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Product Description
MOJO MAGAZINE
"Gently intoxicating and uplifting stuff.... Tilston's work simply gets better as time goes on"
"His music has a flow and poignancy which makes it stand out from the plethora of singer-songwriters on the scene"
"Steve is of that rare breed of singer, songwriter and guitarist who actually excels in all departments"
"His music has a flow and poignancy which makes it stand out from the plethora of singer-songwriters on the scene"
"Steve is of that rare breed of singer, songwriter and guitarist who actually excels in all departments"
RHYTHMS, AUS
"His songs are at once familiar, yet objects of wonder"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Despite 35 years' fondness for singer-songwriters and over a decade's regular attendance at a very good local folk club, I must confess Steve Tilston had entirely escaped my notice until last year. I'm still trying to work out how. Anyway, last year the closest Chris Smither got to Sheffield was "Steve Tilston's Trades Roots" at Hebden Bridge. From the prominence of the host's name on the website, I was clearly supposed to have heard of this Tilston chap; I hadn't, but Chris is a must-see so I trundled off up the A61. Steve did the opening set and sat in on a couple of songs with Chris (turns out they're personal friends, which probably explains Smither's presence in a town I doubt most Americans could find on a map). I was mightily impressed. By fortunate coincidence, a couple of weeks later Steve was the headline act at my local club, so off I went to hear a longer set. Good voice, great guitar playing, and not a duff song in the lot - I bought Ziggurat in the interval and it's been more or less permanent in-car entertainment ever since.
Tilston is an intelligent, literate and versatile songwriter, and the songs on Ziggurat reflect this. He clearly has a lively interest in history, and big historical narrative ballads are something of a trademark (I know more about him now - I bought the big retrospective box set); the example here is "The King of the Coiners", a piece of local history from Hebden Bridge. There's sociopolitical comment - "The Spoils of War", on Iraq, and "A Pretty Penny", an anthem for the credit crunch ("I wrote this a year ago," he said at the Smither gig, "I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon" - if that's so, it was uncannily prescient!), which is a terrific song and probably the stand-out track for me; a couple of love songs, one set to a Chopin prelude; some autobiography; and even a cheerful blues in praise of an Australian tree. He's a very fine acoustic guitarist, and the other featured musicians are equally good - the whole thing is just very well put together.
I'm never quite sure if it's worth reviewing CDs by people way down the Amazon sales ranking list - if you're reading this, chances are you know what you're looking for. But I liked it so much I felt the urge to say so - and Steve, if you're curious enough to check your own reviews (I think I would be), I am planning to make more contributions to your royalty income in the future!
Tilston is an intelligent, literate and versatile songwriter, and the songs on Ziggurat reflect this. He clearly has a lively interest in history, and big historical narrative ballads are something of a trademark (I know more about him now - I bought the big retrospective box set); the example here is "The King of the Coiners", a piece of local history from Hebden Bridge. There's sociopolitical comment - "The Spoils of War", on Iraq, and "A Pretty Penny", an anthem for the credit crunch ("I wrote this a year ago," he said at the Smither gig, "I'm not just jumping on the bandwagon" - if that's so, it was uncannily prescient!), which is a terrific song and probably the stand-out track for me; a couple of love songs, one set to a Chopin prelude; some autobiography; and even a cheerful blues in praise of an Australian tree. He's a very fine acoustic guitarist, and the other featured musicians are equally good - the whole thing is just very well put together.
I'm never quite sure if it's worth reviewing CDs by people way down the Amazon sales ranking list - if you're reading this, chances are you know what you're looking for. But I liked it so much I felt the urge to say so - and Steve, if you're curious enough to check your own reviews (I think I would be), I am planning to make more contributions to your royalty income in the future!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Steve Tilston's first CD since last year's retrospective box set and 2005's traditional work "Of Many Hands" is a stunning collection of songs, with some great slide and 12 string guitar playing , supported by musicians of real quality. Steve's love of history shines through in songs like King of the Coiners (a song in the traditional narrative genre he's made his own with Slip Jigs and Reels or the Turncoat) and Speaking in Tongues. Steve pays a tribute to his Liverpool roots in In Between Years and draws out physical and emotional landscapes of different kinds in After Summer Rain and Archipelago. There's a whole range of styles on this CD, which has been in the player for a couple of days now and it's sounding better and better with every play.
Two traditional songs, "Rambling Comber" and "the Fisher Lad of Whitby", a couple of songs about making music, "The Road.." and "Madame Muse", "Spoils of War" , about acts of cultural vandalism in Iraq and "A Pretty Penny" about the unaccountable scoundrels that brought us the credit crunch. . Great intelligent songs from a singer-songwriter whose music is steeped in a sense of injustice and basic humanity . Great word too, Ziggurat !
Two traditional songs, "Rambling Comber" and "the Fisher Lad of Whitby", a couple of songs about making music, "The Road.." and "Madame Muse", "Spoils of War" , about acts of cultural vandalism in Iraq and "A Pretty Penny" about the unaccountable scoundrels that brought us the credit crunch. . Great intelligent songs from a singer-songwriter whose music is steeped in a sense of injustice and basic humanity . Great word too, Ziggurat !
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am ashamed to say this but I have just came across the wonderful artist in the last few months. I now own 10 CD's and have been privileged to see him live. Along with his friend John Martyn and the brilliant Richard Thompson he is the best of his generation. A brilliant album and I can recommend this to anyone who likes good music. Don't think genre's, think quality because that is what this album is, sheer quality. Must have played it 30 times in a few weeks.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Love it!
I bought this cd and The Reckoning after seeing him live and wasn't disappointed. They haven't been out of my cd player since then. Read more
Published 17 days ago by sooz2710
Brilliant
I had never heard Steve Tilston before and was actually looking for Show of Hands albums when this appeared as a recommendation, so I took a chance. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. Ruth Booth
Quirky title to a brilliant piece of work
As a newcomer to Steve's body of work I've started to work backwards from his most recent album "The Reckoning" via the curiously titled "Ziggurat". Read more
Published 6 months ago by Harry Coe Bean
Superb, poignant and lyrical
With brilliant use of light and shade, the usual virtuosity and a voice better than ever this is Steve Tilston at his best. Read more
Published on 8 July 2009 by David B. Milsom
Steve on the b
Classic Tilston. It's all I've listened to in the car over the last week. There is not a track on this CD that I do not like and some will go down as real Tilston classics - The... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2008 by S. Workman
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