Richard Hawley - Further - BMG
Sheffield's most favoured troubadour and journeyman returns with his first album in four years and his fourth top 10 LP. Fair play to a man whose career has been documented with excesses and cul-de-sacs, yet has stayed true to his local roots and retained quality control throughout.
Further is his best since Coles Corner - why? It contains everything admirable about Hawley's songmanship and more by not being exclusively noisy (Standing at the Sky's Edge) nor acoustically introspective (the wonderous Truelove's Gutter) - it's powerful, positive, vibrant, thoughtful and languid. It's Richard Hawley.
Every RH album has a belter - Further has a less assuming triumphant shuffler in the form of My Little Treasures which is a glorious Hawley anthem with lines like "Warm beer in cold places, whisky-glass storm-chasers" and a terrificly arranged song, front to back. And further on, there isn't a dull moment amongst the eleven tracks - Hawley's grip on sensitivity and reality doesn't relent in the slightest. Winner.
8/10
Further is his best since Coles Corner - why? It contains everything admirable about Hawley's songmanship and more by not being exclusively noisy (Standing at the Sky's Edge) nor acoustically introspective (the wonderous Truelove's Gutter) - it's powerful, positive, vibrant, thoughtful and languid. It's Richard Hawley.
Every RH album has a belter - Further has a less assuming triumphant shuffler in the form of My Little Treasures which is a glorious Hawley anthem with lines like "Warm beer in cold places, whisky-glass storm-chasers" and a terrificly arranged song, front to back. And further on, there isn't a dull moment amongst the eleven tracks - Hawley's grip on sensitivity and reality doesn't relent in the slightest. Winner.
8/10