That’s truth. At last I have released my new album – The Long Road Home… and it’s taken a while.
Like many other artists and musicians I have whiled away the long COVID restricted hours producing
my own recordings at home – and that in itself is a challenge – but I have sort of arrived. So here it is, my long awaited release. Well, it was only long awaited by me but still…
The title track speaks of self trust, self faith, self assurance. When those about you might be trying to persuade you that what you dream will never be more than just the imaginings of the talentless – there comes a point when you get up on your hind legs and stand up for what you believe – even if everyone in the world has an opinion about it! But if you have stalled your dreams because of such opinions then you mark my words – it’s a long road home.
Also on the album, in polar-opposite comparison is a little medley of The Trumpet Hornpipe, The Little Beggarman and Off the California. The first of these will be well known to people of a certain age as the theme music for good old Captain Pugwash. Now – there was a time when animation meant cardboard cut-outs with jerky slidey eyes and chins, which moved their parts hinged on brass paper fasteners – and we were perfectly to accept the realism. In retrospect it occurs to me it must have cost them a fortune to make – countless cereal boxes cut up to make the characters. Loved that programme – loved the music, loved the silliness.
I’ve included a Breton traditional song – La Jument de Michao. Now I know that those who do not speak French will find the lyrics unintelligible but here is a free translation of the first verse:
“In ten years time, I will come to it, I hear the wolf and the fox singing. I hear the wolf , the fox and weasel, I hear the wolf and the fox singing. In nine years time, I will come, Michao’s mare has gone into the meadow. Michao’s mare and her foal have gone into the meadow and eaten all the hay.” Then the chorus goes (all sing along now)
“Winter will come, my lads, winter will come. Michao’s mare will repent.”
So you will see that understanding the lyrics gets you nowhere anyway…
Compare and contrast (as it says in all the best exam questions) with Gaia – a big, noisy moan about the state of ecology in the modern world…
There are other tracks such as Leave me Alone and Butterfingers that are more blues and boogie woogie orientated so give them a listen too…
Dizzy Heights is a tribute to guitarists such as the Legendary Chet Atkins, and the great Doc Watson.
I hope you will enjoy some or all of the album!
Stay safe everyone – while we are still in the grips of this truly limiting Corona Virus there are signs on the horizon that we are winning – even if it has been a Long Road Home. (Pardon the self-originated pun)
Hooligan's Rule 