Nick Heyward – Woodland Echoes (Gladsome Hawk Records)
LP / CD / DL
Out Now
7.5 / 10
Singer/songwriter guitarist releases his first solo album in
eighteen years.
Great songwriters don’t suddenly become bad ones, they just
disappear for a while. Once the songwriting
gene is in your make-up it’s there forever, whether the music buying public
thinks the same is an entirely different matter but if you’ve got the talent,
you never lose it. Of course, this is a
lead up to say that Nick Heyward was a great songwriter and still is, and on
Woodland Echoes, his ninth solo album, he does nothing more than prove it.
Of course, many of us remember him as the singer,
songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist behind the funkadelic pop sensation Haircut
100. In the early 1980s, they racked up
four consecutive Top 10 singles with their first four releases and gained a
platinum selling debut album, and even secured an American Billboard 40 success
with Love Plus One. The Haircuts split,
and Heyward had success with his debut album North Of A Miracle and its four
singles in 1983 then, as he famously said, ‘it’s easy for anyone to have a hit
nowadays’, the hits dried up.
With Woodland Echoes, Heyward shows us why his talent was so
special and that it is still something firmly within the grip of pen, paper and
guitar. Album opener, Love Is The Key To The Sea has strong echoes of The
Beatles, particularly their Rubber Soul period and that influence is clear to
see on many tracks. The first track
isn’t fast paced, happy go lucky pop, instead it’s a melodic, well-thought out piece
with lovely harmonies and full of hope and dreamy intention.
The faster pace is instead saved for Mountaintop. A track influenced by Americana Country roots
and featuring a Jewish Harp together with excerpts of fiddle, it’s one of those
annoyingly toe-wiggling fests if ever there was one and it’s catchy, oh so
catchy, in maybe the way only Nick can be.
The Stars is the nearest thing you’ll hear to Pelican West but even then
it’s a world away, another addictive chorus and another track pumped high to
the extreme with love, love, lurrrvvv.
On the success of Pelican West, Heyward claimed he always
liked to use words that hadn’t been used before in lyrics which cued references
to ‘fire brigades’, ‘Toblerones’ and ‘lemons’.
Once more he inserts those phrases that you may not have heard before in
songs – ‘icicle gems’, ‘camomile lawns’ and ‘glitterballs’ feature along with
several ‘apple’ references and it’s all harmless, uplifting stuff.
Baby Blue Sky rocks it up and the party is in full swing –
all jangly guitars and repetitive rhythms, and Heyward shows why this album has
the potential to bring him decent success.
Arguably it won’t win over a younger audience but it will almost
certainly attract shall we say, the more’ mature’ music fan and, more importantly
will see him achieve some good airplay.
Woodland Echoes is a good album, and confirms why he is
regarded as a songwriter of the highest order.
Published on Louder Than War 07/07/17 - here
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