Murphy’s Heart is smart and honest and confident enough to concentrate on life’s most important themes: love and sex. She considers both the damage that love does, the violence that it can invoke, the guilt that comes with parental love, but also the maddening truth that one means precisely nothing without the other. Gilmore is wise enough to write a song like God’s Got Nothing On You which casually nails an habitual self-regarder (already speculation has it that one Tony Blair was the inspiration) who abandons “all those friends you outgrew with Bombay gin and a rose tattoo…”, while being uncynical and open enough to write something as beautiful as Due South where a young man heads off, “feet on the dash of a rented car” only to soon find himself alone and lost, “looking for hope in stiletto heels…”

Think Hardy-esque harvest hoe-down on a Saturday night with the moon shining bright and the cider flowing; think of love lost and won with the briny taste of the sea on your lips; think of the adrenalin rush of a fairground ride and you’re there… in fact, wherever he takes you, Louis captures the essence of a scenario in a heartbeat with lyrics that evoke wistful nostalgia for good times past:

To the broken tune of an ice-cream van, I wrote a song for you on the back of my hand, if you follow me we can jump the lights of a seaside town on a Saturday night…

the unyielding forces of nature:

Feel the waves rising up to drag you under, see the clouds rolling with the sound of thunder, light a beacon and let it burn…

and pure elation at being alive:

The giddy rush of the jump and ride, when your heart was in the air, but that’s got nothing on the way it made me feel when I saw her at the fair…

You can hang around at the water’s edge but if you want to fly you’ve got to jump from the ledge…

Musically, Kittow’s Moor pulses with energy and warmth. The Embers glow red hot and threaten to burn the barn roof off, sounding like an itinerant gang of field hands, fishermen, vagabonds and the ghost of Eddie Cochran wandering west along a country road, in search of the spirit of Albion punk and determined to have a damned good time whilst they’re about it. Accordions, banjos, tin whistles and mandolins cook up a joyous rural clamour to lift your heart and send you out into the night with a smile on your face.

Louis Eliot & the Embers, timeless and magical, as English as the landscape, as fresh as a spring afternoon… …Brit-Pop indeed.

During the six years since his last solo album, he has not exactly been idle, producing three albums for Thea Gilmore, writing Erin Rocha’s top 40 hit “Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong” and hooking up with some of the established names above as well as producing and developing newer acts such as Radio 2 favourites Katy Lied and The Martin Harley Band.

But the absence from solo activity has not been co-incidental, and the shifting moods and heavily personal feel to “Notes From Overground” are well founded… Stonier lived through the deaths of several family members, a separation then subsequent reconciliation and marriage to Thea Gilmore, and the birth of his first child in 2006.

No wonder then that “Notes From Overground” presents a turbulent but fulfilling journey.

Notes From Overground is co-produced by Nigel with his regular studio collaborator and friend Mike Cave (Charlatans, The Coral, Rox)

The opening “Season Of Thunder” is an angry, edgy paean to the darker global events of the early 21st century, taking a swathe to warmongering politicians, the evangelist right and simultaneously catching consumer culture in its swirl at the same time…

Stonier – who plays most of the instruments on the album – rams the point home with fierce, howling guitar. But even through the darker moments of “Notes From Overground” humour is never far away, and barely has the opening track died before we’re into “Whole Lotta Nothin’ Goin’ On” an acidic but hilarious account of a music industry party.

The album moves swiftly through some lived-in love songs (including the glorious “Man Overboard” which with its ringing Rickenbacker 12 string sounds like the comeback hit The Searchers never managed) and the witty “Nearly Man” but ultimately resolves in a suite of personal songs for which Stonier settles on his acoustic guitar and strips things down to a minimum, complementing his intimate vocal style with viola and harmonium.

“Lamplighter’s Song” is an understated but chilling jotting on bereavement and life cycles, then “Girl Sailing” anticipates impending fatherhood with a mix of elated anticipation and peculiarly male fear.

“Set You Free” is an understated guitar/harmonica salute to a newly arrived child and the closing “Union Street” sees Stonier celebrating re-marriage and new beginnings with the combination of honesty and dry wit which have marked his lyric writing down the years and over the course of this album.

With “Notes From Overground” Nigel Stonier rises above comfortable stereotyping, finds a rich vein of writing form – and free of the long list of special guest musicians who have contributed to his last two records, lyrically and instrumentally presents a unified and personalised vision, a set of very grown-up musings about life, love and even death — which may feel mature and lived in but are never complacent or trite. His step out of the shadows is a welcome one.

“Magnetic North” is a glorious celebration of smart pop music. Led by Hales’ exquisite keyboard-based melodies, the album’s 12 songs revel in impossibly upbeat joy, such as the Beck-like opening track, “New Friend” and the unabashedly, uncynical “Fingertip,” and just as surely drown in the bleak sorrow of “Sundowning” or layered, grand majesty of “Time Moves Slow.” The chugging, percussive “Hummingbird” exalts in the force majeure of Hales’ 2-year old daughter. In their own way, each song sweeps the listener up in its arms and takes him or her on a musical journey.

The album includes many guests including Sara Bareilles on the haunting “Remember Us” and “New Friend,” as well as A Fine Frenzy’s Alison Sudol on “Time Moves Slow,” and Kelly Sweet on “Fingertip” and “Sundowning.”

“The thing that I noticed is that in so many of these songs, there are really two protagonists and it’s a couple. It doesn’t have to be a man and a woman, but it made an awful lot of sense for there to be two vocalists,” Hales says. “I didn’t realize how well it was going to work.”

Hales recorded “Magnetic North” over a five-day period at his home studio, The Box (named so because it’s as big as a cardboard box, he jokes) and at The Bank, a friend’s studio in Burbank. The core musicians were Hales, his brother and drummer/percussionist David Price.

From the wry pop classic and future Christmas standard ‘That’ll Be Christmas’ to the hauntingly beautiful ‘Sol Invictus,’ Strange communion encaptures the emotions of the Christmas experience for everyone.

Limited to 1,000 numbered units worldwide this will make the perfect Christmas gift for all Durutti Column fans.

This special box set follows on the phenomenal success of the Last Man Standing album, and Last Man Standing Live which earned Jerry Lee Lewis unanimous, worldwide critical acclaim, including 4/5 stars in Rolling Stone magazine.

In addition to the 49 once-in-a-lifetime performances caught on this special limited edition is exciting archival footage and candid anecdotes by Lewis’ peers which tell the story behind the man who was once catapulted to stardom (along with Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley) from Sun Studios in Memphis. In a rare, on-screen interview, Jerry Lee Lewis shares insights about his long and controversial career.

1. Nina

2. It’s Wonderful

3. Maggie

4. Helen

5. Neil

6. Big Hole

7. Let Me Tell You Something

8. Lunch

9. Gun

10. Tuesday

11. Angus Dei

12. Waiting

Release Date:

1. One Day Without You

2. Solid Air

3. Sweet Little Mystery

4. Bless This Weather

5. Make No Mistake

6. Dealer

7. Outside In

8. Spencer The Rover

9. May You Never

10. One World

Duration- 60 mins

26-08-87

Release Date: