Track Listing

1. Cold frontier
2. Are we alright
3. Come by
4. Northwest passage
5. Widdecombe fair
6. Things I learnt this year
7. You're mine
8. Windchanges
9. Don't look now
10. Sally free and easy
11. Yeovil town
12. Cold heart of England
13. The streets of Forbes
14. The flood

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #54764 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-03
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Cold Frontier warms the heart
...I finally took the plunge a couple of months ago after hearing a fellow folkie at a Fairport gig sing their praises, after which I dashed out and, lacking any other recommendation other than they were 'Brilliant!!', bought the Show of Hands album with the most interesting cover: Cold Frontier.

From the first track, the evocotive Cold Frontier, to the last song, The Flood, Show of Hands manage to combine an extraordinary talent for song-writing and lyricism with a fine ear for instumentation - for example the heart-breaking 'cello on Don't Look Now, a fine ghost story based on an idea by Phil Beer, or the sparse guitar of Come By, echoing the combined sentiment of love for the English Countryside and anger at the ill treatment of our environment, and the effects it has on people simply trying to earn a living. Surely, as a song-writer, Steve Knightly deserves all the accolades heaped on him from all sides.

This is not to under-estimate the influence of Phil Beer, a superb muli-instrumentalist who is key to Show of Hands' distinctive acoustic sound. Lest it be thought that Phil plays second fiddle to Steve Knightly, just listen to his playing first fiddle on tracks such as Northwest Passage and Sally Free and Easy, the latter a song about lost love at sea: folk played with a modern ear. He is no mean singer either, with a warmth that compliments Steve Knightly's 'windswept' voice.

Finally, for all their observations on such issues as asylum seekers, or the effects of Chernobyl, never let it be said that these guys lack a sense of humour: their experience of meeting a drunk in Yeovil Town is told with fine self-deprecating wit, and Things I Learnt Last Year sounds more like a pub session than an album track, with the singers sounding like they are just about to burst into laughter. Balancing incisive contempory social comment with more traditional songs, the final impression given is that this is a duo who quite simply enjoy making good music. Cold Frontier is a heart warming album, which you will want to listen to again and again.

Bliss!!
Having seen 'Show of Hands' 'live' at the Cambridge Folk Festival and more recently on their 'In the round' tour of the country, i feel that this is one of the best folk sounds around today.Anyone who wishes to 'get into' S.O.H can buy this CD without any apprehension. It is a brilliant album with well crafted lyrics and fine instrumentation from both Steve Knightly and Phil Beer. I urge anyone who reads this review, to go to the 'click 1' function and buy!!!!
You will not be disappointed.

Sheer acoustic magnificence
Show of Hands, an acoustic duo, are Britain's best kept musical secret - they tour extensively both here and abroad, often playing small, local venues, but have an astoundingly widespread and passionate grass-roots following (they have filled the Royal Albert Hall twice!). I have seen them live several times in the last couple of years, and am convinced that Steve Knightley is one of the finest song-writers working in the acoustic genre. His voice (once described by 'Q' magazine as "vast and windswept") is astounding, and both he and Phil Beer are accomplished instrumentalists. Although firmly rooted in the folk idiom, they transcend the genre in much the same way that Richard Thompson does....