After the demise of hardcore band Million Dead, frontman Frank Turner embarked a relentless touring schedule. Playing most nights throughout 2006 helped build a strong and devoted following for his semi-acoustic folk-punk material. Appearing both deeply personal yet accessible, his debut album ‘Sleep Is For The Week’ – released in January 2007 – attracted very positive responses. His second release ‘Love, Ire & Song’ saw a huge leap in terms of quality and although not a huge seller upon its release, this album set Turner on the route to stardom.
Tag Archives: acoustic
VARIOUS ARTISTS: Vauxhall & Us: A French Tribute To Morrissey
The world has seen release of many tribute albums, many tossed off with casual indifference that miss the mark completely. Occasionally, one comes along that’s just so misguided you end up wondering how it came to be in the first place. The idea of thirteen different low-key French artists recreating Morrissey’s 1994 album ‘Vauxhall & I’ could easily sound like a bad one from the off, but somehow, through an array of reasonable talent – not to mention excellent source material and sheer balls – ‘Vauxhall & Us’ works. Without Morrissey’s distinctive croon adding to a many a black humour within his lyrics, these songs sound markedly different. Their charm is still often apparent, but in a wholly different way. The acoustic setting on some of the recordings allows Moz’s gift of words to remain the biggest draw of all, but the European slant evident from time to time also lends a certain charm.
MICHAEL ADDISON – Resisting Fate
Singer-songwriter Michael Addison’s fourth release – 2012’s ‘Blinding Shadows’ – was a misguided affair. Promoted as an alternative rock album with “raw, hard rock energy”, any potential it had was killed almost instantly by too much studio shine and use of an offensive amount of vocal filters – the very antithesis of the raw energy he was said to create. Two years on, his eight track mini album ‘Resisting Fate’ doesn’t really resemble that previous release. Did Addison himself look back and feel the autotune abuse was a mistake? Maybe he did…but it’s just as likely he used it as a fashion statement since that disc came at a time when autotune was rife among many forms of pop (and indeed rock) music. ‘Resisting Fate’ is a warm and complete sounding release, with the good fortune of having lost the heavy filtering – at least a half-dozen of its numbers happy to stand on their own terms, not swamped by studio tinkering, or too heavily indebted to other artists.
Quireboys confirm acoustic dates for early 2014
Following the first leg of the tour for their 2013 release ‘Beautiful Curse’, The Quireboys have confirmed they’ll be kicking off 2014 with a selection of acoustic shows at intimate venues, including a set at London’s Borderline.
The acoustic dates are as follows:
Long rumoured Saxon acoustic/re-recorded disc released in October
First mooted back in 2011, British metal legends Saxon will finally release their promised disc of acoustic and orchestral re-recordings on 21st October.
‘Unplugged & Strung Up’ – a fourteen track collection of re-worked material – has been confirmed with the following track listing: