John Howard - Cut The Wire (Vinyl Remaster)

There seems no greater match than John Howard and the label of Ex Norwegian's Roger Houdaille, Think Like A Key. The First Release is a Remaster of John's 2019 album, Cut The Wire and released on Vinyl. There is also a download version.

Cut The Wire was in the Top 40 IDHAS Best Albums of 2019 and this is a wonderful remaster by Prof. Stoned. I compare Howard to Ian Hunter a lot. Both are very different artists, but both have aged gracefully and are producing exceptional recent albums, which are very different from what they became famous for.

John has never stood still from his early days comparisons as a Man With A Piano and the endless Elton John comparisons to the modern day reflective Singer Songwriter tag that he masters with ease. Cut The Wire doesn't disappoint. It's beautifully written and performed.

Cut The Wire revealed a mire mellow feel to John's work but that doesn't bury the sheer splendour of his songwriting. Here, he seems far more pensive, but at the same time, very optimistic. Keep Going Angel is an absolute singalong joyous affair and stands up with anything that he's produced. 

 Cut The Wire, as a title track, is also incredibly moving and this is counter balanced by the jauntiness of Idiot Days. So Here I Go is a jaunty singalong, almost an "all together now" whilst retaining its slight autobiographical, lessons learned lyrics. Pre-Dawn is yet another fine example of his mastery of storytelling.

We Are is in McCartney ballad territory and Long Since is pure Al Stewart. The song craft here is gobsmacking in it's scope. There's a lot of admiration for 70's Singer Songwriters, but the few who still perform are largely on Greatest Hits Tours.

I defy any of these peers to write an album as good as this and to be as relevant. It would be easy for John Howard to dine out on occasional performances of Kid In A Big World. Why the hell should he, when he still writes albums as good as this?

The Vinyl album is available here. The download of the new mix can be listened to and bought here.


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John Howard - Collected : The Best Of John Howard (2CD) (Pre-Order Details)

 

Long overdue, specially-priced 2CD career retrospective on the Kool Kat Musik Label (including a cache of previously unreleased tracks) by one of the UK’s best artists you probably never heard! 

This collection will be released on 14 May 2021. The Kool Kat pre-order link is here. 

UK Orders will be supplied by I Don't Hear A Single, but paid for through the Kool Kat link above. Special Arrangements have been made to reduce the postage and packing charge to 8 dollars for UK Customers. You will pay the Kool Kat rate of 16 dollars will have 8 dollars immediately refunded. Therefore the price will you will be paying is 26 dollars ($18 + $8), This is effectively £19 at current exchange rates and you also do not risk any potential UK Customs charges.

European Customers can pre-order directly from John here.  This will avoid any slight Brexit related delay, but John only has limited stock after which further European CDs will be supplied by I Don't Hear A Single. Further details will then be supplied.

This 2CD set was curated by Edward Rogers (host of The Atlantic Tunnel and quite an artist himself) who also wrote the copious liner notes.  

“What happens when you meet THE SPECIAL artist who can put a thrill in your heart from a twinkle in their eye? Well in 1974, that artist was John Howard. He was discovered playing in the Troubadour Folk Club. The music world was at his feet -wined and dined at the most fabulous London restaurants, photos by THE photographer (Dezo Hoffman), clothed by the finest haberdashery in town. 

He was groomed to the be the next Elton John meets David Bowie! He had the songs, looks, charisma and style, Pop music had a new contender.  As we all know, not every artist who is a star achieves commercial success and London streets are not paved in gold. That doesn’t stop a true artist from creating the precious art they were born to make.  

For most artists that would break their spirit but John found a respectable way to pursue his musical career by playing London’s fashionable restaurants and piano bars. He continued to release singles, like 1978’s ‘I Can Breathe Again’ produced by Trevor Horn of ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ fame! By the mid-80’s he had a successful career in A&R working at MCA, EMI and Universal, while still pursuing his song writing career. 

