The perfect drink to go with this album is, of course, a bottle of Denbies Cellarmasters Choice Redlands 2009 fine English red wine.It's the ideal accompaniment to this fine English Country music even if it was recorded in Wiltshire as opposed to Surrey where the wine originates.
I recently saw The Redlands Palomino Company guitarist Tom Bowen backing one of the most forgettable country acts I've ever seen (Susan James) and making her blander than bland songs seem interesting with some stellar playing. In fact, what you get throughout this album is stellar playing from a band who know exactly what they are doing.
The opening Call Me Up is a gorgeously lovelorn duet that sounds a lot like The Rockingbirds only with an added female vocalist. It grabbed me straight away and made me listen carefully to the lyrics.
1879 is a great anti war song about going off to war and just how much it changes you and the legacy that can leave for your descendants - if, of course, you survive long enough to have some descendants - over a very evocative backing. It's a tune I want to hear a lot more in the near future. The title track Don't Fade is another good tune but nowhere near the best thing here.
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Settle Down is another good downbeat love song to sit drinking red wine to, which is exactly what you need to do while listening to The Boat which as my other half Jo said on hearing it is like a slightly more upbeat Mazzy Star. Actully, just the fact she wasn't telling me to turn it off says it sounded pretty good to her too.
The album ends with Sirens which is the second song of that title I've reviewed recently. This one is a raucous song about a siren who has dumped the singer who's clearly still smitten and telling his love what he'd do to get her back again. It's served up over a backing of some very reverb-y slide guitar and provides a strong ending to a very good new Country/Americana album.
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