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RICHARD MOSS - Back To The Yellow Hills

RICHARD MOSS - Back To The Yellow Hills
Private Label

Based firmly in the Northwest of England, Richard Moss is a singer guitarist with a fine voice and interesting guitar style. His material reflects the area he lives in, featuring local poets of the 19th century and traditional songs with a nod to the Irish heritage of that part of the world. He plays all the instruments with a little help on a couple of tracks.

Most of the material is new to me, with the notable exception of Stephen Foster’s Hard Times Come Again No More which was written in 1854 and is still relevant today, and Four Loom Weaver which starts unaccompanied before a minimalist backing appears. Personally I don’t think this adds anything to the track. He shows on The Press Gang how effective his unaccompanied voice can be.

I don’t feel the two self penned instrumentals work, though they are nice tunes, one of which could have had a couple of minutes shaved off it to make it better. I do like the poems set to music and I find the tracks with the hint of Irish, especially The Garland, work very well.

All in all this is a good album, his first I think as a solo artist, and should sell well at live performances. I do feel for the next one Richard might be better served to use a producer as quality controller. With a few tweaks here and there, this could have been very good indeed.

www.richardmossguitar.com

Dave Beeby


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This album was reviewed in Issue 117 of The Living Tradition magazine.