Richard Hawley

Posted by: Quad 33 on 10 May 2012

Hi would be interested in any early impressions of the new Richard Hawley Cd. From what I have read it seems a big departure from his  recent work. The cover art looks fantastic is the music as good?

 

Graham

Posted on: 10 May 2012 by Bruce Woodhouse

Yup, a big departure, barring one or two tracks of his more usual style. It has been streamed online in full in various places and some tracks are on YouTube if you are nervous.Check out 'She Brings The Sunlight' which opens the album, it is one of the best and gives you a feel for the whole. Soundcloud have it http://soundcloud.com/theinsou...awley-she-brings-the

 

Big wall-of-sound, squally crashing guitars, vague psychedelic atmosphere in places. A bit of a Nick Cave 'Abbatoir Blues' is probably the best I can describe it. Actually I like it so far, although I suspect i'll listen to it less than his others as time passes I still think at times it will hit the spot and it is growing with every play.

 

I think the overall effect does work with his voice and songwriting holding it together, and it is great to hear an artist confident enough to really rip it up but I think it will not be to everyone's taste. My wife hates it already, and she loves his other albums!

 

I'll be interested to hear what others think

 

Bruce

Posted on: 10 May 2012 by Jack

I saw him perform "down in the woods" on the Jools Holland show and really liked it.....I'm not familiar with his work really but the track reminded me of The Doors. The album is on Spoify so will have to give it a proper listen

Posted on: 10 May 2012 by Guido Fawkes

Much better than his previous work in my humble opinion 

Posted on: 11 May 2012 by iiyama

Easily the best performance on Jools that week!

 

Very impressed with his performance and the new album. Hope to catch him live at some point.

He was featured on sky Arts recently about the Sheffield scene of the 80's and of course his involvement with Pulp.

 

Sky Arts are running a series called the Beat is Law which is about the Sheffield music scene of the 80's which he was involved in, it s very good indeed!

Posted on: 15 May 2012 by nicnaim

Graham,

 

In the first instance I have to declare that I was already a big fan of Mr Hawley, I have all his stuff and I have seen him several times live.  

 

On the first listen my first thoughts were that he had perhaps overdone the big crashing guitar stuff, although I really loved "Soldier On" from Truelove's Gutter that starts really quietly and then explodes, but having listened to the new disc several times now it has really grown on me.  

 

Regards

 

Nic

Posted on: 18 May 2012 by nicnaim

Booked 6 tickets for his gig in Newcastle in September.  This will be the first time I have had the album before the tour, usually it has been the other way around.  It will be interesting to see him at Academy rather than The Sage.  The acoustics are crap and you stick to the carpet, but I suspect the Sage may have been too tame for him.  The Academy is where I go to see "noisy" bands, and I suspect he may tear it up a bit.  The album continues to get better with each listen.  Always a good sign IMHO.

 

Regards

 

Nic

Posted on: 19 May 2012 by lutyens
It has been on several times today and is very different from his other stuff. My first reaction was wow that's different. However on repeat listening i am enjoying it a lot. It is very definately wall of sound production although there has always been quite a lot of production on his recent lps. Which isn't a critisism simply a comment that he does work at getting 'a sound'. I will continue to listen over this week and see what i feel about it then. I think a headphone session might be good as i think there is quite a lot going on in that wall and it needs some volume to hear it. And yes Mrs L isn't sure about it and loved Coles Corner.
Posted on: 20 May 2012 by Quad 33
Originally Posted by Quad 33:

Hi would be interested in any early impressions of the new Richard Hawley Cd. From what I have read it seems a big departure from his  recent work. The cover art looks fantastic is the music as good?

 

Graham

Thank's everyone for the reviews on RH. Has anyone done a direct Cd / Lp comparison regarding SQ and production. I was in thinking of getting it on vinyl but not sure if I can justifie the £20+ price tag over the Cd price. 

 

Regards Graham.

Posted on: 06 June 2012 by thebigfredc

This thread piqued myinterest in him for the first time since the release of Ladysbridge.

 

Have played the new album four or five times now and i am growing to like it a lot.

 

Yes the  jangly guitars arespectacular yet somehow manage not to overshadow the other elements of the music.

 

Track 5, entitled Seek It, sounds like a slowed down version of Islands in the Stream.

 

Ray