Last Call will be my third and seemingly final Steve Tilston album review for KLOF. Evidence for this statement can be found, perhaps peripherally, within the album’s title and cover artwork, which shows Steve pointing, somewhat wistfully, at a setting sun on the horizon. However, the sleeve notes, written by the author of the first official history of Fairport Convention, Nigel Schofield, offer seemingly unequivocal confirmation, “So, here, we have it: Steve Tilston’s last album”.
Thus, some 54 years after the release, in 1971, of his debut LP, Acoustic Confusion, one of folk, roots and acoustic music’s most lauded and celebrated singer-songwriters and musicians appears to be calling it a day, with regards to his recording career. Whilst this news will be of great sadness to many, listeners can be assured that, as a possible crumb of comfort, Last Call is unequivocally on par with any of his previous releases in terms of quality and entertainment.
In 2016, Steve released an album with Jez Lowe entitled The Janus Game (reviewed by Thomas Blake in KLOF here), and there is certainly much evidence on this latest release of him looking both backwards to the past and ahead to the future. A variety of musical styles are in evidence, and themes and subject matter are varied, as described by Schofield, “he traverses the musical spectrum from social and political comment to rustic reflection, from autobiography to eternal geographical history, across blues, traditional folk, poetry and even a hint of jazz.”
Steve has brought on board several good friends and long-term musical collaborators to assist him on this musical journey: Steve Andrews on piano, Alan Cook on pedal steel guitar, Hugh Bradley provides flute and double bass, Johnny Fewings on banjo, Martin McGroarty on electric guitar, Tony Orrell on percussion and Keith Warmington on harmonica, whilst Steve and Richard Woodcock supply backing vocals. Richard Curran’s String Quartet also make a valuable contribution to three tracks.
For the opening track, Apple Tree Town, Steve returns to innocent childhood memories of idyllic-sounding visits to an orchard to pick apples. Beautiful finger-picked guitar, delicate flute and a gorgeous string quartet arrangement, entirely in keeping, indeed enhancing, the bucolic pastoral picture, make for an entrancing invitation and lead-in to the journey that will unfold as the album progresses. However, this blissful picture of Albion is tinged with the poignant lamentation and observation that “Where the orchard once stood, not a single tree stands.”
Biding Time presents a bluesy, ragtime-infused track, with Keith’s harmonica, Tony’s spoons, and Martin’s electric guitar taking their place well in the mix. As the song title suggests, this one sits within the ‘passing of time’ vein which runs through the album, and there is a suggestion of optimism as Steve intones, “Someday the sun will shine.”
Night Follows Day is undoubtedly a song that will resonate with travelling musicians, inspired by a spell of insomnia and homesickness in a distant hotel room. The self-questioning and uncertainty inherent in lines such as “Did she say she loved me, it was never set in stone” is enhanced by the banjo and pedal steel of Johnny Fewings and Alan Cook, respectively. Once again, however, Steve manages to unearth an element of optimism, this time the sound of a “fine singing bird, that must herald light” as the darkness of the night is overtaken by the light of the new day.
A return to a blues style follows with One More Day. Here, Steve’s superb guitar playing takes centre stage in a song which talks about being adrift in the big city, the daily grindstone of work:
“It’s one more day on the Circle Line
One more day to lose your mind
Round and round
In this goldfish bowl”;
the ever-present search for an escape, a goal that always remains tantalisingly just out of reach,
“Prisoner of fading memories
Forgetting what it was once was to be a free young man.”
There is another change in style and direction with the intriguing Never Could Have Asked For More, a song that conveys a sense of awe and wonder as effectively as any other I know. As Steve says, “There are some locations on this earth that are so awe-inspiring that though we search for words of description they mostly fall way short.” Despite this, reflecting on locations visited, which feature natural and man-made phenomena, Steve has certainly not fallen short. He has created a majestic song taking us on a tour of some of the world’s most iconic sites.
