John Illsley - Long Shadows (2016)

2016-05-13T15:57:23Z

John Illsley - Long Shadows (2016)


1: Morning
2: In The Darkness
3: Comes Around Again
4: There's Something About You
5: Ship Of Fools
6: Lay Me Down
7: Long Shadow
8: Close To The Edge

John Illsley – Lead vocal, electric & acoustic guitar & Fender bass
Simon Johnson – Mandolin, electric guitars, acoustic lead guitar, slide guitar
Paul Beavis – Drums and percussion
Phil Palmer – Electric lead guitar, electric guitar
Steve Smith –Yamaha grand piano, piano, Wurlitzer, Hammond organ, Taurus bass pedals
Guy Fletcher – Hammond organ, backing vocals, Yamaha CS80 synthesiser, electric piano
Jess Greenfield, Jess Illsley & Dee Dee Illsley – backing vocals
Robbie MacIntosh – Slide guitar
Everton Nelson -1st violin
Ian Humphries – 2nd violin
Bruce White – Viola
Caroline Dale – Cello

Illsley jokes: “I have been working on these songs for 18 months – no point in rushing!” But in reality, he has been in highly productive form in recent years: he made his first two solo records while Dire Straits were at their 1980s peak, 1984's Never Told A Soul and Glass in 1988. But the new release will be his fourth studio project, including 2008's Beautiful You with Greg Pearle, in just eight years.

John notes that the album's lyrical themes address “the obvious political and social elements which have always concerned me. 'In The Darkness,' for example is a take on the internet and how it seduces us all in some ways, but particularly those young people who get influenced to join radical religious groups.” --- amarkintime.org

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex 4shared mediafire cloudmailru

back

John Illsley - Testing The Water (2014)

2018-06-13T14:45:47Z

John Illsley - Testing The Water (2014)


1 	Railway Tracks 	4:59
2 	Nothing To Do 	4:24
3 	Testing The Water 	5:10
4 	Sometimes 	3:47
5 	Run For Cover 	4:55
6 	Darling Heart 	4:51
7 	When God Made Time 	4:54
8 	This Is Your Voice 	5:01

Backing Vocals – Jessica Greenfield, Jessica Illsley
Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Lead Vocals – John Illsley
Drums, Percussion – Paul Beavis
Guitar – Simon Johnson 
Keyboards, Arranged By – Guy Fletcher
Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar – Robbie McIntosh
Saxophone – Nigel Hitchcock
Trombone – Mark Nightingale
Trumpet – Tom Walsh

John Illsley’s track record as a solo artist is leisurely to say the least. ‘Testing The Water’ is his fourth album in 30 years and happily it’s his best.

Aside from a parallel career as a painter, he’s had to deal with some major health problems. And while he approaches some of his songs in the manner of an artist colouring his canvas, he’s also drawn on those latter adverse circumstances to imbue his material with an extra lyrical depth to match first class musicianship.

Without the heartfelt lyrics, ‘Testing The Water’ might have been a pleasant series of musically linked ideas and feels, but John’s songs shift from the micro to the macro. He’s unafraid to put himself on the line both in terms of contemporary events and personal introspection.

His world view gives several of his songs a critical edge, though a cursory listen to the disarmingly languid feel of ‘Run For Cover’ might initially suggest otherwise.

The reggae inflected ‘Darling Heart’ is similarly built on a dichotomous foundation, as the gentle musical lilt packs an unexpected lyrical punch in a velvet glove: ‘Can you be a politician and a human being too?’

It’s a measure of the album’s substance that the deeper you delve into the songs, the more the message and the music coalesces and draws the listener in.

‘Testing The Water’ never preaches, but John unflinchingly focuses his lyrical gaze at the big questions of our time. In that respect, the album is a mirror image of the man himself. He’s been a rock star and a painter who has cheated death and now he’s a concerned citizen of the world who uses music to make sense of everything.

His own musical imprint also answers a lot of questions regarding his role in Dire Straits, specifically in terms of song arrangements, rhythmic subtlety and the ever present feel.

His phrasing, intricate word plays and song tempos are undoubtedly influenced by Mark Knopfler, but there’s no doubting the quality of the songs themselves, with their subtle harmonies and instrumental excellence.

He opens with a husky vocal and some familiar train metaphors on the guitar driven ‘Railway Tracks’, which nicely levers us into a mid-paced album full of smouldering songs , delicate guitar parts, an aching, whispered world-weary vocal and a flow that gels the album together.

There’s no escaping the Dire Straits influence on ‘Nothing To Do’, but the title track is wholly John’s own work, being a beautiful marriage of heartfelt lyrics, a military drum beat and a nuanced muted trumpet part, all delicately shaped by a polished production.

‘Sometimes’ ups the tempo in a J.J. Cale vein with layered harmonies, while ‘Run For Cover’ is much more spiky, with the gruff vocal and rock arrangement giving his lyrical message extra emphasis.

Best of all is the melodic and wonderfully titled ‘When God Made Time’. It’s predicated on harmony guitars and is lyrically inspired by a chance conversation in a wet garden in Southern Ireland. The hook is almost surreal: “When God made time, he made plenty of it.”

He finishes a beautifully wrought album with another message on the relaxed ballad ‘This Is Your Voice’. With no Dire Staits reunion on the horizon, ‘Testing The Water’ impressively plugs the gap, but strictly on John’s own terms. ---Pete Feenstra, getreadytorock.me.uk

download (mp3 @320 kbs):

yandex mediafire uloz.to cloud.mail.ru gett

back

Rock, Metal

John Illsley - Long Shadows (2016)

John Illsley - Testing The Water (2014)