Review: Live in Lennep, Alan Moorhouse Band

Subject: Review: Live in Lennep, Alan Moorhouse Band
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 May 11 - 03:54 PM

I love it when I get a CD from Singer-Songwriter friends of mine. I love to mine these for songs that I can perform that strike a chord with me and that I know that the general audience has not heard. Usually, when I find one, the comment goes something like, "Did you write that? Who did? Where did you find it?". Thanks to the talent of these folks, I end up looking like a song finding genius. Typically if I can find one gem on a CD, I consider a success. More often than not, I don't find any that appeal to me. In the case of this CD, there are several songs that I fully intend to add to my repertoire.

A while back our own alanabit (Alan Moorhouse) sent me his band's live CD recorded at a gig in Lennep, which is in Germany I assume. All the songs on the CD were written by Alan with the exception of two tracks that he co-authored with Robert Kiveton Taylor and one track with Steve Lee Rich. The band consists of, in addition to Alan; John Thornber on bass and vocals, Volker Neumann on drums and vocals, Sascha Loss on fiddle and vocals and harp, Gerhard Lewandoski on guitar and accordion and vocals, Thomas Karner on Mando and Dobro and vocals.

This is a very good effort, folks, and I would commend it to you. It has wonderful production values, and retains the feel of a live performance. The quality of the recording indicates they used very good equipment.

The songs are wonderful and have a very eclectic feel when it comes to style. I particularly enjoyed the work of Mr. Lewandoski on the accordion. Alan's way with a lyric is wonderful. I absolutely loved his "Ain't Got The Blues", as well as "Fat People in Love". While there were several that didn't particularly grab me, I have to tell you, there isn't a bad track on the CD. That is also unusual from a singer songwriter. Usually there are some navel gazing tracks that are testaments to self involvement. Not here.

I have had this CD a while and listened to it a dozen times or so. It is growing on me each time I listen. I would recommend you to contact Alan and get a copy and let it grow on you too.

All the best,

Mick

Subject: RE: Review: Live in Lennep, Alan Moorhouse Band
From: Big Mick
Date: 20 May 11 - 11:29 PM

I wonder if Alan would post as to whether how this is available for those that might be interested in it.

Subject: RE: Review: Live in Lennep, Alan Moorhouse Band
From: alanabit
Date: 21 May 11 - 05:36 PM

Thanks Mick. That took me by surprise. If anyone is interested, they can get it from me directly in CD form. Our publisher/agent is in the process of getting it available in download form, so I shall take the liberty of refreshing this thread when I know more. I would love to be able to get something going Stateside, but until I can afford to visit your country, I can't hold out much hope of getting a publisher/distributor interested over there!
The album has live versions of some cuts from my first two albums, a couple of "oldies", which I always said we would only ever record live (these include "Ain't Got The Blues" and "Fat People In Love") and three new originals. They are "All My Children", which is about a kindergarten teacher, who has no children of her own, "Oh! What a Live We Had", which is about a widow facing her final years with dignity and courage and "Father Time Goes Walking", which is pretty self-explanatory! The latter two are my favourites, because I like to think I have broken new ground as a writer. (There's vanity for you!) Glad you enjoyed the set.