Six Of One Half A Dozen Of The Other is perhaps an odd title for a CD of ten tracks but I’m sure that Gerry Colvin won’t let that bother him. The core band here is Jerome Davies on bass and banjo, Trish Power on accordion and Lyndon Webb on guitar and mandolin with guest strings and percussion producing a sound somewhere between Americana and British folk-rock.
There is a great mix of styles and subject matter in the set. The opener, ‘The Man With The Watch’, is a philosophical contemplation on the passage of time built on a throbbing bass and Michael Keelan’s fiddle – an instrument that appears a lot – with acoustic lead guitar but the mood immediately switches with a song about the Battle of Culloden, ‘The Thistle And The Rose’. At this point you know you can’t let your attention wander lest you miss something important. ‘The Waiting Room’ is a beautiful song about a hospital visit blending the reluctance and awkwardness with compassion. If it isn’t taken up by someone on the folk club circuit, there is no justice.
‘Johnny Cash Shirt’ is the story of a musical wannabe which probably uniquely mentions King’s Lynn and which starts out with a semi-reasonable premise but gets more extreme as the song proceeds as does ‘God In The Bar’ later on. ‘I’m Postponing My Rehab ‘Til Tomorrow’ is a feeling we’ve all experienced – let’s hear it for debauchery! We pass through the nicely pastoral ‘My Country’ and end with ‘The Last Two People Left On Earth Tonight’, a surprisingly tender love song.
Six Of One Half A Dozen Of The Other is an album packed full of delights and deserves a much higher profile than I fear it will receive.
Dai Jeffries
Artist’s website: www.gerrycolvin.com
‘The Waiting Room’ – live:
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