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Over the last few decades, there have consistently been doomsayers proclaiming that the guitar is on its way out as a centrally important instrument of popular music. Wrong as they’ve invariably been, what has become more prevalent is a shift in some quarters away from having the guitar define one’s sound. While computer wizardry and studio trickery might be the salvation of some, the southern English four-piece Wolf People are the resolute opposite. Insatiable consumers of hen’s-teeth hard rock and psychedelic obscurities, Steeple – their debut album, following up last year’s singles collection Tidings – reflects this dusty immersion via nine songs which deliberately, and unashamedly, look to the past.
Some may hear this mélange of spindly proto-metal riffs, Fairport Convention-style electric folk and batty harmonica parts, and find it hard to believe that this was written and recorded any time after 1972. If progression and modernity are, for you, musical virtues in and of themselves, Steeple might be missing a point. Yet Wolf People are, you suspect, all the better served by ignoring the parts of their record collection that fall outside this magical timeline, and banishing impurities from their aesthetic. Peers of recent years include doubly terrific Swedish pair, Witchcraft and Graveyard, although there’s a touch more Sabbathian metal in their brew; mid-album wailer One by One From Dorney Reach is about as heavy as Wolf People get. That Jagjaguwar, their label, also introduced the world to the similarly rockist Black Mountain is no great surprise, although even that Canadian crew can’t claim the same degree of analogue-fuzzed authenticity.
The thing that aids the quartet the most in their efforts to get the sound of Steeple just so is what muso types mysteriously term ‘chops’. As musicians, Wolf People gel together like a charm, and have a distinct advantage over a great many modern hard rockers by having a drummer, one Tom Watt, who beats away with a swinging funkiness, like the finest hairballs of 40 years gone. If you can handle being spirited back to that time, in brief bursts at least, this might be one of your towering highlights of 2010.
--Noel GardnerFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Should more bands release albums that rhyme with their band name? Probably not, but Wolf People are not most bands. For a start, how many other current English psych-rock bands of note are there? With few to no local contemporaries, it is fair to say that Wolf People look to their predecessors for guidance.
Meandering interludes and all, their dusty odds and sods collection Tidings, which saw light earlier this year, caught the ear. So, naturally, a fully focused effort largely recorded in a C17th barn in Wales ups the ante somewhat. What remains constant however is that the band seem still not to have heard a record made since the mid `70s, but they have nevertheless been delving deeper into forgotten record boxes marked pastoral folk since Tidings was cobbled together.
Imagine a fog-covered vale, church spire standing resolute under autumn moonlight - that's half of Steeple. The other half hand-whisks classic Jack Bruce-era Cream into the equation, sprinkles in some of Hendrix's riffs and the subsequent tight jam recalls the recent efforts of kindred spirits Arbouretum as a result. Album highlight "One By One From Dorney Reach" pulls a classic sounding Bond theme tune out of the bag, only it's one envisaged by Jimmy Page in full chug mode. Consequently, it's genuinely excellent no matter the decade it beams in from.
Frontman Jack Sharp's thin, dreamy vocal isn't the most complimentary, yet it sets the band's work apart. You know that despite the ready influences you are listening to Wolf People, and it is thanks to Sharp who smoothes his words between indulgent instrumentals, over fearless classic rock passages and into finales full of feedback.
It doesn't all work though, it must be said. For example, the Hendrix / Bullitt soundtrack mélange "Tiny Circle" is too heavy on the flute in its laboured, flighty 60s groove for these ears, but the solid opener "Silbury Sands" gets the elusive balance spot on, as do the immaculate riffs and harmonies of "Painted Cross". The two-part closer "Banks of Sweet Dundee" is equally notable, focusing Steeple like stepping out into a chilly morning does. It's real outdoorsy psych-folk stuff: cool and dewy. Together, late on, these tracks give Steeple real backbone and, dare I say it, identity.
In a world where punk never happened, Wolf People play on where their hirsute heroes left off, and most bands couldn't pull that off credibly. But then Wolf People are not most bands - they're a condensing of some of the very best ones.
Meandering interludes and all, their dusty odds and sods collection Tidings, which saw light earlier this year, caught the ear. So, naturally, a fully focused effort largely recorded in a C17th barn in Wales ups the ante somewhat. What remains constant however is that the band seem still not to have heard a record made since the mid `70s, but they have nevertheless been delving deeper into forgotten record boxes marked pastoral folk since Tidings was cobbled together.
Imagine a fog-covered vale, church spire standing resolute under autumn moonlight - that's half of Steeple. The other half hand-whisks classic Jack Bruce-era Cream into the equation, sprinkles in some of Hendrix's riffs and the subsequent tight jam recalls the recent efforts of kindred spirits Arbouretum as a result. Album highlight "One By One From Dorney Reach" pulls a classic sounding Bond theme tune out of the bag, only it's one envisaged by Jimmy Page in full chug mode. Consequently, it's genuinely excellent no matter the decade it beams in from.
