….”

.. and snippets of real life

“You and I we once looked great

You and I sounded so fine …”

…tinged with pure love and grief

“I won’t let you fall as low as I’ve been…”

There are beautiful soft harmonies, hushed and plucked strings, earthy violins and jaunty banjoes softly backed with subtle percussion.

Highly recommended.

My earliest recollection of being ‘into’ music was as a young teenager and listening to the Beach Boys. I loved their stuff when everyone else was into T-Rex, Roy Wood, Wizard the Slade and all those other 70’s icons. 

As much as liked the happy surf vibe I remember being drawn to the sadder and minor-chord tinged tracks such as ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ and ‘In My Room’ – a particular favourite to this day. Even back then I would delve into an artists catalogue, God knows how back then, but I did.  I recall searching in record shops for albums that were less popular and seeing the cover for ‘Surfs Up’ – a haunting figure of a wilted man on a tired horse in sepia-blue tints.

This was a major discovery.

Dark and dense, involving and difficult, the music was stunning and the definite weirdness of the title track, ‘Feel Flows’ and ‘A Day in the Life of a Tree’ would define my musical journey in the coming years. Odd time signatures, raw emotion, depth of feeling and musicality would all surface on most of my discoveries.

The re-emergence of Brian Wilson in the past few years has been a welcome sight and it is good too see his genius recognised whilst at the same time another genius of the same surname is making his mark in the modern prog world. 

I remember the day I was listening to a stunning track (‘Leaving This Town’) on the Beach Boys’ less well-known album , Holland, when my older brother popped his head round the door and said “Hey, titch, listen to this..” 

The next few moments were to define the rest of my teenage years and were probably responsible for me making a complete mess of my Grammar school education !

‘Dark Side of the Moon’ was playing, can’t remember which track, but I remember standing there thinking how stunning yet strangely familiar this music was.  Needless to say the whole Floyd thing was huge – they are still one of my favourites and recently seeing Brit Floyd live (and doing more than justice to the original band) just reminds you how strong and involving this music is 30 years later.

‘Animals’ stood out for me as it was released at the height of punk in the UK and created a huge stir, even to the extent of NME (New Musical Express) eulogising about it at a time when the Floyd, Genesis etc were seen as dinasours.

Perhaps the next milestone was the Rush era.

As ever, I seemed to be into something only a few other ‘chosen’ people understood but the chancing upon ‘2112’ was as strong a feeling as the Pink Floyd moment. I’ve mentioned this on tweet before, but we even queued outside Manchester Apollo overnight, on the pavement, in sleeping bags to get tickets for their ‘Farewell to Kings’ tour. We had races across the road to keep ourselves entertained, hopping like idiots in our sleeping bags.

We got tickets for the front row for the first three nights and also tickets for the front row of the circle for the last two nights so we could watch the lightshow !!  Five nights in a row – and I remember being amazed by ‘Xanadu’ each time.

Brilliant times and again,  glad to see them doing so well now even if my enjoyment of them now is not quite the same.

The dead years intervened when kids, career and growing up got in the way of music but not without regular forays into post-rock (Godspeed You Black Emporer, Mono, Explosions in the Sky et al) and more avant-garde stuff like Sigur Ros in their earlier days (Aegetis Byrun and ()  ).  Even trips down alt-Americana way proved fruitful with magnificent artists like The Willard Grant Conspiracy, The Walkabouts and others showing you don’t need to stick rigidly to one genre.

And so to the present, and what a bloody fantastic present time it is with an overflowing and wonderfully euphoric progressive rock scene.

A chance reading of a Sunday Times article which mentioned someone called Steven Wilson led to the Pandora’s Box of Porcupine Tree which is about as good a back-catalogue as you will find. A massively deep collection of stunning tracks with wide-ranging influences that just get better with each listen.  A whole scene has been re-discovered and a scene that is lively, modern, relevant yet harks back to the days when music was made for music’s sake and not just to fill stadiums and top the charts.

I recently saw The Pineapple Thief live in Manchester, standing on the front row, about two feet away from them, and was stunned by how skilful, committed and talented the people in this scene are.

And finally, in this brief whirlwind tale of JD’s musical journey, we come to what is quite simply the best music I have ever heard – Big Big Train.

Those who may know me from Twitter will probably know that I run, bike and hike on the hills in my area and I have never known music that connects so sublimely to what I do and what I like.  ‘The Underfall Yard’ has a collection of tales that paint a gloriously evocative picture of the engineers that built England. Heroic characters propping up cathedrals and teams of men digging tunnels through the landscape, set to the most note-perfect and emotion-wrenching music you can imagine. 

Their recent masterpiece ‘English Electric Pt 1‘ has been detailed enough in these pages (and by a certain Bradley J. Birzer) that I cannot improve on the reviews or details provided by better people than me !

So there you go, a snapshot of 35 years or so condensed into a few words.

Thanks for listening !  There will be more to come ….. J