Listen to these songs and feel the emotions revealed in his lyrics as the writer opens himself up and invites you into his private world. He reveals little segments of his life through each lyric. Feelings we can all relate to!  Maybe by wearing his heart on his sleeve and revealing his true feelings he has alienated some, but I believe this should be the mission of every true artist.  

Unlike Scott Walker before him, John never stopped performing and entertaining in all the London cabaret and night clubs. He may not be a household name, but it doesn’t stop him from writing an amazing collection of songs.  The songs contained here are the ultimate collection of this artist’s finest work to date. 

Taken from over fifty years’ work, it’s the first time John’s finest songs are available on CD in the United States!  I am honoured to have worked with John, selecting some of my faves so you can discover the magic music of his music John Howard. I hope you enjoy the musical journey.” 

Edward Rogers (taken from the liner notes) 

Further details on John and his career can be found on his website here.

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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2020 : 31-40

It's been difficult to get these choices down to 100. I'm also not a believer in saying one album is better than another. Most of the time you are comparing Apples To Oranges. I'm not a List person, I just think what's the point.

However, for the last few years I have compiled annual Best Of 's  because these posts seem so popular and the aim of this Blog is to get exposure (and Sales) for the artists. There is no meaning or judgement on an album that is Number 1, Number 100 or not on the list. Anything that I review on here, mention on Social Media or play on the Radio Show is as highly recommended.

I would also add that the Top 100 includes albums available as Download Only. To suggest that they are anything less than equal to a Physical release is grossly unfair, even more so in 2020 with all that has happened during the year. To qualify, an album has to be available for sale in any format.

For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to where you can find further details on how to listen or buy the album. 

No 31 : Supercrush - SODO Pop    IDHAS Review

No 32 : The Speedways - Radio Sounds        IDHAS Review









No 33 : The Persian Leaps - Smiling Lessons     IDHAS Review

No 34 : Sergeant Buzfuz - Fox Pop          IDHAS Review

       

No 35 : John Howard - To The Left Of The Moon's Reflection     Review

No 36 : Nick Piunti & The Complicated Men - Downtime      Review




 




No 37 : Girl Skin - Shade Is On The Other Side     IDHAS Review

No 38 :  West Coast Music Club - Greetings From Ashton Park, West Kirby    IDHAS Review

  



No 39 : Papills - Too Hot For May   IDHAS Review

   

No 40 : 2 a.m. Orchestra - Trading Graves         IDHAS Review

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Ex Norwegian and John Howard - I Don't Hear A Single Audio Extravaganza Volume 100 Live Specials

The response to this week of Live Sessions has been really heart warming, we were heavily over subscribed and so we hope to do more in the future. However, we don’t want to to divert too much from the reviews and interviews that I Don’t Hear A Single is known for. So they’ll be the occasional treat, rather than the norm and the Audio Extravaganza will continue with its fortnightly mix of the best new music.

The next two days underline the range of music that we cover. Our fourth evening features Ex Norwegian and John Howard. Two Ex Norwegian Sessions recorded this year, bookmark John’s.  The heavy Electricity of Ex Norwegian contrasts beautifully with the piano Singer Songwriter’s calm.

I have described Miami Beach’s Ex Norwegian as the best band of the past decade. Roger Houdaille’s outfit have an exceptional back catalogue that majors on Pop Rock and Psych Pop. The Power Pop of 2018’s No Sleep made it I Don’t Hear A Single’s Album Of The Year and Last Year’s 2 CD Best Of, Something Unreal was our Compilation of the year.

2020 is Psych Pop year for the band. Two albums are released by the band on June 5th. Hue Spotting is an original Psych Pop masterpiece. Spotting Hues is a sister album of wonderful obscure Psych covers. The first of two sessions was recorded this month.

The second session was recorded early this year for I Don’t Hear A Single. The only repeated song is Making Deals which is no hardship as it was my favourite single of 2018.

