Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lyrically simplistic but musically wonderful this album is a real grower., 9 Jun 2007
An ecological concept album .....worthy but dull , that's what you're thinking right? Thematically you would certainly be right. Lawrence Becko who is Shady Bard has very little original to say .The lyrics are trite and even a touch embarrassing at times. Remove the CD from the no doubt recycled cardboard sleeve and the message "We like trees , grow from the ground up, to the sky", which is hardly revelatory and is a no doubt genuine attempt to place our affinity with nature at the forefront of the listeners mind. All it did with me is make me go "well duh" but that's my unhealthy cynicism working it's way up.
Musically "From The Ground Up" is far more interesting . Balancing Becko,s parched cracked tones with fussy little trails of electronic noise , warm keyboards , decorously brushed electronic and acoustic guitars and violins, French horn and backing vocals courtesy of Jasmin Hollingum the songs take their time in revealing their true beauty but peer into the undergrowth long enough and the pastoral wonder of the songs gently unfurls.
Interestingly the dappled depths of the music go a long way to making the listener overlook just how banal and basic some of the lyrics are. "Leaves are falling /From the trees " and "We're all the same in the end" are simplistic but the arrangements and the fractured nobility of Becko,s vocals lend them a gravitas they possibly don,t really deserve. Sometimes ,as on "These Quiet Times" a line like "I'll catch you falling / when you least expect " attain a real lump in the throat splendour. Even the closing line "Feed the birds in the wintertime " doesn't break the spell. I've nothing against feeding our feathered friends I must add but I don't think music should be used as an avenue for public service announcements. The cello's in this song courtesy of Alex Houseden are quite splendid.
Equally good is "Treeology" , a daft tale of a tree surgeon killing all his charges by coating them with creosote - an insane idea I would have pointed out the flaw of -which has an urgency lacking elsewhere on the album. Best of all is "Torch Song" whose repetitive guitar refrain -like Coldplay except really good- and "Save me" plea are astonishingly affecting . "Bobby" is redolent of Badly Drawn Boy ,"Penguins " has a sonic wig out for a middle eight and the title track is a tender/ dramatic instrumental.
Enormously heartfelt , with that heart very much in the right place this album overcomes it deficiencies and the artist should be congratulated for not resorting to pompous histrionics in order to get his message across. My unhealthy cynicism overcome , it's worthy but very rarely dull. From The Ground Up is a real grower.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Five Bard Gateway, 31 May 2007
This debut album for the five piece band 'Shady Bard' from Birmingham, has all the B's: Beautiful lyrics; Beguiling harmonies ,Bold musical arrangements and Brilliant anthemic tracks which could grace any of the summer Festivals.
This is a band to fall in love with, and hopefully this is their gateway to a much wider audience: they deserve it and we need it!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Something of a concept album, 13 Jun 2007
It's very rare that albums and/or artists come from nowhere to drop onto your lap. Ahem. When From The Ground Up popped through my letterbox I was a little surprised - I'd never heard of the mysterious Bard on the front cover and the odd artwork looking like something Blue Peter would have used copious amounts of double-sided sticky tape to create. As it found its way onto my hi-fi for review, I was pleasantly surprised. Rich, deep vocals surrounded by music that could best be describe as twisted folk and quiet self-reflection pierced with soaring guitars. Welcome to the Bard's weird and wonderful world.
Further investigation showed this album to be something of a concept album. The songs were all created with an ecological theme in mind, commenting on our environmental responsibility, or lack of it, and crafting a world in which we care for all living things. Bobby brings this responsibility to the fore, "We're all to blame in the end" echoes through the song, seemingly taking aim at the more direct impact of hunting whilst the opening Fires is a delicately produced piece of balladry, wistful and peaceful, the simple acoustic guitars augmented by a perfusion of haunting feedback that feels like the roots of a tree growing into the earth. Singer Lawrence Becko's voice comes from the same stable as iLiKETRAiN's Dave Martin, an oddly affecting and throaty vocal that seems breathless in places. What makes these songs powerful is their arrangements. The vocals are to the fore, the music acting as a canvas, a background, for these vivid lyrics to paint their picture on. The brilliant These Quiet Times is positively anthemic with it's female backing vocals, piano and drums that kick in later and remind me of early Coldplay. The lyrics do come across as an advert for the RSPB with it's tag line of "Feed the birds in the winter time", but there's something about it that makes you want to take heed. Sometimes it can get a bit sparse and depressing though. The bland Torch Song doesn't really go anywhere and sounds suspiciously like Athlete with it's guitar and piano combo, whilst the disappointing album closer When We Were Falling Out is just plain boring with it's jewelry box tinkles and whispered vocals, it just lets the album finish with a whimper rather than a real explosion for an album full of messages.
But the highlights on here are worth the fee alone. The soaring Winter Coats and Treeology more than make up for the lowlights. The album may be short on tunes you can whistle, but the messages are well conveyed and the music that accompanies them is appropriate. Some of the lyrics are a little heavy handed in places ("Faced with environmental catastrophe, it wasn't me!" from Treeology hits the hardest) and could come straight from a Greenpeace brochure, but sometimes the only way to get your message across is to be blunt. In fact, perhaps Greenpeace should pick up the phone and call these guys rather than Bono. At least they sound like they mean it.
Richard Hughes
www.thelineofbestfit.com
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