The Albion Band
Album: Stella Maris
Label: Talking Elephant
Tracks: 8
Website: http://www.talkingelephant.co.uk

Here's another welcome remastered reissue from Talking Elephant, bringing back into currency a largely-forgotten album from the mid-80s (originally released in 1986) when the Albion Band lineup comprised Ashley Hutchings himself plus Cathy Lesurf, Phil Beer, Martin Bell and Trevor Foster. The styling of the time was very much global folk-rock, quite glossy in overall timbre due to the preponderance of keyboard/synth tones but redeemed by some sterling electric guitar soloing and - most especially - by Cathy's peerless vocal work at every turn.

Rather like Steeleye's Sails Of Silver, sometimes the material is slightly compromised by too much synth in the arrangements, but I was surprised to find it's all much better than I remembered it, and that by and large the necessary potentially uneasy compromise between folky roots and pan-global fusion fashions and 80s gloss is sensitively managed. The fine multi-sectional mini-epic The Task (titled after William Cowper's poem) aside, other highlights like The Rose And The Rock, the Vive L'Amour dance-tune medley and the Lark Rise classic Til The Time We Meet Again (the latter featuring a tender duet vocal from Dave Burland) can also well stand comparison with some of the best of the Albion œuvre. And let's not forget the presence of guests Phil Pickett and Paul Downes, providing further tangible links to Albion ventures down the years.

So my advice is to invest in this reissue before it disappears from the catalogue again.

David Kidman