Under Your Door
This album came about over a period of about two years and during that time I decided to concentrate on the songwriting aspects and use other people more in the recording process than before. I hope this has helped give the album some good variation in sound and style (and also took the pressure off me !)
Finding Tom Linneen to carry the major weight of the singing duties was hugely fortunate. Singing someone else's songs is a very daunting task and I think we both approached this with great trepidation. The results however have far exceeded my expectations and I thank Tom for being able to give such sensitive interpretations of some very personal material. There are in effect 3 main vocalists on the album (not forgetting the superb harmony work of Sarah McGuire and the good Mrs A of course !). Tom sings lead vocals on Circus, Tears, Songswesing and Noise. I sing Grace & Favour + Showboat and Chris Holtmeier does Come on Back.
Sequencing the album has been difficult as there are many styles and with different 'studio sounds' involved. At the end of the day I decided to put those with the more standard song structures up front and leave the longer more instrumental sections at the end . Whether this works or not is up to you dear listener. I would love to get your feedback - good or bad !
The following abridged review of the album will be appearing in the next issue of Comes With A Smile an independent music magazine.
John Almond | Under Your Door (2Jay)
Some discs grab you from the off, and some slowly
grow, as I'm sure you've found out for yourself.
This one pretty much sneaks up on you when you're
not paying attention - like it's been slipped
under your door, y'see? Its opener, The Circus
Leaves Town, shuffles pleasantly enough, but
doesn't exactly grab you by the collar and
breathe mint in your face. Track two is a short
sweet atmosphere-and-church-bells instrumental
called New Church Morning, which you might have
expected would be the track one intro. It blends
nicely into Tears or Laughter (just like an intro
should) a solid-gold standout, with sterling
harmony vocals from Sarah McGuire and some very
fine guitar. By the time track six, All That
Noise, starts to swing and lope with its tasteful
piano you're pretty well hooked. The guitar playing is spot-on
tasteful, and the odd piano adds flavour,
especially to the lovely instrumental coda to
Grace and Favour, which features some very smart brass.
The voice is like a more fragile John Martyn, with some
echoes of him out of Mojave 3. The music was
mostly recorded at home and is released on a
small St. Alban's-based cottage-industry label
set up by John and another bloke called John and
dedicated to putting out self-produced stuff like
this by the pair of them. All power to them if
they're all as low-key subtle and solid as this
one. The website www.2jayrecords.com will tell
you more. It also reveals John A's influences, which
include Joni M. and Scott W.and the two finest pieces of
music with Wichita in the title. Top! JC
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