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Songdog — Happy Ending (27 Mar 2020)          Songdog — Happy Ending (27 Mar 2020) Songdog — Happy Ending (27 Mar 2020)•♠•    A fusion of Folk, Celtic and Americana and a highlight of the year so far... ‘A Happy Ending’ is the eighth album by Songdog and is a collection of twelve songs by Welsh songwriter Lyndon Morgans on the subject of passing time, the damage it can inflict and the condolences it may bestow upon a man. The songs are steeped in nostalgia for happier times (‘The Cathedral On The Hill’), the pain of old certainties now on the ropes (‘God Don’t Believe In Me No More’) or regret at love lost or thrown away (‘My Heart Woke Up And Whispered’, ‘Gina Asleep’). While some (‘Life After Love’) muse on the fear of a lonely and loveless future, others explore more hopeful vistas (‘G Flat Gumbo’, ‘A Happy Ending’, ‘Lavinia’) in a spirit of playful re~assessment of a life lived to the full — both a harrowing and heartening account of one man’s experience from sunlit halcyon days to the lengthening shadows of Time’s boondocks. Location: Blackwood, Wales ~ London, UK
Album release: 27 March, 2020
Record Label: Junkyard Songs
Duration:     57:29
Tracks:
01. Lavinia   4:39
02. G~Flat Gumbo   4:41
03. A Happy Ending   4:11
04. God Don’t Believe in Me No More   6:04
05. Me, Greta, Rosie & Mo   5:32
06. The Cathedral on the Hill   3:59
07. Gina Asleep   5:27
08. Goodnight Nobody   5:15
09. Life After Love   5:18
10. The Ark   5:01
11. A Cuckold’s Lament   3:28
12. My Heart Woke up and Whispered   3:54
℗ 2020 Junkyard Songs
Songdog are:
♠  Lyndon Morgans (lead vocal, guitar)
♠  Karl ‘Pod’ Woodward (guitars, banjo, mandolin, piano, harmonica and string machine)
♠  Dave Paterson (accordion and drums)
 Review
Tim Martin  ⌊ April 3, 2020 ⌋ Score: 9
•♠•   Songdog, Lyndon Morgans and confederates Karl ‘Pod’ Woodward and Dave Paterson have released eight albums without rising above the radar. Songdog’s 2017 album Joy Street received great press from the likes of Mojo, Uncut, The Mirror, Maverick and AmericanaUK, amongst others.
•♠•   Opener ‘Lavinia’ drifts past like a Celtic mist. The words set the tone for the album, ruminations on the passage of time and its effects on the soul.
•♠•   An early highlight ‘G Flat Gumbo’ features Phil Burdett, an Americana singer form the Essex delta whose distinctive voice adds to a barrelling upbeat tune. Far bleaker is ‘God Don’t Believe In Me No More’ a mournful violin and painful lyrics. “Does the devil want me cooked or want me raw”, “things feel worse than when the Beatles split”.
•♠•   Songs like ‘Gina Asleep’ recalls an old love, met while walking her dog in the snow. The autobiographical feel of many of these songs, tales from gigs in ‘Me, Greta, Rosie and Mo’, nostalgia for old haunts in ‘The Cathedral On The Hill’ sets the whole album on a different level to much current music.
•♠•   Who does Songdog sound like? Honestly, like no one else. The fusion of Folk, Celtic and Americana sounds and styles is seamless, meaning the album doesn’t have the jarring mismatches of sound that hampers a lot of similar records. His press release tells us that Bruce Springsteen and Robert Wyatt have praised his work in the past. Those comparisons are as good as any, not in terms of sound but the approach to songwriting and storytelling. The album ends with the bitter ‘A Cuckolds Lament’ and bittersweet ‘My Heart Woke Up And Whispered’, both masterpieces. — AmericanaUK
•♠•  https://americana-uk.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/SongdogUK/
Website: http://songdog.co.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_Songdog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/songdoguk/
Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/songdog
The cover art for Songdog's album 'Joy Street'. Painting by Welsh artist Kevin Sinnott

ALBUM COVERS XI.