Album Review: MOTHER BLACK CAP – Energy

Mother Black Cap

Cyclops Records [Release Date 17.06.13]

If classic/prog rock, well played with clever, insightful lyrics is the sort of thing that lights up your musical world you really should have a closer look at this little gem from Mother Black Cap.

Hailing from the eastern edges of the Norfolk Broads, the band have been delivering their very individual brand of rock since 2005 and ‘Energy’ is their third studio album.

Good to see the band releasing the album on Cyclops Records – a much loved independent label responsible for the early output of such prog luminaries as Mostly Autumn, The Pineapple Thief, Karda Estra, Twelfth Night and a good many more.

Ten tracks on offer and things get underway with the very Barclay James Harvest-esque ‘Modern World’ which sets the scene, especially lyrically, for what follows with its cynical observations of modern life and what’s going wrong.

In fact, this cynical world view is a theme that runs through the album with lines like ‘as smug as Simon Cowell, the ego of Steve Wright’ (We’re Moving On) and ‘by the time you reach the age of 55 you wonder that you are still alive (Fifty Five) and titles like ‘Don’t Let The Bastards Grind You Down’.

It’s good poetry but it is also great music with many and varied influences throughout – so you find early Genesis rubbing shoulders with Camel, Focus and even Spock’s Beard to deliver a cocktail of sustained interest across the whole album.

The musicianship is also peerless and incorporates instruments not usually associated with progressive rock – so you have trumpet, flugelhorn, fiddle and mandolin thrown into the mix, all conspiring with the guitars and keys to keep the interest levels high.

No doubt there will be the knockers who will decry all the cynicism, but there are lighter moments and even occasional hilarity to sweeten the pill – and, at the end of the day, they’re a band who tell it like it is, which is surely what good music is all about.

I bet they’re a blast live as well.  ****

Review by Alan Jones 

 


Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

Josh Taerk Sunday Sessions 2024

Latest session: Sunday 25 February
Next session: Sunday 14 April

Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio



David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 March 2024.


UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 5 March 2024.

How to Listen Live?

Click the programming image at the top of the page (top right of page if using desktop)

Listen via Windows Media Player. Click or tap here and “open file”
Listen via other media player (eg. VLC) Click or tap here and “open file”

Get Ready to ROCK! Radio is also in iTunes under Internet Radio/Classic Rock
Listen in via the Tunein app and search for “Get Ready to ROCK!” and save as favourite.

More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com


Power Plays w/c 18 March 2024

GYPSY’S KISS We’ve Come To Play
FM Out Of The Blue (Frontiers)
SHOTGUN MISTRESS Shot Down (indie)
ATTIC THEORY Violent Delight (indie)
FLOYA Yume (FiXT)
SAHAJI Tell Me All Your Feelings (indie)

Featured Albums w/c 18 March 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023
12:00-13:00 LEAVES’ EYES Myths Of Fate (AFM Records)
14:00-16:00 HOLLY LERSKI Sweet Decline (indie)


To see our Tweets you need to be logged in to a Twitter account



Popular (last 10 days)


This entry was posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply