Paul McGranaghan - Carry the Torch

I'm going to say something about this album if it kills me.

If this was a decade ago I would be sitting knee deep in balls of crumbled paper.

Each little ball mainly white, but with words and partial phrases peaking darkly out from the ragged folds around the surface.

It's not a decade ago though, so instead I've sent file after file to the recycle bin and emptied it often.

The problem is that it's so good that it is deserving of more than what I have previously come up with.

So good that nothing that I have written has come close to touching on how satisfying the album is in its totality.

It's easy to write that something is good, or even bad.

Keeping it simple like that offers no challenge, but trying to explain why it is good, trying to convey how special something sounds can be a problem.

It's far harder than most people appreciate.

So here I am again.

Sitting in front of what was a blank screen and just trying to let the words flow out and hopefully something will come if I don't try to hard.

Maybe if I don't over-think it and let my brain guide my fingers semi-consciously something of worth with appear.

First I suppose I should mention that Carry the Torch is a concept album, a loose concept album.

Each song has its roots in the writing of Hunter S Thompson and that's where the genius - that over used word - starts to reveal itself.

There's that germ of an idea that has been watered and cared for by Paul McGranaghan until it has flowered into something that could take your breath away.

He has then done that with each and every song.

Consider them all as flowers.

Each independently beautiful in its uniqueness, and then when you take a step back there a flowerbed in front of you that's a riot of colour.

Each stalk bends in a different direction, they all catch the sun and hold it's rays differently across the breadth of a petal, and on one level there appears to be nothing that could allow them to sit comfortably together, but they do.

Beautiful singularly and equally inspiring as a whole.

That's Carry the Torch right there.

Every single song is unique in itself and all together the different styles of music, lyrical inflection and even the content probably shouldn't work, but it does.

It's sounds like a pattern in the anarchic flow of a snow storm being seen.

There's a bit seventies rock sound that keeps revealing itself in so many ways. Some rock and roll Bolan, some prog Floyd, a bit of Zep, yet it's not really a rock album in the true sense of the word. For every solid riff and guitar solo there's some glorious pop moments and acoustic led ensemble pieces that are just as excitingly compelling.

The main thing that I can't seem to wrap my head around is that this is the debut album from Paul McGranaghan.

This sounds like an album from a artist who has been slowly working towards being able to express himself over many releases.

The album that critics would step forward and proclaim as the pinnacle of the artists achievements.

It's my album of the year in a year that has been heavy with fantastic releases, and it's not just scraping in at the number one spot.

It's way out there on it's own standing proudly catching its breath while everyone else is still running towards the finish line.

Even now I'm reading this back to myself and thinking it's still not really conveying just how good it really is.

Website for all details of live gigs, and where to get the music.

Brown Bear and the Bandits - Bakers - 30/11/12 (Kilmarnock)

I've been saying 'oooft' a lot recently.

Not out loud, but in print.

I have no idea why it has slipped into my limited online vocabulary, and it doesn't even legitimately mean anything.

It's more an indication of a small brief exclamation of surprise, positive or negative, but the fact remains that over the last few weeks there's been a lot to oooft at.

There was the couple arguing at Rizzle Kicks. Oooft.

There was the fantastic show from Tragic City Thieves and Electric 6. Oooft.

There was the news that Springsteen is coming to Glasgow next year. Oooft.

The release of a nice Jam box set. Oooft.

,,and then there was the Brown Bear and the Bandits gig in Kilmarnock that wholly deserved an oooft as well.

Oh that was a night of ooofts!

First was Matt Scott who I have seen many a time, a guy who I now consider a friend, and for the sake of honesty I'll admit to quasi managing him although I hate using that term as it really just about spreading the word a bit about a talented young man.

I never really expect him to play badly, and I always enjoy his performances, but everything clicked into place in Bakers.

The quality of the sound and lighting perfectly set the stage for him to showcase his voice, and the environment just lent itself to lifting the performance from a good one to a great one.

There was nothing in his set that wouldn't have been out of place on a bigger stage in front of a larger audience, and the magic that had drawn me to appreciate his talents was there for all to hear and see.

I could quite easily imagine that if a record label executive was in attendance then Matt would have left the stage to an invite to a meeting where they could discuss his future.

There's very few singer songwriters plying a trade in the Waits, Dylan, Miller style as he is, nor doing it so well. 

If you haven't seen him yet, then do so.

Following Matt was the much touted Baltimore League, and while I was impressed with the studio recordings of Martyrs and Town that are on their facebook page I couldn't say the same about the live performance.

I just wasn't feeling it

There was a disjointed feeling to the material with them sounding as if they were being performed by different bands depending on who was assuming the lead vocal.

Maybe in a few months the songs will be able to assume more of a band sound and a live set will come across as less fragmented.

There's no doubting the band are talented enough musicians, and the song writing is fine.

It's just that it feels to me that they are still stepping around each other, and the day is yet to come when all three members fit together to work towards a common sound and aim.

It could well be very interesting when they do.

There's no such drifting from Paul McGranaghan who was introducing his new full band project to promote his debut album.

While I've always enjoyed his solo acoustic outings I would have to say that none of them prepared me for the album when I heard it.

Taking his influences from the writing of Hunter S Thompson the album has a broad range of styles that reflects the lyrical content of each song, and while it's an eclectic mix it also has a solid solid thread that holds it all together.

It's an album that I would expect to hear from an artist many releases into their career, and not on a debut.

It's damn impressive.

So impressive that I have tried to review it on a number of occasions and ended up hitting delete as nothing I have managed to get down has come close to putting across how good it is.

Prior to the band playing - who were made up of the drummer of ShelfLife and the bassist of Brown Bear and the Bandits - I was wondering how it was going to be interpreted on stage, especially with it being a trio playing the material, but as the last note rang out I was none the wiser.

Right there was the main oooft moment of the night

The performance didn't sound like it was possible to have been made by three guys.

Great guitar work throughout, solid drumming, and bass runs that helped fill everything out and made it all sound far bigger than it really should have were the order of the evening.

If I was asked if Paul delivered then I can only say that it was like ordering a main course and getting the full three courses for the same price.

From blue collar rockers to a singular moment when if you closed your eyes you would have thought that led Zeppelin had entered the building it was quite possible the best debut of a band that I have seen.

Utterly compelling stuff if you are a music fan.

Brown Bear and the Bandits had a great deal to follow after that performance, but follow it they did with a set that comprised of pretty much everything they have recorded, and a few tasters of material that will be on their debut album that could well be with is for March.

They did exactly what a band has to do when a support play a blinder and that's step up to the plate and take a deep breath and go for it.

The new songs that were introduced sound like a natural progression from the material on the Truth or Dare ep so it's doubtful that anyone who considers themselves a fan of the band just now will be disappointed, and there's enough forward momentum to allow the album to attract new fans to.

So all sounds well and good in the Brown Bear camp and once again I got the distinct impression that I was seeing a band who are not going to flounder at the big fish in the small pond stage, and instead on who were ready and willing to make the leap to bigger things and take it in their stride with some aplomb.

I would be surprised at all if in 2013 the band become the next Ayrshire one to make a splash nationally.