All This Longing

To me (to you. dont get me started), the mark of any good singer/songwriter comes from the opening bars of the first track of a recording. In this case Meuross succeeds brilliantly utilising as he does the gentle brush strokes on snare drum provided by Roy Dodds pushing the rhythm along with gently interweaving finger picked guitar and the caressing sounds of his delightful high tenor vocals. Angelinas Coming Home is a prime example of how the juxtaposition of both lyrics and melody convey the story of a troubled girl, weary of how other people might perceive her while shes standing on a railway platform contemplating where it all went wrong. Of course, its the attention to detail (Swallows nest inside the stations arches Safe beneath their glass and iron sky) that really brings life to the tale. Ive sat and listened to this album several times and cant find fault with any track and now Ive decided to just sit back and wallow in the magnificence of it all. Along with the likes of Jez Lowe, Ralph McTell and Steve Tilston we in Britain should be proud of our storytelling heritage and Reg Meuross should stand up and be counted although his fans wont need any persuasion in that department. By the way, if any of the Fairport lads are reading this you really should think of booking him for Cropredy and Im sure Simon would make a great job covering any of his songs.

PETE FYFE