Harry Harris — Songs About Other People (January 26, 2015)

  ^{Harry Harris — Songs About Other People (January 26, 2015)}
•  Zpívat o fotbalistovi nebo divokém Billovi je originální nápad. Záložník Ronnie Radford hrál profesionální fotbal za Hereford United a ve finále FA Cupu 71/72 vstřelil vítězný gól proti Newcastlu, bylo to 2:1 (obecně považován za největší šok FA Cupu všech dob/Hereford Utd v. Newcastle Utd. 5. Feb 1972/to musíš vidět na YouTube). Balada se také zaměřuje na ctnosti jeho ‘průměrného’ života. Ronnie Radford byl truhlář, jehož šupa z něj udělala krále giantkillers FA Cupu. Toť připomínka lehkého rozdílu mezi životem profesionálního fotbalisty a fanouškem, který je dnes tak široký. Textově je album impozantní; inspirace je převzata z místních zdrojů (například právě ta balada) a kromě ní například “Kandinsky Was A Synaesthete”. Texty povznášejí album i hudebně, díky nim je pevné ale nevybočuje z konvencí písničkářství. Harrisův hlas je silný, dovolím si však poznámku: často cítím, že je tak trochu plochý. Závěrečná “Kandinsky Was A Synaesthete” je už téměř honky~tonk, tady chybí snad už jen piano, nebo Pavel Dobeš. Jediné, co bych mu řekl při posezení u piva: ‘chybí zde špetka reverbu nebo delay’. Kromě tohoto mého detailizmu je těžké najít na albu chybu. Je zajímavé ho poslouchat.
•  Songs about footballer Ronnie Radford and the Wild West are part of a lovely and original album from folk singer Harry Harris.
                 © Harry Harris Photo: Jamie Drew/harryharrismusic.com
Location: Cardiff, Wales ~ London, UK
Album release: January 26, 2015
Record Label:  Wild Sound Recordings, Cambridge, UK
Duration:     41:27   
Tracks:
01. Stag      3:19
02. I Was There      3:33
03. No Ball Games      4:04
04. The Ballad of Ronnie Radford      2:59
05. Wild Bill      4:08
06. Jenny Lind      3:24
07. Kitty’s Daddy      5:12
08. Whale      5:16
09. The Day I Met The King      6:51
10. Kandinsky Was A Synaesthete      2:41
Credits:
≡   Engineered by Sam Beer at Soup Studios
≡   Mixed by Neil Cowlan
≡   Mastered by Steve Kitch, Audiomaster
≡   Produced by Harry Harris
≡   © Wild Sound Recordings 2015 under exclusive license from Harry Harris. All rights of the producers and of the owners of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited.
Review
By Martin Chilton, 9:28 AM GMT 29 Jan 2015 / Score: *****
•  Fans of HBO cowboy series Deadwood will enjoy the track Wild Bill on Harry Harris’s album Songs About Other People, in which Harris sings with passion about the trial of Jack McCall, the man who shot Wild Bill Hickok in 1876.
•  Wild Bill is not the only 19th-century reference on this ambitiously varied album. ≡   Harris shows off his singing range on the graceful Jenny Lind, a tribute to the Victorian opera singer known as the Swedish nightingale.
•  The songs throughout are thoughtful and Harris especially shows his songwriting craft on the seven–minute long The Day I Met the King.
•  The Welsh–born London–based musician shares the same name as a former tabloid football writer but this Harry Harris actually writes well about football, including a splendid tribute to the great FA Cup hero of Hereford United. But what makes The Ballad of Ronnie Radford so interesting is that it focuses on the player’s life as a roofer as well as his goal against Newcastle United. It was a goal worthy of a song, it should be read.
•  I may also be the target market for his song No Ball Games, because it stirred up nostalgic memories of playing football in the street and then dashing in to eat egg and chips. The music market is crowded with banal love songs but what makes No Ball Games special is that it’s a very different kind of love song, one ultimately about a mother and her children, and how she teaches them to love life itself before it's too late.
•  There are 10 tracks on Songs About Other People and Harris shows in this, only his second album, that he knows how to pace lyrics. His singing is expressive and sound as a whole is intimate, a result perhaps of being recorded on analogue equipment with vintage instruments at Soup Studios in London.
•  The musicianship throughout adds to the pleasure, with contributions from his excellent folk’singer brother Jack Harris, Treetop Flyers’ guitarist Sam Beer and Nizlopi bass player John Parker.
•  How good that Harris managed to raised funding through Indiegogo for this delightful and original record. •  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ / •  http://hansonphoto.me/2012/01/08/ronnie-radford/
Website: http://www.harryharrismusic.com/#!
Also:
Jack Lyons, Friday, 17 April 2015, Score: 8
•  http://www.americana-uk.com/index.php/cd-reviews/item/harry-harris-songs-about-other-people
•  http://www.americana-uk.com/cd-reviews/item/harry-harris-harry-harris-independent-2010
Notes:
•  Hey. Look above. Why have you scrolled down? You’ve missed the good bit. The good bit is above...no, not that bit, too far, that’s just my face, split the difference...yes, that bit! That’s my new album! Songs About Other People, in all its glory, and three tracks from it. It’s out now. Come see me live ‘n all! I’m playing loads of shows.
•  I Was There is the story of a sailor back from a great voyage trying to make sense of the things he’s seen — bewildering sunsets, mighty humpback whales and an imposing waterfall — and convince those who doubt him. The Ballad Of Ronnie Radford is about the greatest FA Cup goal ever scored, when Hereford United knocked out the mighty Newcastle United in 1972, thanks to Ronnie Radford’s strike — the day after he went back to fixing the roof of a house, back when footballers had to supplement their income, even if they were FA Cup legends. Kandinsky Was A Synaesthete is about brilliant people who do brilliant things, and the awe that inspires. Aptly, it features Nizlopi’s John Parker on double bass.
•  I’m dead proud to be on a lovely little indie label called Wild Sound Recordings, with some other brilliant acts including Polly Paulusma, Stylusboy, Maz O’Connor, Mortal Tides and The Pollyanna Band. I have one album already out on the label, produced by Polly, that you can buy here.
•  I also occasionally write things, for Vice, Sabotage Times, and once for The Telegraph, and sometimes for this website called Work In Prowess. The editor of that last one is an Irish genius called Caroline O’Donoghue, and sometimes we sing folk / punk / erotic songs under the moniker Greyhounds Greyhounds Greyhounds.
•  What else, what else. Oh yes. I occasionally make movies and music videos with Moral Hangover — once I was in a film they made called Echo Restless — and do electronic music stuff with Chemikal Recipe. If you see photos of me in a non–gig setting, chances are Jamie Drew took them.
•  So yes, thanks for coming, stick around. If you like it, tell your neighbours. If you want to stay in touch and be the first to know about things like gigs, albums and stuff, fill in your details above, next to my face (I won’t spam you, in fact, if anything, I’ll forget to send you stuff), and follow me on the old social media.
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Harry Harris — Songs About Other People (January 26, 2015)

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