A Multitude Of ONE is the artist’s name for multi-instrumentalist, Colin Powell, presently the guitarist with one of my favourite modern bands, Nova Cascade, replacing with great dignity and musical excellence the late Eric Bouillette.
The Bandcamp page for this project is at https://amultitudeofone.bandcamp.com/ and immediately, you will note the prolific output. He has been making music since the late 1960’s, and the new release, Songs From The Inner World is a retrospective work covering songs written, many being recorded and released for the first time, from a period of forty years, or so.
There are twenty tracks on this fine album, and a detailed discussion of each would, I think, test the patience of even the loyalist of my readers, so what I am going to do is have a gentle introduction, pick out, and allow you to listen to, some real highlights.
What strikes one immediately is the wide range of styles and influences in this collection, and it could almost be a musical story of my listening journey in life, because in common with most serious music listeners, my collection and tastes are not confined to progressive rock (which itself contains such a wide range of styles as to be a virtually meaningless phrase, really), but 1960’s pop, “pre-progressive” music such as The Moodies, art rock, some of the punk/new wave revolution represented here by Wasting My Time, the explosion of ska fusing black roots and white mod rock, the pop/rock of the 1980’s, to independent rock with bands such as The Smiths to Blur & Oasis a decade later, electronic experimentation and commercially driven pop, all containing those eternal likes of mine, which can be summed up as intelligent music, well played, importantly telling a story, either from the personal or the third-party perspective.
Songs From The Inner World gives us all this, so allow me to provide you with a flavour of it.
The opening piece, Shining, a paeon to unrequited love is a 1960’s pop/rock song and could have charted easily in any period from 1964 to the end of the decade when English beat pop bands ruled the world and had some fantastic music. This is a bright opener.
There is some more dreamy psych-pop on Lost Romance infused with the spirit of that time now long past. It is embedded below for you to imbue yourself with that organ, relentless rhythm, and guitars in a track which conjures for me the image of a host of pretty girls, and their lovelorn male admirers watching from the edge, in the dance halls which were common in the UK and immortalised by The Kinks with their incredible Come Dancing.
Home is a strong contender for this website’s “track of the year” award come December, and it is embedded below for you. From the opening chords on Powell’s guitar, the yearning of his emotion describing home, the gentle keys providing a lush soundscape, you know you are in for a treat. This is to these ears a nigh on perfect folk rock track clearly influenced by the likes of CSN, and, I might add, would sit very happily in any collection of yours containing those greats. The guitar solo is a treat. Pretty much the perfect sub-five-minute track.
What follows is interesting, Lock Me Away infused with Depeche Mode and that period of electronic rock, starkly in opposition to the corporate glam New Romanticism in the same period. The drum machine pulsing away beneath the stark and then grandiose keys, all the while Powell crying out to be locked away in true miserabilist fashion. The guitar solo reminds me of some of Oldfield’s finer distorted riffs, and this is a gem of a track embedded above.
Hold Me Now is essential, and recognisable to all of us who have held the hands of a loved relative at the close of their time on earth, imploring us to follow our dreams whilst we are young, and no tears for them following a long and happy life. Simply beautiful and full of emotion, with an intelligent mix of the mournful, especially the guitar solo, but also the hope for the future. I love the vocal on this.
When A Fantasy Ends is a fine, blues-based track, with some gorgeous guitar licks, but imbued with the type of introverted male thoughts popular in the mid-1980’s, especially in Powell’s hometown of Salford, so an interesting piece.
The Sea (A Cautionary Tale) is a traditional shanty, with the dangers of the sea laid bare, and this leads into Vikings, a dramatic traditional piece dealing with those Norse explorers, whose adventures are vital to understanding our island’s past.
In The Pines is a tragedy telling a tale of a girl whose husband perished in a car accident, and the aftermath of this, Powell telling a sad tale with aplomb.
Only Dreaming is infused with the spirit of The Moodies I mentioned above, and this must be an old song, right at the beginning of Powell’s songwriting efforts, and it reminds me so much of the late, great, Ray Thomas. It is embedded below, a loving piece I thoroughly enjoy.
This is followed by a gorgeous track which has that spirit of wishing for a better world, some peace, less violence, and an end to all the hate which the 1960’s culture thought would become the mainstream, but, sadly, ended in tears, but the thought was nice whilst it lasted, and we can still dream that we shall wake up, find this violence is all a dream, and mankind has grown up. There is some delicious guitar work in this track embedded below. A really beautiful piece of music.
An album of varying themes, influences, always very well played and having a warmth which only a personal musical journey of a talented artist can bring you, this has been a pleasure to both listen to and review.