John Howard is a national treasure. Born near my neck of the woods in Bury, he now lives in Murcia. People will talk about Elton John and Billy Joel as 70s Singer Songwriters with a piano, but no album from either tops Kid In A Big World.

His 70’s Output was and still is extraordinarily good. The early 2000’s saw a welcome realisation of how great an album, Kid In A Big World was and all that attention led to the album being reissued in 2003. There began the revival of Howard’s career.

John left behind A and R and Marketing to begin a second prolific career. Since then we’ve had nine new albums plus three Live albums ,a Best Of, A collection of rarities on vinyl and numerous EPs. All receive critical acclaim and rightly so.

His autobiography, the first of three intended volumes, is a fascinating, at times shocking account of Life in the 70s. I’d recommend Incidents Crowded With Life To All. Here is a five song session from John, recorded earlier this month.

Thanks as always to Jim Moody for his technical excellence. The details of our fourth special are below:


01 Ex Norwegian Intro

02 Dance Trance Pants
03 Bloody Patriots
04 All The Time
05 Making Deals
06 Post Post Malone
07 Baby You’re Lame
08 In The Land Of Grey And Pink
09 Something 2020

10 John Howard Intro

11 Kid In A Big World
12 Permanently Temporary
13 The Time Of Day
14 Family Man
15 In The Stillbeat of A Silent Day

16 Ex Norwegian Intro

17 Team No Sleep
18 Fear Backwards
19 Making Deals
20 Look Around


Ex Norwegian and John Howard - IDHAS Audio Extravaganza Volume 100 Live Special



Or Click Below







You can still listen to Monday's Caper Clowns Session here.

You can still listen to Tuesday's Sessions by Spygenius and Chris Church here.

You can listen to Wednesday's Sessions by Nick Piunti, The Vapour Trails and Dolph Chaney here.


You can listen to and buy the two new Ex Norwegian albums and Back Catalogue here. You can find more about the band on the website here.

You can find out more about John Howard and buy his albums here.


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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2019 : 31 - 40

It's been difficult to get these choices down to 100. I'm also not a believer in saying one album is better than another. Most of the time you are comparing Apples To Oranges. I'm not a List person, I just think what's the point.

However, for the last couple of years I have compiled Best Of 2019, normally I just said what my favourite album of the year is. I've done it again, because these posts seem so popular and the aim of this Blog is to get exposure (and Sales) for the artists.

There is no meaning or judgement on an album that is Number 1, Number 100 or not on the list. Anything that I review on here, mention on Social Media or play on the Radio Show is as highly recommended.

I would also add that the Top 100 includes albums available as Download Only. To suggest that they are anything less than equal to a Physical release is patently nonsense and omits many wonderful albums.

I will compile a Top 20 of Reissues and Compilations combined after all this is complete. For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to the review, where you can find further details on how to listen or buy the album.



31 Remo Drive - Natural, Everyday Degradation      IDHAS Review







32 Pastis - Circles       IDHAS Review







33 John Howard - Cut The Wire       IDHAS Review

34 My Little Hum - Pioneer       IDHAS Review







35 Louise Connell - Squall Echo Rale     IDHAS Review  







36 The Vapour Trails - See You In The Next World    IDHAS Review   







37 David Brookings And The Average Lookings - Scorpio Monologue       IDHAS Review







38 The Late Great - Temporary Love Songs       IDHAS Review

39 The Magic E's - Dead Star       IDHAS Review







40 The Lunar Laugh - Goodnight Noises Everywhere       IDHAS Review








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John Howard - Across The Door Sill

John Howard emerged in 1974 and as a 21 year old released the magnificent Kid In A Big World album, a pretty apt title from a lad from Bury moving to London. That album stands up with anything released at the time. A sort of Glam Piano led Pop, a field frequented by the likes of Elton John, Lynsey De Paul and Gilbert O'Sullivan. Howard was as good, if not better than any of those names and Kid In A Big World remains a timeless album.

