Tag: only the missile

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fatea album review

fatealogorev

‘Only The Missile’ has been reviewed in the latest edition of Fatea Magazine, appearing alongside another review for good friend of mine Sarah MacDougall who has been staying with me whilst on tour here from Canada, which made me happy. You can read it below or on their site alongside all the others here – http://www.fatea-records.co.uk/magazine/releases.html.

“There are still people that believe that songs have power, that pens, words, notes and guitars are mightier than the sword, that people still take the time to listen. Robin Grey is just such a person.

In “Only The Missile”, he’s put together a set of ten songs that reflect how society can be viewed and the observation of the life that goes on around him. It’s more personal than some, less political with a big p, but none-the-less sharp and cutting. “The Last Time I Saw David” looks at faith and it’s relationship with religion and how it impacts the individual. It’s deep, but not hard going.”

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catching the waves review

robinholga3

Last week my album ‘Only The Missile’ received an enthusiastic and insightful review on creative commons music blog Catching The Waves. I have reposted a slightly trimmed review below, if you’d like to read the original in all its full glory please click on the following link:  http://soundthefreetrumpet.typepad.com/

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“Only The Missile is a 10-track album that will appeal to lovers of Leonard Cohen, folk music, introspection, pointed lyrics and open hearts.

The album’s transparent mix warms the listener’s ears while giving centre stage to the understated vocals although Robin can be feisty as well as fluffy. Take ‘The Last Time I Saw David’, an unflinching tale about overcoming religious hypocrisy to reach an atheistic/agnostic state of mind, ensures that Robin will not be booking a gig in America’s Bible Belt any time soon. It’s refreshing to hear a heartfelt song that isn’t all: “I wuv ‘oo; ‘oo wuv me.”

Then there’s the soothing lullaby of The Finchley Waltz (play it to any baby and watch them drop off), a quintessentially English response to the terrorist bombings in London on 7/7:

“I daydreamed for hours in the traffic jam
As the good guys and the bad guys stopped play”

I could recommend any track, but I’ll be unoriginal and suggest the opener These Days, an uptempo mandolin and banjo-laden number with a paradoxically slow but optimistic chorus that will get you singing in the bath and, if you’ve suffered because of the credit crunch, because you’ve taken a bath.*

The title track is a toe-tapper with some wailing harmonica – do harmonicas ever do anything else but wail? – and Your Man is another in a seemingly endless supply of huggable love songs. Swan Song and Five (featuring some very welcome ethnic percussion – bongos, tablas, that sort of thing) bring things to a dreamy close – they’re the aural equivalent of a favourite jumper.

Goodness, what a lovely album. It never ceases to amaze me at what talent is lurking in the darker corners of the net. Please think about sending him a little cash, or, failing that, bake him a cake. He likes cake. A lot. Finally, if I may venture a little advice to Mr Grey: tuck your shirt in, young man. This is the internet – we have standards.”

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some new reviews

I’ve had a little flurry of reviews in the last week. Anyone up for translating the russian one?!

L’oreille En F’eu!

Toujours hier soir, j’ai fait la rencontre de ROBIN GREY et de son album “Only The Missile”. Encore de la folk music, peut être moins mélancolique , mais tout aussi passionante. Des bribes d’histoires qui évoque Nick Drake ou parfois Leonard Cohen.

Sur le titre “Somewhere”, ROBIN GREY est accompagné de la délicieuse Ruth Theodore, dont je vous conseille absolument son album “Worm Food”, qui lui aussi, est à télécharger sur Jamendo!

http://www.loreilleenfeu.fr/

J’s Live Journal

Стиль: сонграйтерский фолк.

