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Someone once said that a band becomes more interesting the less easily categorized it is. With those words in mind I pronounce Blyth Power the most interesting band on the planet. The original line emerged in the mid eighties out of the squat punk movements spearheaded by the likes of Crass and Zounds, a time when punks were displaying the first recognisable signs of evolving into the New Age Traveller communities that still endure to this day. But with the Battle of The Beanfield and The Third Battle of Newbury still events to come in the history of the great unwashed; these more innocent days saw the blossoming of Castle Cary's finest upstarts. By 1989 with two albums already behind this bunch of ragged trousered troubadours and a completely new line up around him, drummer, singer and band leader, Joseph Porter, pushed the band in a new heavier direction and created one of the classic albums of their career, "Alnwick and Tyne."

The band at this point was basically a three piece with two extra backing vocalists added on, and for a small band they make a very big sound. As to what to categorize them as, well that's very difficult. The music comes at you like a raw but melodic hard rock band, but the tunes are more straightforward, there is far more of a punk attitude dominating the proceedings. What is totally unusual is the vocal arrangements, two female voices interplaying with Josephs main delivery, sometimes taking the lead, sometimes just harmonising and often singing completely different strains and lyrics behind the main voice. Many of the songs have a folk feel to them, not so much musically, but in the sense that they are effectively stories, and told by a master of the English language.

"Who says that the king and I at discords be,
Discerning parties close inspection
no such mood can see.
Indeed Lord Soul unhappy now it seems,
The oceans grey and the King ordained
and I was caught between"

So begins the title track and immediately you know that you are in the hands of a lyrical master and in for a rare treat. This opening number does well in summing up what the album is all about, a bite sized sampler of what's to come. Most of the songs are fairly full on, but the intricate lyrical arrangements and the soft harmonies from Helen Rush and Julie Dalkin create a counter point that keeps everything from moving totally into to raucous a realm. The drum work is simple and uncluttered and leaves room for the clever bass lines, which often totally take over the role

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