One of the best reviews I’ve ever had has just come out in the new edition
of Shindig! magazine!
Many thanks to Jeff Penczak – I’m glad you like the music –
but special thanks to Anthony Nyland and Chris McGranaghan at Those Old Records without whom “Twelve
Strings…” would never have made it into the light.
Cheers, guys!
*****
BEAU
Twelve Strings To The Beau
The Sound Of Salvation LP
Christopher John Trevor Midgley
(AKA Beau) released the first record on John Peel’s Dandelion imprint and
currently maintains the web’s best Dandelion site. Two albums followed and, in
February 1975, he entered label mates Tractor’s studio to record a third, which
finally sees the light here. Beau’s exquisite 12-string backing imbues his
troubadour-style ballads with an immediacy that leaves the listener hanging on
his every word. This is folk singer storytelling at its finest, buoyed by
lyrics that rival Dylan and Cohen in their vivid imagery, particularly the epic
‘Why Do You Laugh?’
Highlights are many, including the rousing, Kingston
Trio-ish ‘The Commodore’, the graphic plague tale of ‘The Roses Of Eyam’
(popularised by Rob Bailey), and the nostalgic tearjerker ‘The Wine Was
Sweeter Then’. Forty years ago this would have settled nicely alongside your
Roy Harper and Tom Rapp/Pearls Before Swine albums. Now I think I’ll play it
more than any of them.
Jeff Penczak
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