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Track Listings
| 1. I Know You Know (featuring Dot Allison) |
| 2. Those Kind Of Songs Bread And Wine |
| 3. Country Girl (featuring Vashti Bunyan) |
| 4. The Disappointed, A Quiet Life |
| 5. Where The Dead Live (featuring John Howard) |
| 6. The Hill (featuring Colin Wilson) |
| 7. Just So You Know (featuring Vashti Bunyan & Simon Raymonde) |
| 8. Song Of Leaving |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Glenn Ensor
As a long-standing fan of Anthony Reynolds' previous work with Jack and its Jacques alter ego, (the minor cult status of both being further proof of just how cloth-eared Joe and Joanna Public can be at times) I was delighted to see this release advertised in a music mag and ordered without delay.
Apart from simply being happy that this great voice hasn't disappeared from the face of the earth, I can add with relief that I had no regrets at all upon listening to it. Anyone particularly beguiled by Jack's more balladesque moments (and there were plenty of those) is going to be in aural Heaven within minutes of sticking this on. The album certainly reflects its title with a "less is more" approach to the arrangements of the songs - and what great songs they mostly are.
Anyone with a taste for Scott 1-4, or those rare moments when Neil Hannon allows genuine emotion to filter through his unfortunate love of irony, as well as anyone who knows why Marc Almond remains a wonderfully flawed national treasure is going to feel hugely rewarded by spending some time in Mr. Reynolds' company via these ballads.
For honesty's sake, I must admit that to my mind the album loses its grip somewhat towards the end, with the last three songs struggling to match the majesty of the first seven - but that first half hour or so is so great, I really don't mind. So four rather than five stars from this hairsplitter.
Mr Reynolds does not appear to crave anyone's approval or be prepared to get onto the promotional treadmill. Fair enough, respect etc., but that kind of singular stance always leaves me somewhat concerned that there won't be enough cash around to allow this great talent to make another record.... Read more ›
Apart from simply being happy that this great voice hasn't disappeared from the face of the earth, I can add with relief that I had no regrets at all upon listening to it. Anyone particularly beguiled by Jack's more balladesque moments (and there were plenty of those) is going to be in aural Heaven within minutes of sticking this on. The album certainly reflects its title with a "less is more" approach to the arrangements of the songs - and what great songs they mostly are.
Anyone with a taste for Scott 1-4, or those rare moments when Neil Hannon allows genuine emotion to filter through his unfortunate love of irony, as well as anyone who knows why Marc Almond remains a wonderfully flawed national treasure is going to feel hugely rewarded by spending some time in Mr. Reynolds' company via these ballads.
For honesty's sake, I must admit that to my mind the album loses its grip somewhat towards the end, with the last three songs struggling to match the majesty of the first seven - but that first half hour or so is so great, I really don't mind. So four rather than five stars from this hairsplitter.
Mr Reynolds does not appear to crave anyone's approval or be prepared to get onto the promotional treadmill. Fair enough, respect etc., but that kind of singular stance always leaves me somewhat concerned that there won't be enough cash around to allow this great talent to make another record.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
It came as a blessed relief to me on first hearing British Ballads that this is an album that see's Anthony Reynolds return to the grandiose string drenched epics that made Jacks "Pioneers Soundtracks" such an outstanding album. Before those of you , like me, who thought that album a masterpiece start doing the horky-cokey and twirling batons a word of warning. While British Ballads is a fine album with some great songs it is nowhere near as good as "Pioneer Soundtracks" . Or the album that followed :"The Jazz Age" for that matter . But then again it would have expecting too much for this album to be good wouldn't it?
Album opener "I Know You Know" though is magnificent and while it's playing you will believe British Ballads Will be an unmitigated accomplishment. Reynolds has lost none of his yearning romanticism and this song with elegant gliding strings and Reynolds slightly awkward but endearing baritone also showcases his lyrical poetic dexterity. "The Disappointed" is another luxuriant song draped in velvet glove strings and illuminates how well Reynolds and producer Julian Simmons have arranged the album , giving the lush ballads enough space to prevent them becoming cloying and imbibing enough variety into the music to prevent it becoming too prosaic.
