Sunday, 16 July 2017

John Smith - Headlong


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A bit of real lass



This is a very fine album.  I liked Great Lakes very much, and I think Headlong is even better.

Headlong was made partly in response to the death of the great John Renbourn, Smith's friend and mentor, and you can detect his influence here.  The acoustic guitar work is as brilliant as always with much of Renbourn's unflashy excellence, and the lead guitar is very reminiscent of Renbourn's lovely, fluid style.  Smith's vocals, to me, carry an echo of the moving, slightly strangled voice of John Martyn, and while I wouldn't (yet) put Smith in the same bracket as those two towering giants, it gives you an idea of the quality of his music that there's a valid comparison.

The songs are lovely: generally rather mournful, lyrically intelligent and touching, beautifully constructed, and musically very appealing.  Something about their themes, chord sequences and lyrical content reminds me rather of Jason Isbell (although they don’t sound much like him), which is another mark of real quality, I think.

In short, Headlong is a bit of real class.  It is musically excellent and a real pleasure to listen to.  Very warmly recommended.

No comments:

Post a Comment