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of front of house instrument, you can tell that the man in charge of these duties, Martin Neish was a guitarist before switching to bass. Here on the track "Alnwick and Tyne" we find Porters lyrics doing what they do best, weaving between a historical storyline and a modern biographical perspective, darting from this medieval cautionary tale to the personal reflections of Porter of his school days. The music exercises a range of dynamics and "Lord of the Isles" and "Under The Sea Wind" which follow are classic examples of how to move a song through various moods, gentle melodies run into aggressive bile ridden deliveries and grinding guitars interplay with windswept choruses. The one mellow moment of the album comes in the form of "Shift" which sees Oscar Wilde as the main protagonist and is immersed in gorgeous haunting backing vocals and intricate fingerpicked acoustic guitar from James Hince.

"McArthur" by contrast is pure rock, pounding guitars drive over a brooding back beat, but are content to stick to pure rhythmic duties and again it's the vocals that create the point of impact as if to prove that the world don't revolve around the lead guitarist and that the voice is as much an instrument as any piece of electrified carpentry. As if to prove that their punk credentials and no nonsense approach don't mean that their song writing is a basic affair there are some interesting time changes and musical styles amongst the more straightforward numbers. "Song of the Third Cause" for example being played in waltz time, and many of the other tracks turning round on a ten pence piece to head off in a new direction knocking you pleasantly off guard. If you are a fan of the guitar solo, a device so prevalent in rock music, then you will be disappointed here, Blyth Power seem to employ much more interesting ideas when it comes to filling the middle bits of their songs. Basses take the lead, or a vocal round robin, or a middle piece is created totally at odds with the rest of the song, or sometimes they just don't bother, and the songs are better for this approach.

The highlight for me, though there are not really any low points, is the awesome "Better To Bat", not many bands would tackle a subject as dry as the trial of King Charles I, a man whose demeanour and haircut alone would be justification alone for execution, and make it into one of the greatest songs of our time, and yes I'm a bit biased towards these guys. The song has everything, a slow, dark build that moves between lush a Capella delivery, crunching guitars and finally explodes into a riot of musical expression.

"Where were you singing this morning my friend,
tell me what were the words of your song
did they rhyme and scan, or were they open plan
will we sing it as we carry you along"

Forget Elgar and Shakespeare, Vaughn-Williams and Noel Coward, if you could distil the English spirit, more specifically the spirit of the English underclass, it would sound something like this. If Wat Tyler was alive today and still leading the peasant's revolt, then this would be the band that he would book for the revolutionary end of term party. Not many albums can boast Oscar Wilde, Charles I, Caligula, St Augustine and General McArthur amongst their cast and they hardly even touch on their normal chosen subjects, trains and cricket. It may seem like an odd collection of ideas for a contemporary album, but here you will find some of the most intelligent writing and some of the most original musical and vocal arrangements and it took a bunch of west country punks to do it.... where's the justice in that.

P.S.

All you need to know is at blythpower.co.uk

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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