While rightly known as one of the finest and most consistent live acts on the British folk scene, their studio albums have not really managed to reflect or capture the quality of their excellent live show; the new album ‘Arrogance Ignorance & Greed’ addresses this, and of all their studio albums this one manages to capture some of the drama and pace that is evident at a Show of Hands concert.
The 13 track album has nine brand new Steve Knightley songs, and these provide a topical feel to album with tracks that cover the grounding of The Napoli in 2007 (‘The Napoli’), through to a powerful song covering the state of current conflicts (‘IED’). In addition to the these songs with their place in time, are two genuine Steve Knightley classics, ‘Evolution’ is a groove-filled song addressing the debate between Evolutionists and Creationists; and ‘The Man I Was’ is a beautiful track, honest and bare in it’s lyrics with a fantastic vocal performance – it’s the best song on the album and a powerful piece of songwriting.
In amongst their own songs they include a couple of inspired covers, notably Dylan’s ‘Senor’ and Gabriel’s ‘Secret World’, and a menacing duo with Miranda Sykes on ‘The Keys of Canterbury’.
As well as the expected duo of Knightley & Phil Beer, they’re joined by touring partner Miranda Sykes, they have musical and vocal support from Jim Causley, Dave & James Delarre, Jackie Oates and Andy Tween.
Produced by Stu Hanna (Megson) he’s recorded and mixed the disc with a real sense of presence, the quieter songs showcase some beautiful musicianship from Beer and genuinely excellent vocal performances from Knightley. The more upbeat songs have a contemporary feel and shows everyone (and not just those who go to their shows) that there is much more to them than the tag of acoustic duo would suggest. Highly recommended.
Released Oct 26th 2009, pre-order now for despatch on release
Track listing
1 Lowlands
2 Evolution
3 The Man I Was
4 The Napoli
5 Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
6 IED - Science or Nature
7 The Vale
8 Arrogance Ignorance and Greed
9 Secret World
10 The Worried Well
11 The Keys of Canterbury
12 Drift