В качестве образца для подражания Робин выбрал настоящие иконы фолка, но иконы специфические, которые и с “настоящим” фолком-то обычно не связывают – в первую очередь, Леонарда Коэна и Эни диФранко. По большому счету, если бы этот альбом попался мне среди “платников”, он вряд ли попал бы в “альбомы года”, но заметным явлением стал бы наверняка – что уж говорить о “бесплатниках”, среди которых работы подобного качества попадаются крайне редко – причем здесь стоит отметить как самого Робина, сыгравшего на многочисленных струнных, клавишных и ударных инструментах, но и о его приглашенных на одну-две песни соратниках: молодцы все.

5/5

http://j-j-j.livejournal.com/

Free Albums Galore

Robin Grey’s debut album ‘Only The Missile’ will please those music fans who like British folk rock hovering between the lyrical, the traditional and the confessional.

His style reminds me very much of Nick Drake or Robyn Hitchcock, but the songs have the masterful pathos of Leonard Cohen. There’s a sound of regret on the best tracks such as the wistful “Swan Song”. “Five” and “Every Waking Hour” are two other exceptional songs that are mid-tempo and melancholy.

“Somewhere” includes background vocals by one of my new favorite singers Ruth Theodore. Robin Grey is another excellent singer / songwriter that should enjoy a fruitful future with a little help from the music gods.

http://freealbums.blogsome.com/

Radio Watford

“this is the fifteenth time we have played Robin’s music… very original, superb lyricist”

http://www.radiowatford.co.uk/

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another form of relief review

A second review which I only found out about today!

ANOTHER FORM OF RELIEF

The art of the protest singer seems to have been lost in recent years. Which is unfortunate as there hasn’t been in a time when they have been more needed. The state of this world, and this country in particularly, is practically screaming out for someone to put complaints into words. Which is something of an odd way to open when I’m not sure I’d even consider Robin Grey to be a protest singer.

He does take some swipes at the government of the day (”On the radio politicians dutifully opine which liberties they are taking away”), but most of The Finchley Waltz centres on the personal. It’s a melancoly tale of finding love (at first sight, no less) and then realising it’s not quite what the movies cracked it up to be. So still a protest song to a degree, just not in the political sense.

But then what does all this matter with a voice like this? Grey is one of those wonderful talents that could recite the phone directory on record and you’d still be enthralled. His voice is restrained, yet you can still feel the emotion behind every word. This allows each song to sound light and breezy enough to pull you in at the start, before the emotional punch comes in out of nowhere. Leaving us with the kind of cheerful misery that’s perfect for this time of year.

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song by toad review

Somehow I only found out about this review yesterday…might explain why things have been a bit more lively on my myspace though…you can see the original review and browse around the rest of Song by Toad‘s excellent site by clicking on the picture below.

This is going to be a slightly equivocal review, I think. Robin is a new artist, and I always think twice if I’m going to be less than entirely generous about people you may never have heard of before.

What do I mean? Well I’m not entirely convinced by all of this album. There are a couple of tracks, most notably Somewhere, which are pretty unremarkable – I’m thinking Hugh Grant starring in another of those dismal Working Title romcoms of his, basically. Going to his MySpace page, there are a couple more like that, which made me a little nervous, I had to admit.

Associating these lapses with the rest of this album is easy, but really completely wrong. It’s actually a fabulous album for the most part, really it is: warm, melancholy, gentle, witty and just playful enough that the sparse instrumentation and generally slow pace never flirt with tedium. It has real life, this record, albeit a low-key, non-intrusive kind of life.

He plucks and rumbles along, in a most English manner, tells his stories in a plain and unpretentious way that is really personal and really engaging. By the end of the record you realise you’ve listened to the sort of music that feels like a relaxed night in with a good friend at the end of a tiring week. And you’re a bit drunk, but not too sozzled. And you feel a little sleepy, but in a nice, warm way. Things are fine, actually, aren’t they?

Bluesy and folky, with enough embellishment to add texture, but which never detracts from the gentle strum of the guitar and raspy, but not growling quality of his voice. It is minimal, but it’s not sparse, and it may be a bit DIY, but it’s not amateurish, and it may not grab you instantly, but it’s a really bloody good album.