Frontman Jack Sharp's thin, dreamy vocal isn't the most complimentary, yet it sets the band's work apart. You know that despite the ready influences you are listening to Wolf People, and it is thanks to Sharp who smoothes his words between indulgent instrumentals, over fearless classic rock passages and into finales full of feedback.
It doesn't all work though, it must be said. For example, the Hendrix / Bullitt soundtrack mélange "Tiny Circle" is too heavy on the flute in its laboured, flighty 60s groove for these ears, but the solid opener "Silbury Sands" gets the elusive balance spot on, as do the immaculate riffs and harmonies of "Painted Cross". The two-part closer "Banks of Sweet Dundee" is equally notable, focusing Steeple like stepping out into a chilly morning does. It's real outdoorsy psych-folk stuff: cool and dewy. Together, late on, these tracks give Steeple real backbone and, dare I say it, identity.
In a world where punk never happened, Wolf People play on where their hirsute heroes left off, and most bands couldn't pull that off credibly. But then Wolf People are not most bands - they're a condensing of some of the very best ones.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Clearly these guys have been nicking their dads' Wishbone Ash albums. In places the resemblance of the vocalist to Martin Turner's folk-tinged vocals is spooky (notably on tracks such as "Banks of Sweet Dundee"). Also the guitarists seems to have picked up many of their licks from the Ted Turner Guitar Tutor book. Those of us old enough to have a familiarity with 70s rock will find much that is recognisable here - echoes of much apart from the 'Ash' - Edgar Broughton Band, Stray, Quintessence and so on. The stylistic tics include much use of cowbell, and twin guitar soloing. However, I can not criticise this as derivative - there's very little anywhere that is 100% original. They have produced for a first outing a hugely impressive and enjoyable slice of retro-rock. My favourite track of all is the fantastic "Castle Keep". If I had not known, I could easily have believed this had been recorded in the early 70s. I wish the band every success with this album - it's great to have a young band bring a fresh approach to this genre - I hope that they attract a younger audience also - not just the more mature fan such as myself.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This album is an astoninshingly good out of the blue release for a brand new band in a music 'scene' full of hairstyle-over-substance. The fractured and accessible like never before nature of today's music business seems to mean that whilst a few bands with relentless try-hard hooks and synth riffs are swept up for an album or two by huge labels, bands like Wolf People can equally have a say and find the fans still hanging on for something a little more honest.
If rock music is an evolved folk blended with electric blues, Wolf People are rock music through and through. If you feel the 80s production sheen permanently damaged the honesty of the songs you hear from the most indie of bands, then buy this record and feel your faith in the music business and in English bands restored.
If rock music is an evolved folk blended with electric blues, Wolf People are rock music through and through. If you feel the 80s production sheen permanently damaged the honesty of the songs you hear from the most indie of bands, then buy this record and feel your faith in the music business and in English bands restored.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent Rock. More psichedelic Wolfmother style...
Really a good rock album. A sort of Wolfmother with a greater psichedelic side.
Great riffs, inspired musicians, an interesting use of the flute, heavy but not excessive... Read more
Great riffs, inspired musicians, an interesting use of the flute, heavy but not excessive... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ottavio Donadoni
Promising
A nice cross between folk rock (think Fairport, Jethro Tull and Steeleye Span)and west coast style jamming. This is a good CD but not quite the finished article. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Robert Ward
love it
Bought this on a punt, mostly based on the suggestion it could have been written in the 70s. It's a fair assessment, but not in a bad way - there's just a sensibility that echoes... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Tom
Stick with it and you will be rewarded
So glad i took a chance on this as it really is a fantastic album. Repeat listens just seem to keep on giving but amazingly (to me) I almost gave up on it on the first couple of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Stephen Bate
Lupine Howls from mighty babys....
I fell upon the work of Bedford combo Wolf People totally by accident at this years Primaverasound Festival in Spain (May 2011). Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. Rogan
1973
It's 1973, but in a really good way. Jethro Tull meets Ten Years After and a less commercial Zeppelin. Don't know who they are and don't really care. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Watkins Rapier 22
if only no stars were possible
I bought this on the strength of the previous reviews . Wish I'd saved my money . Most music buyers come across reviews which fervently praise a musical effort , only to find that... Read more
Published 11 months ago by ben
Great music - Bad sound
Excellent guitar orientated rock - with a good drummer - inspired by the likes of Cream, Zeppelin and hints of Tull. It is amazing that such great music is still being made. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Pal Jensen
Steeple by Wolf People
I got this on a whim and have been blown away by the bands playing. I'm a child of the 1970's and this album would not seem out of place alongside some early Wishbone Ash or Tull. Read more
Published 13 months ago by sephardic sam
GREAT ALBUM!
I happened to have heard one of their songs on Kerrang and have fallen in love with the band ever since! Read more
Published 14 months ago by Ruby
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