The UK's answer to Ryan Adams...?

Well what do you know people? Today is the sixth, yes sixth successive day I've found something exciting to sit down and write about. You'd have thought by now that I' have run out of ideas but oh no no no, we're carrying on a pace, because I haven't quite finished reviewing things from a week ago.

So tonight I'm going to begin with a quote of my own from some months ago...

"So how many of us are guilty of doing this? We book tickets to see a band or a musician we really like, we find out what time they're on and then what do we do, either turn up late or sit outside drinking beer...all the time not knowing or hearing what's going down on stage," (July 16th - "The Power of Support Acts").

Never a truer word spoken and to be fair I may have partially fulfilled this myself last week. On turning up to Koko to see Joshua Radin, we spent ages messing around waiting to put our jackets into the cloakroom and then getting the beers that we missed most of the first support act. What I did hear of this act sounded ok, but again, how much can you tell from a distance, not paying attention and trying to struggle through a noisy crowd.

So as the night ended and on the way out of Koko, I pitched up at the merch booth and decided to buy a CD from the first support act, partially as a guilty apology and also to share the wealth and make a musicians dream more of a reality. Wow that sounds so "up myself" but those of you who know me will understand I do things like that.

So Tuesday and Wednesday came and went and then on Thursday I finally added the CD in question to my iPod and since then have been swept away.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Guys and Girls, Kids, Music Lovers...I want to introduce you tonight to the incredible unsigned amd unbelievable BRITISH talent that is...THOMAS J SPEIGHT.



By now you must know I am a massive fan of good singer/songwriters, but the bar is set so high by the likes of Jay Nash, Josh Ritter, Ryan Adams, Chris Seefried and the UK's very own super talent Greg Holden that most singer/songwriters just get filtered out, that's harsh I know but the reality is that greatness stands out a mile off, so when you come across someone befitting of that illustrious company it needs sharing and Thomas is on the evidence thus far befitting of that company.

I can't comment really on his set at Koko as I only heard it from a distance (shame on me!) but what I can do is comment on his EP, This House. The 3 songs are just...amazing, nothing short of amazing and I think even that word doesn't quite do it justice. Sitting somewhere musically between Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter and Jay Nash with a hint of Eagles, CSNY and Low Stars chucked in for good measure, its scarcely believable that Thomas Speight heralds from the UK. In fact if you knew no better having listened to the EP and to Thomas' vocals, you'd assume he heralded from the US. I have no idea where the musical influence comes from and maybe in time I'll find out when I get to see Thomas play again but it certainly I doubt originates from these shores.




What strikes me even just as much is the level of intricacy and level of craftsmanship in each of the songs, from the lyrics right through to the music and it's most evident in the opening track This House. There's a hidden depth that means after 20 plays I'm still finding things that I haven't noticed before. It's the work of an incredibly talented artist and one who's taken meticulous care to produce songs he clearly wanted to. The other 2 tracks on the EP, Tears Of Mine and Start As We Mean To Go On, are of a rare and exceptional quality and feel like they should sit alongside any of Ryan Adams best stuff in my opinion.

I just cannot evangelise enough about how blown away by Thomas' music I am. You all will be and you all must, must, must go and check him out. How someone seemingly so young can produce such amazing music is totally beyond me. You know the only crying shame, the EP isn't on iTunes but you can buy it through Thomas' myspace page.

And that folks, finally after 6 days concludes the music action of the last week in reverse. It has been the most incredible week, I feel this musical journey I am on becomes more worthwhile by the day AND most importantly that my view some months ago when I wrote my original profile is ever more correct...Live Music is unbeatable.

From an autumnal UK...night all x

Music and the flips sides to the internet...

I have little energy tonight so this will be slightly all over the place, sorry!

The internet is bad for music, there I've said it...no course it's not but it does have a few down sides. File sharing poses potentially the greatest threat to emerging musicians today depriving them of the money they deserve and need to live and produce music. Well the greatest threat apart from "made for TV" talent shows which elevate mediocrity way above its designated place in the musical food chain and snuff out real talent.

