TONY WINN – Push And Pull (Freefall FF011D)

Push And PullHailing from Essex and while you’ve likely never heard of him, an actor and poet as well as a musician, Winn has sufficient a following to make Push And Pull his seventh album. Given the right exposure, awareness levels could well rise.

It’s a highly accessible collection that spans the musical gamut from poppy reggae a la The Beat rather than The Police (as with the opening title track) or a calypsoish ‘What’s The Moonlight For’ with its steel drums to protest folk-pop such as the excellent Tom Robinsonesque shuffling refugee number ‘Sometimes The Worst Is The Best’, social commentary like the depression-themed ‘Grock’ or the bouncy gambling-addict tale ‘Easy Money’.

There’s a clutch of estimable love and relationship songs too, the gentle, cello-adorned folksy fingerpicked ‘I Stop To Wonder’, Helen Mulley countrified duet ‘You’ll Be The Ruin Of Me’ or the stately piano ballad ‘Come And Go With Me’ with its train journey imagery and message of unity, both personal and universal.

Closing with the semi-spoken fingerpicked poem ‘A Quiet Night’ which pulls the rug out from under you in the final lines, this is a real discovery, one I trust many more people will make.

Mike Davies

Artist’s website: www.tonywinn.org.uk

‘Grock’: