Album Review: DODSON & FOGG – The Call
Self Released – [Release Date: 2013]
I had the pleasure to review three Dodson & Fogg albums back in August 2013, all three of which had been released within an eighteen month period.
I said at the time it was quite a feat maintaining such a high standard within such a narrow time-frame, so imagine my surprise when yet another D&F album landed on my mat.
For those of you who did not read the first reviews (shame on you) Dodson & Fogg are not the name of an ironmongers in Halifax, but the alias of one Chris Wade – an exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalist whose passion is folk and psychedelia ‘60s style.
And he’s very good at it too.
Much of his latest offering ‘The Call’ sounds like the Beatles, having just arrived back from their sojourn with the Maharishi, calling up Donovan and Nick Drake to come down and have a jam.
Add in a sprinkling of the talents of Celia Humphris (Trees), Chloe Herington (Knifeworld) and sitar meister Ricky Romain and the stage is set for a folk/psych wig out that negates the need for the use of any nefarious substances.
Things get underway, appropriately enough with a ringing chord of sitar on ‘Mystery’ and the spell is cast.
Throughout the album there are little surprises all over the place – a little trumpet here, a little sax there and the odd trill of flute – but it’s the guitar of Wade himself that takes the plaudits, ranging from delicately picked acoustics to full-on Hawkwind space rock and creating a swirling soundscape that compares very favourably with the historic best of the genre.
If I have a grumble it’s that the album is, with a couple of exceptions, rather one-paced, but then that’s more to do with the genre than the songwriting which is, once again, of the highest calibre.
If the laid-back ‘Summer Of Love’ dreamy days of 1967 still move you in mysterious ways – then ‘The Call’ should be at the very top of your on-line shopping list – if not, you need to chill out a bit more.
****
Review by Alan Jones
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BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)
Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)
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