So "Bread And Wine" centres on a deceptively simple piano , one lonely gliding string and curricles of synthesised noise with an acoustic middle eight. "Country Girl" is a sparser brittle folk tune , with Vashti Bunyan ,s clear as decanter voice seeping through Reynolds bruise deep tones. "Those Kind Of Songs" is a tender lament comparing the mundanity of ordinary life to the yearning for broiling romaticism .... Read more ›
Album opener "I Know You Know" though is magnificent and while it's playing you will believe British Ballads Will be an unmitigated accomplishment. Reynolds has lost none of his yearning romanticism and this song with elegant gliding strings and Reynolds slightly awkward but endearing baritone also showcases his lyrical poetic dexterity. "The Disappointed" is another luxuriant song draped in velvet glove strings and illuminates how well Reynolds and producer Julian Simmons have arranged the album , giving the lush ballads enough space to prevent them becoming cloying and imbibing enough variety into the music to prevent it becoming too prosaic.
So "Bread And Wine" centres on a deceptively simple piano , one lonely gliding string and curricles of synthesised noise with an acoustic middle eight. "Country Girl" is a sparser brittle folk tune , with Vashti Bunyan ,s clear as decanter voice seeping through Reynolds bruise deep tones. "Those Kind Of Songs" is a tender lament comparing the mundanity of ordinary life to the yearning for broiling romaticism .... Read more ›
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By bethnoir
Anthony Reynolds makes me think of food. Perhaps it's the sensuous aspects of his voice, or the way he sometimes finds a note that makes me shiver like the luxurious tickle of champagne, sipped after a sweet, ripe strawberry? Maybe it's the satisfying depth of the instrumentation or the song title 'Bread and Wine'?
'British Ballads' takes me to a comforting place. If it had a scent it would be of home, warm bread, fresh limes, maybe the bitter tang of a newly opened bottle of red wine. The songs are lushly orchestrated, backing vocals complimenting the main attraction, Anthony's voice, which is as delectable as ever, bringing to life the rich poetry of the lyrics. Each song seems a delicately painted picture, sometimes of a conversation, or a glimpse through a lit window as you pass, a dream or a quiet moment of contemplation before action.
It is an album of experience, not innocence. The songs don't take you on crazy, exciting night time walks to late night cafes and dingy bars like Jack's 'The Jazz Age' did. It'll take you home and feed you and ask how your day was, maybe rub your shoulders as you pull off your shoes. It knows that life is hard and disappointing, but finds wonder in it anyway.
It doesn't lacks dynamics or variety, it leaves you feeling that you have stepped into the artist's world and shared the experience. The feeling you get after watching a really good film as you step, wondering and blinking, from the cinema. Sometimes it's melancholy, but no less beautiful for that.
New and yet reminiscent of the favourite meal your mother cooked, quite delicious.
'British Ballads' takes me to a comforting place. If it had a scent it would be of home, warm bread, fresh limes, maybe the bitter tang of a newly opened bottle of red wine. The songs are lushly orchestrated, backing vocals complimenting the main attraction, Anthony's voice, which is as delectable as ever, bringing to life the rich poetry of the lyrics. Each song seems a delicately painted picture, sometimes of a conversation, or a glimpse through a lit window as you pass, a dream or a quiet moment of contemplation before action.
It is an album of experience, not innocence. The songs don't take you on crazy, exciting night time walks to late night cafes and dingy bars like Jack's 'The Jazz Age' did. It'll take you home and feed you and ask how your day was, maybe rub your shoulders as you pull off your shoes. It knows that life is hard and disappointing, but finds wonder in it anyway.
It doesn't lacks dynamics or variety, it leaves you feeling that you have stepped into the artist's world and shared the experience. The feeling you get after watching a really good film as you step, wondering and blinking, from the cinema. Sometimes it's melancholy, but no less beautiful for that.
New and yet reminiscent of the favourite meal your mother cooked, quite delicious.
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