Albums

Album Review: The Martin Harley Band

[Album: Grow Your Own]
[Label: Villainous Records]

The Martin Harley Band formed in 2002 and immediately established themselves as a hard-working live act. They’ve played with the likes of Bo Diddley, Newton Faulkner, James Blunt and The Magic Numbers and featured on compilations alongside Eric Clapton, Paul Weller, P.J. Harvey and The Who. There is no denying that people have noticed Martin’s distinctive slide guitar and soulful vocals.

This album was recorded in late-2007 and mastered by the critically-acclaimed Bob Katz. They’ve experimented with more elaborate instrumentation introducing horns and strings to produce a warm and diverse folk rock sound which is instantly noticeable. Some of the songs sashay along impressively, such as ‘Grow Your Own’ and ‘Thousand Miles Of Sky’, with their upbeat effervescence; others aren‘t quite as effective, such as ‘Amelie’ and ‘How Long’, wallowing as they do in gentle, finger-plucking and ebbing rise and fall. You won’t, however, miss the clever re-working of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’. It’ll lull you in with a whispered opening, rock you up with butch, strutting electric guitars, before sweet-talking you down slowly. I’ll be keeping one eye on their tour dates just in case they pay me a more than welcome visit.

For fans of: The Allman Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ry Cooder
Band links = The Martin Harley Band

Buy this CD!

Tags: album, cd, The Martin Harley Band, Grow Your Own, review

John’s review also appears in Music-Zine.

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