The CBS promotion machine got behind the album, but with the likes of BBC Radio 1 refusing to playlist the singles, album sales were not as expected. The album was part of a trilogy with Technicolour Biography and Can You Hear Me OK?. CBS refused to release both, a classic example of a Record Company wanting instant paydirt, rather than growing an artist.

Both albums remained unreleased for three decades, until RPM and the foresight to release them. Radio Air Play was a real problem, it was often suspected that gay artists had this problem in the 70's when pop stars had to play up to a masculine image.

Howard continued to release singles, produced by the likes of a young Trevor Horn and Steve Levine. all to little effect and the recording stopped as John moved into a successful A and R career. In 1996, he recorded The Pros And Cons Of Passion album, the label went bust a week before it's planned release and that would appear to have been that recording wise.

In the early Noughties, Howard retired from his A and R career and so he thought, music making. In 2004, RPM re-released Kid In A Big World to rave reviews. The following year, RPM released the two other albums in the trilogy, again they gained great critical praise.

This led to a new album, the splendid As I Was Saying. It was as though he'd never been away and favourable comparisons to the likes of Rufus Wainwright led to Howard regaining his muse. As I Was Saying and Kid In A Big World are albums that everyone should own.

The renewed confidence led to continued releases, most of which are available digitally from his website here. Last year, John's multi format release, John Howard And The Night Mail was a wonderful band album and the success of that album has led to a deal with Occulation Recordings for his new solo album, Across The Door Sill.

Recorded over a 12 month period, Across The Door Sill has such depth, very much a piano album, but the multi layered vocals and themes make this an offering for the thinker. I've been fortunate to have this for six weeks or so and every listen brings out something new,

40 minutes for 5 songs may make people think of Prog or stretched out ideas, well there's not a hint of that. This is proper songwriting with great care. Each song is a story in itself, the mood of each song dictated by the care put into it. Multi layered vocal and piano, at times classical like, others seemingly lounge. It's essentially a folk album played on piano rather than acoustic guitar.

These multi layers are demonstrated best on the opener Who Cares. Not the most instantly accessible song on the album, it perfectly encapsulates what the album is trying to achieve. Repeated listens open up the layers. The album has had comparisons with Roy Harper and Judee Sill and I agree with that, however there's equal comparisons that can be made to aforementioned Rufus Wainwright and mid 70's Al Stewart.

You sense that this is the album that Howard always wanted to make, but never dared. He's a fantastic storyteller with a quaint Englishness of days gone by. The piano talks, it's amazing that one man with a piano can fill the sound so fully. This is particularly so on my favourite track, Stretching Out which is so melodic.

Occulation Recordings always wanted this to be a release across all formats. So to the vinyl limitations meant that a sixth song,Viewpoints, had to be left off the album. This additional track is available to all buyers from the label's website here. Buyers of CD or Vinyl also receive the album download free and Across The Door Sill can also be bought as a digital download.

People don't make albums like this any more. If they did, the world would be a better place. John Howard is an exceptional talent, a talent that should have earned his rewards 40 years ago. He can now.

John Howard - Across The Door Sill

This is a heads up, more than a review. John Howard's new album isn't out until early November and there will be a much fuller piece nearer the time. The album is wonderful.

It was Nick Fletcher who reminded me about John and I'm so glad he did. His 1975 album, Kid In A Big World stands up with any of time and is just as credible now. Elton John had nothing on this guy.

The Cherry Red release of As I Was Saying in 2006, reminded us all of what a talent he is. Taking It All To Heart from that album is just one example of that.





More recently, the quality control hasn't lessened. Last Year's band album, John Howard And The Night Mail is a corker. The new album is a solo affair. Across The Sill is almost Prog like in it's depth. It reminds me of Al Stewart or Roy Harper.

That voice is as sweet as ever. A master at work. So whilst you wait for my full review, here's a reminder of the joys of John Howard's I Got My Lady.