“I have seen Colorado, sparkling in the Canyon’s floor”…
“I have crawled right to the centre,
the resting place of Cairo’s Kings,
pyramids of ancient splendour”…
“I have touched great stones a-standing
in a ring on Salisbury Plain”…
“Seen the painted beast and feeding
ochre manes and charcoal horns
in the caves where bygone beings
lit the torch where life was born.”
The disparate geographical sites mentioned are also reflected in various changes of musical atmospheres apparent in the track; for example, a Middle Eastern/Arabic feel often can be perceived, in no small part, due to the string quartet.
Time And Tide returns us to the previously mentioned ongoing motif and is a gem of a track. With the acoustic guitar creating a Spanish-sounding vibe, the lyrical imagery includes references to sea shells and skimming stones, and the song’s structure seemingly offers two time-related scenarios concerning decisions, firstly:
“There comes a time
A time to choose
No time for tears when there’s nothing to lose.”
“Picking up shells listening for answers”
“Skimming of stones to glide between the rollers”
and then, perhaps more definitively,
“There comes a time
To pack up and move
No need to hesitate
Nothing to prove.”
for, in the final account,
“Time and tide waits for no one.”
Throughout his career, lyrics expressing his social awareness and political commentary have permeated his work, and this trait continues to be in evidence on this final recorded offering, Hard Cheese. As Steve himself opines, “The playing fields of Eton have a lot to answer for”, and on this track, which musically again has a ragtime, jazzy feel, replete with more fine electric guitar from Martin, he berates the over-privileged subject of his ire.
“Oh how my hard bleeds…
lying cheating all your life”,
celebrates his downfall,
“here comes your reckoning”,
before leaving the listener in no doubt as to the identity of the ex-Prime Minister in question
“You played the bumbling buffoon,
stole the cream with a silver spoon.”
The album’s title track is the only instrumental piece. A solo guitar journey, this is Steve’s paean to his musical influences. Incorporating a wide range of styles, this musical tour-de-force is a fitting showcase for his mercurial guitar-playing talents.
Raw emotion defines No Tears To Spare, a moving song based almost verbatim on an overheard conversation, which laments upon missed opportunities, regret and disappointment. The melancholic mood is enhanced by guitars, which deftly flit between pedal steel and Spanish, a perfect accompaniment to the mournful and reflective.
“My wishing well has run empty”…
“So many chances and wrong choices,
I would beg or steal for those chances again”…
“Disappear or deliver,
These were the last lonesome words I heard her say.”
A return to the political swiftly follows with Go Away From My Door. This song is directed at the representative “from the then party of misrule”, who came knocking at Steve’s door. The gentle acoustic guitar and piano contrast significantly with the ever-increasing anger of the lyrics.
“Go from my window, go away from my door
You bring too much sorrow, I don’t need it no more
You bring your deception, lay it at my feet
Must I repeat myself once more?”
“Spouting your lies to save your skin.”
“You promised jam tomorrow but ladled out thin gruel…
…get away from this town.”
The album closes with Steve’s interpretation of a traditional jewel, Sweet Primroses. Also known variously as The Banks of Sweet Primroses and The Sweet Primeroses, on his 1968 LP with Dave Swarbrick, But Two Came By, Martin Carthy wrote: “The Banks of Sweet Primroses has been described as one of the most perfect of English folk songs.” Catalogued as Roud 586 and closely associated with Phil Tanner and The Copper Family, together with many illustrious others, the song tells the bitter-sweet tale of lost love involving a visually challenged suitor who fails to recognise the young girl he has tried to court previously. This track is undoubtedly the highest of highs on which to bow out.
Regarding quality, interest, and enjoyment, Last Call is as valuable and worthy as any of his previous recordings. It secures Steve Tilston’s place as a stellar member of the folk music elite.
Whilst time may have been called on further recorded work, there is no indication that Steve will hang up his guitar in terms of live performances; indeed, he has a raft of upcoming dates at which he will be promoting this release.
Last Call – Out now on Talking Elephant
Order via Proper Music