The other big downside and maybe this is just a personal thing. I love CDs. I love album work, I love the physical nature of a CD and the excitement of opening a CD, taking out the artwork and flicking through it, reading the lyrics whilst you listen to the music for the first time. It's such a nice thing to do...you just don't get that from iTunes, maybe that's just me and I'm getting old, am I alone in the world?

On the plus side, the internet has allowed unheard of and insanely talented musicians to find a voice outside of their own town/state/country and reach a much wider musical audience. One such musician is a guy called Kevin Montgomery who I discovered last night with a friend. This guy has produced some of and I don't use this term flippantly..."the most mindblowingly beautiful music I have heard in years!"

Some of his stuff is very Country and maybe a bit too Country for me but some of his other songs...wow, I actually can't describe the level of beauty in the music. Check out his myspace and in particular check out and listen to the songs Nothing, True, Angel Tonight and She Don't Wake Me Up.

And how did I find him...in short....fan of Counting Crows (who owns CDs - yes folks CDs of all their albums) years ago found a guy called Kid Lightning (Dave Gibbs - friend of Adam Duritz) promoting and talking about his solo album on countingcrows.com messageboard. Purchased said album, met and saw Dave Gibbs perform live. Dave Gibbs teamed up with Chris Seefried (who's solo album Denim Blue I also own and who produced Jay Nash's album The Things You Think You Need - which I also own along with other Jay Nash music), Jude Christobal and Jeff Russo to form Low Stars whose album I also bought. Kevin Montgomery is listed as a top friend on Jeff Russo's myspace page and that is the history behind it.

Confused? You shouldn't be. My love for one band years ago has spawned so much more music I adore and I keep finding more connected to it like a tangled and intertwined musical spiders web...and that people is why the internet, whilst being in some ways bad for music and potentially damaging is awesome in so many others and maybe just maybe we all need to stop taking it for granted and commit to stop filesharing music and give something back to these amazing artists before we lose them.

Happy listening world xx

Walk away, come back and try again...

Hello world :-)

I just typed a massive long blog, something happened and i got logged out, it didn't autosave past the first 3 lines and well now those words are gone forever and it's getting late and well by the time i remember it all, I'll be fast asleep. So in condensed form...I noticed a lot more of you are popping by to see what i'm on about on a daily basis...hi to you all. It's really cool that you're stopping by, it means we have musical tastes which at least partially match which is really cool and by proxy makes you cool too, at least in my eyes and i hope you're buying into my vision about sharing music and the brilliance of live music.

Now I love the idea you all pop by but I want you to communicate a bit more, give me your thoughts on what i'm talking about, give some recommendations, tell me when i'm wrong, tell me when I'm right. you can do it in the comments section at the end of each post but i guess some of you probably feel a bit uneasy doing this, or maybe don't realise you can, so I've decided to give you another medium to get in touch...via the power of email: mrrichmuk@googlemail.com - so now you have no issue...go on, come say hi, I won't bite :-)

I'm working on a cool idea at the moment which will need you all to get involved. I can't say what it is yet cos I don't know if it can be done and if I can commit to it but get ready for something a bit novel.

Right now onto the music which is what we're all here to discuss. Ever get an album where you think "bahhhhhhh that's ok, nothing special, not as good as i hoped, move on"? I had that with an album I've had for about 7 months which for some reason I recently forced myself to give another airing to. The album in question is Emerson Hart's debut solo album Cigarettes and Gasoline. For those of you who don't know, Emerson is also member of the US band Tonic (which also includes Jeff Russo of Low Stars fame). So I gave the album another airing and I found it was much better than I originally thought, a lot better in fact it was actually a very good album, to the point that the good songs seem great, in particular "Flyin" which is an awesome track. Check out the video and the studio track is on Emerson's myspace page.

What was the last album/artist that did that to you? Drop me a comment or an email, I'd love to know.

Right then, take 2 complete, shorter, less wordy and not as good but you get the idea and now I'll try and get this weary head and the pillows acquainted for the night.

happy weekending peoples xx