HUGH CORNWELL
People Places Pieces
Invisible Hands Music
· A three-CD set of live recordings from this ex-Strangler only available on the Internet!
Seeing Hugh Cornwell perform at the Liberty Lounge last year was pretty intense. There are a lot of emotions and history wrapped up in his music, both with The Stranglers and as a solo artist, and People Places Pieces aims to encapsulate that. It’s a tough job, but this collection mostly does the trick.
All songs from Cornwell’s past are up for grabs and the final product holds 45 songs on three CDs, each with a different theme guiding first-time listeners and established fans alike through the many facets of an extremely important songwriter.
Recorded over three nights in April 2005 at London’s Carling Academy, the production is adequate. There is a raw quality to the recording, yet it lacks the punch of hearing a band live and the finesse of a studio album. The quality of the songwriting, however, is not in question.
A striking storyteller, Cornwell excels at conveying detailed imagery within edgy compositions. There are era-specific traits to his music, though he plays quite well to a contemporary crowd. You can tell which songs are his most popular – largely the Stranglers stuff like "Duchess," "Nice ’n’ Sleazy" and "Grip" (their first single) – though tracks that instil less uproar, like "The Story of Harry Power" from 2004’s Beyond Elysian Fields, did manage to prick up my ears.
Cornwell’s trio skillfully romps through his back catalogue, a healthy mix of bent folksongs and resolute rockers. There is a great energy between the three blokes, yet it really is about the man, so there is a good dose of devotion in Steve Lawrence’s bass and Windsor McGilvray’s drums.
Dedicated Cornwell followers will most likely enjoy this release.
|
Copyright ©2007 FFWD. All rights reserved.