Midlake - The Courage of Others

[Russell]

After the fulsome praise that I lavished on Midlake's live performance last week, I've been waiting for the dust to settle on the album before I write a slightly more reasoned review.

It's true to say that, however good the album is, it does lose a little of the energy and passion that the songs have in the live arena. That criticism aside it is a mighty fine album, one that could have been released at any time in the last 40 years, such is its timeless quality and the air of perfection that pervades the recordings.

Opener 'Acts of Man', which was previously heard on the limited edition 12" issued at the end of last year, sets the tone of the album - acoustic guitars, close harmonies, flute and melancholy vibes. As with all but one of the songs on the album it's written in a minor key, and the flute gives it a haunting quality. Next up is 'Winter Dies', which manages to make the coming of spring sound like a sad thing, and is one of the few songs to feature much electric guitar. One of my favourite tracks on the album, especially the guitar solo at the end. 'Small Mountain' continues the nature theme, as does 'Core of Nature', which is probably the song which would fit easiest on '...Van Occupanther' (I did think they were singing 'Call of Nature' at first, which would have made a whole different vibe for the song!). 'Fortune' is a brief but lovely acoustic number, the happiest sounding song on the album, and is followed by 'Rulers, Ruling All Things' which is the centrepiece of the album, both musically with the balance of electric and acoustic guitars and flutes, and lyrically with lines like 'I stood in awe of all creation'. It could be a modern day hymn, or a warning that we face losing all the wondrous things the earth has given us. 'Children of the Grounds' is another of the rockier songs, before 'Bring Down' brings the folk roots to the fore again. 'The Horn' starts off by sounding like 'Don't Fear The Reaper' before descending into, frankly, a bit of a dreary average track. The album ends with the duo of 'The Courage of Others' and some great guitar, and then 'In The Ground' with its promise of hope - 'After long winter's gone, seems that all is well'.

Overall then, this is a classic album that you will no doubt still be playing in 10, 20 or even 40 years time. But if you want to get the best out of it you really should try to catch the band live.

Rock Club rating: 9.5/11
(Points deducted as follows: 0.5 for being too short (after 4 years it could've been more than 42 minutes long), 0.5 for not being as good as the live performance, and 0.5 for reminding me on a couple of occasions of 'Forever Autumn' by Justin Hayward!)