On the last day of April, and the last Friday of the month I could find little in the new album releases department to excite me. Even the new Teenage Fanclub, which I had been looking forward to for so long, didn't seem to work for me. On Saturday morning something wonderful and exciting fell into my lap.
A few years back, right at the beginning of this blog in 2014, my favourite album of the year was Some Blue Morning by Adrian Crowley an Irish singer songwriter. A superb, nuanced album of thoughftful, poetic and reflective songs in the tradition of Leonard Cohen and dare I say it, of Heaney and Joyce. I wore the album out over that period. It was a wonderful, evocative album to play, last thing especially, specifically if you're experiencing one of those long nights of the soul which visit us all occasionally.
Now Crowley's back, with The Watchful Eye of the Stars, his second album since then and it's another winner. Sparse,rich and literary, the kind of album that many people made in 1971 but very few are capable of forty years on.
He's a master of a lost art. I only needed one listen for this to tick all of my boxes. Less of a surprise than Some Blue Morning, but just as welcome and with plenty of surprising gifts of its own. Like meeting up with an old friend unexpectantly, many years after you last saw them and finding them every bit as good company as they always were. Those special ones who are capable of giving you hidden insight into the parts of the world you hadn't discovered yet.
An album that perhaps won't get as much general recognition as it should. Might be one for those in the know. This is very much the world's loss. And the gain of the happy few who have chanced upon this wonderful artist. They need to spread the word. That's certainly what I'll try to do. Magnificent. Hear it.
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