SheedyFrost And Guests
Album: Songs From The Park
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.sheedyfrost.co.uk

Manchester-based songwriters Paul Frost and Vincent Sheedy have already received praise in these pages (their album Something Definite was reviewed here back in the summer of 2012), and I've wanted to sample their work ever since. However, they seem rather hard to track down, with a none too informative web presence and a rather inconsistent presentation of information as regards availability of any their CDs other than the current offering. And now, receiving their latest CD for review only made me even keener to hear more of their past work, which in itself is frustrating!

Anyway, down to the task in hand. Songs From The Park refers to the Trafford Park area of Manchester (Europe's first industrial park, did you know?); it's a themed collection of mainly jointly-self-penned compositions arising from a commission from St. Antony's Heritage Centre to write songs based on the recollections of people who had once lived there and the contents of documents kept in the Centre. Vince and Paul prove a real ability to get inside these characters' lives and thoughts, and it's no wonder that several of the songs on this CD have already proved popular with audiences at their live gigs. The disc's performances are warm and affectionate, and Vince and Paul are joined at times by guests; Chris Carson sings on Model T, whereas Ellen Ogden turns in a lovely lead vocal on Hurry Home! (a setting of a poem of a 91-year-old resident's memories), and Anthony Walsh writes and performs solo one of the disc's standout tracks, The Old Cobbled Streets.

As for Vince and Paul's own writing, there's a good old-fashioned, crafted-folky quality to all of their work, with the catchy choruses of songs like Cornflakes, Toast & Tea, The Ballad Of Arthur Spreckley and Holiday In 4th Street, rich in simple and memorable, often headily evocative imagery, recalling the kind of appealing and audience-friendly yet poignant-beyond-mere-nostalgia local-interest songs you might experience from the pens of well-regarded regional songwriters of the ilk of Copper Kettle's Mike Forsyth or Black Velvet's much-lamented Mary Fellows. Accompaniment is kept simple and mellifluous, with guitars set into gentle relief with a touch of refreshingly understated keyboard; just occasionally a more deliberately atmospheric backdrop is employed, as with the military bugle-call soundscape of Just Another Soldier.

There are many fascinating tales to be told here, and they're all told with natural feeling and humanity and evoking a real sense of community while recognising the status and distinctive special character of given individuals within that community and their particular environment. It's a pity that the liner notes don't quite measure up to the task - in some cases, we're only given half of the story, in the sense that they name the personalities on whose memoirs the songs are based but then provide no further background information preliminary to the songs' starting points. But that consideration largely doesn't stop you from enjoying this attractive and gently reflective collection of songs.

David Kidman