Track Listing

1. Intro
2. Tir A Mor
3. My Heart's On Fire
4. I Wait For Your Love
5. Space Instrumental
6. Empty And Cold
7. Wanna See You Die
8. Morning Light
9. Morning Light
10. Headlong
11. Sunday Girl
12. Long Long Time
13. Outro

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157410 in Music
• Released on: 2006-05-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Really, genuinely fantastic
Saw Richard James last night in Cardiff and bought the CD from a table at the back, along with plenty of other people (sorry Amazon, but I couldn't wait). His band was excellent, but the star of the show, by a mile, was Richard himself, with some transfixing finger picked guitar and songs ranging from delicate, gentle folk-influenced gems to slide electric thumpers. Tir a mor is wonderful, with a descending electric note overlaying the acoustic progression. It sounds like struck glass and adds a sense of the ethereal. Wanna see you die, by contrast, is a sky rocket of a blues number that shows just how talented James is. You just don't often find albums that span such a variety of sounds, and yet fit perfectly in place together. Really, honestly, if anyone has any sense, this album ought to be marketed to the hilt. It is so much better than all the assorted Grays and Rice's that sell so many copies. So much cooler, too.

Magic
I've just been sitting in my local wine bar, the early summer sun and early evening glass of rosé making me feel relaxed. And then the first track of The Seven Sleepers Den wafts through the air: this is an Intro to tempt anyone to stay for the rest. So I did.

The album is full of beautiful songs, beautifully sung, and fantastic music. It's impossible to pick one favourite but amongst all of the lyrical subtleties there lies a belter of a song called 'Wanna see you die' which wakes the soul. I love them all.

Richard James has made a stunning first solo album and its appeal grows with every hearing.

Hidden depths...
After the enjoyable but slightly underwhelming solo efforts of other (former) band members at the start of 2006, I bought this more out of loyalty to the Gorky's than out of any great expectation that this album would stand up to repeated listening....

Any pre-conceived ideas I had that the majority of talent in the Gorky's lay elsewhere were quickly dispelled;- this guy is a serious talent as a vocalist, guitarist and all-round musician and eclipses anything released since the Gorky's disbanded. You don't have to be Welsh to understand and appreciate the atmosphere created by the first two songs;- a sample of what sounds like a chapel congregation (believe me it works!) followed by a song in Welsh 'Tir a Mor..'("Land and Sea")

Beyond this, anyone appreciative of folk music over the last 40 years can't help but be impressed by what follows over the next 30 mins or so. What he delivers goes way beyond the cliched 'carefully crafted' singer-songwriter description usually assigned to the commercial 'radio-friendly' artists mentioned below - unlike them, this guy really sparks!

His guitar work is astonishing in its effortlessness across the majority of songs, particularly on the instrumentals; all of which retain a degree of simplicity despite being multi-textured in their production. Other highlights include 'Morning Light' and 'Sunday Child, both of which has the listener hitting the repeat button. Above all, the sum of these tracks combined create an atmosphere rarely heard on contemporary offerings.

Buy it! it won't leave your CD player/I-pod playlist/head for months... ...if you liked the Gorky's I'd argue this exceeds highlights such as Spanish Dance Troup - one of the more memorable recordings I've bought in the last 5 years or so and one not to be missed (which is easier said than done given it's probably received little publicity outside of Wales) - personally I can't wait for his next album.