Open

Really cool album by boo - superb song writer.

Boo Hewerdine always delivers, a must buy

Fantastic!

I have lived with this album a few weeks now having bought it direct from Boo at a live concert pre official release. The tracks were recorded back in 2003, I presume as demos, and I recognise 3 of the classic Boo songs, Geography, Muddy Water and Rags released later on probably my favourite album of his, God Bless the Pretty Things. Many of the other songs were new to me , although I have most of his albums, these were lost gems that had slipped through the official release net. He was originally looking for Microflm at the suggestion of a friend which is just a short fragment of a song only clocking in at just over a minute long, but with a great punch line. When he found it he listened once again to other songs recorded at the same session and decided " it sounded good and took me back there".So rather than a rag bag assortment, these are apparently simple beautiful classic Boo songs recorded in a straightforward session that never saw the light of day, but brilliantly show the artist on a creative roll at his best. It is very much like you will encounter Boo today if you see him typically solo in live performance, captured in a time warp , when he was mining a rich vein of great new songs. Rosalie Deighton adds backing vocals on 4 tracks, and Neil Maccoll adds electric guitar on 2 tracks and mandolin on a 3rd, but otherwise it is pure unadorned Boo at his best. This fantastic songwriter who has had many of his songs covered by classy singers has produced a treasure trove of pared down songs from his personal library that definitely demand to be heard by an appreciative cognoscente audience. It makes you relish the prospect of what else he may have stashed away in his personal vaults, Rather than a stop gap cynical "cash in" by an artist desperately trawling his back catalogue, this is a snapshot of one of Britain's best songwriters at a creative highpoint captured at a brilliant moment in his career. It can be warmly recommended to Boo aficionados and new listeners alike as a great addition to his official releases. I am looking forward to some more new tracks soon from one of my all time favourite songwriters, but in the meantime this will do very nicely, thanks Boo.

To imagine that this album may have lain in the vaults unlistened to is almost a thought crime. For me this is the epitome of one of Boo's most fertile periods. Personally I prefer the edgier more esoteric side of Hewerdine over the more folk side, but this album bridges that divide beautifully. As well as early versions of many classics off God Bless The Pretty Things which are closer to the live versions I know and love, there are some beautiful classics on here that set the tears jerking such as Open, Earthquake Bird, Sweetheart, Name, Write. Oh, just buy it, one of the greatest living English songwriters once again deserves your attention.

one of the UK's strongest and most prolific songwriters....this is an outstanding set of songs...beautifully written and performed...and if you havent heard Boo Hewerdine before, start with this set...and if you have heard him before, this comes highly recommended.....