Mostly Autumn - For All We Shared


Year of Release: 1999
Label: Cyclops
Catalog Number: CYCL 080
Format: CD
Total Time: 65:32:00

It often rains in England. In fact it rains an awful lot in England! Even in summer you should always have your umbrella with you, as if it's kind of autumn all year round. So Mostly Autumn is a well-chosen name for a collective from the Hull region. By adding violin, bodhran, flute and djembe the band succeeds in adding a lot of folk elements to their original music so that we should be able to speak of the "symphonic Levellers" here. On For All We Shared? we get aquainted to their craftsmanship. Listen to the sublime "The Last Climb" with the strong Pink Floyd guitar solo from Bryan Josh and you can have the rest of the songs giftwrapped as a bonus. What power, what a bunch of fantastic songs and above all what a well oiled band! "Heroes Never Die" sits a bit in between the "old" Marillion and Barclay James Harvest, yet with a bit more zest. The ever-present Celtic influences are extra underlined in the uptempo, playful, instrumental "Folklore." Interestingly, with Mostly Autumn, the vocal parts are nicely interspersed with fresh sounding instrumental songs giving the end product an extra dimension. Throughout the music you'll also hear a big adoration for the music of Pink Floyd, especially the Floyd from the Wish You Were Here and Animals period, which you can clearly hear during "The Night Sky" (just listen to that wonderful guitar!).

Next to this debut, a new album has already been released. The Spirit Of Autumn Past contains the same ingredients and is therefore a logical follow-up to their debut, yet this time around even more time and effort has gone into the arrangements and the total group's sound. They have used singer Heather Findlay's vocal skills even more whilst the compositions are more compact and better thought about. That's why a song like "Please" sounds like a cross between Prefab Sprout and Simple Minds. Extra Celtic atmosphere thanks to the guest appearance of Troy Donockley from Iona fame on Uilleann pipes.

A first class band like Mostly Autumn certainly deserves a first class sleeve to go with their product and not the kind of hastily put together design which is wrapped around their first two albums. Fans of Levellers, Clannad, Iona, Runrig and the likes do know what to order these coming weeks and certainly note the name MOSTLY AUTUMN in thick black marker on every piece of paper they come across!

[Ed. note: this review also appears under the The Spirit... listing.]


Tracklisting:
Nowhere To Hide (Close My Eyes) (6:10) / Porcupine Rain (4:38) / The Last Climb (7:58) / Heroes Never Die (9:31) / Folklore (5:47) / Boundless Ocean (5:40) / Shenanigans (3:48) / Steal Away (4:54) / Out Of The Inn (6:41) / The Night Sky (10:25)

Musicians:
Bryan Josh - electric guitar, vocals, e-bow, 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar
Heather Findlay - vocals, 6-string acoustic guitar, tambourine
Iain Jennings - keyboards, vocals
Liam Davison - electric guitar, vocals, 6-string and 12-string acoustic guitar
Bob Faulds - violins
Stuart Carver - bass
Kev Gibbons - Low whistle, high whistle
Allan Scott - drums
Angela Goldthorpe - flute
Ch? - djembe

Discography:
For All We Shared... (1998)
The Spirit Of Autumn Past (1999)
The Last Bright Light (2001)
The Story So Far... (2001)
Music Inspired By The Lord Of The Rings (2002)
Heroes Never Die - The Anthology (2002)
Fiddler's Shindig (Live Series So Far) (2003)
Live In The USA (Live Series So Far) (2003)
Live At The Canterbury Fayre (2003)
Passengers (2003)
Catch The Spirit: Complete Anthology (2003)
Pink Floyd Revisited (2004)
Live At The Grand Opera House (2004)
Storms Over Still Water (2005)
The V Shows (2005)
Storms Over London Town (2006)
Heart Full Of Sky (2007)
Glass Shadows (2008)
Live 2009 - Part I (2009)
Live 2009 - Part II (2009)
Pass The Clock (2009)
Go Well Diamond Heart (2010)
That Night In Leamington (2011)
Still Beautiful - Live 2011 (2011)
Live At High Voltage 2011 (2011)
The Ghost Moon Orchestra (2012)
Live At The Boerderij (2013)
Dressed In Voices (2014)
Box Of Tears (2015)
Mostly Autumn Acoustic - The Genesis Revisited Tour 2014 (2015)
Sight Of Day (2017)
White Rainbow (2019)

The Story So Far... (DVD) (2002)
The Next Chapter (DVD) (2003)
At The Grand Opera House (DVD) (2003)
The V Shows (DVD) (2004)
Pink Floyd Revisited (DVD) (2005)
The Fiddler's Shindig (DVD) (2005)
Passengers (DVD) (2006)
That Night In Leamington (DVD) (2010)
Live At The Boerderij (DVD) (2013)

Genre: Progressive Rock

Origin UK

Added: January 1st 2000
Reviewer: John "Bobo" Bollenberg

Artist website: www.mostly-autumn.com
Hits: 3024
Language: english

  

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