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BALLADEER Album

by ALAN BONNER

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1.
AUTUMN 03:19
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I always think of you in autumn When the nights are drawing in And fireworks illuminate the sky It makes me wanna laugh, It makes me wanna cry And how the rain is setting in I remember you in autumn When children kick around the leaves And Regent's Park turns gold As lover's on benches snuggle closer to protect against the cold As if they have the need I still remember you in autumn Each time September takes a bow And even though it's been five years It feels like you're still here Though we don't know each other now A change is blowing on the wind this autumn As birds due south leave tree's alone I pack my dreams in boxes Head back to the city, turn my back against the wind Hoping for a better me
2.
LIGHTHOUSE SONG 03:38
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3.
LOOK AT ME 04:05
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4.
TALIA 03:20
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Jack Daniel'sbottles with candles stuck outa them Hungover sundays, Our dressing gowns almost lived in Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Debbie Harry and lots of red wine, lots of red wine Cocaine nights on the pavements of Camden Town Every Sunday you nurse me through my come down Always there with a smile and a cuddle and lots of red wine, lots of red wine. Talia you're the best friend a no one like me could wish for Drink me under the table and then pick me up from the floor Drink me under the table and roll all my cigarettes for me And I'll make the tea Talia you're the girl I would marry if girls were my thing But the're not so there won't be a wedding or ring But there will be a party, just for the hell of it That's what we do best Envelope me in you're loveliness The tangles, the bleach in your hair Borderline alcoholic but nobody cares so let's go to the offie and buy some red wine Danced our way through university and lost the plot at Glastonbury All done with impecable style Like Bonnie and Clyde with no guns and no violence Just lots of red wine, lots of red wine Na na na Na na na na na na na na na Na na na Na na na na Na na na na na Na na na Na na na na Na na na na Talia Talia Talia Talia
5.
LITTLE M 03:29
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6.
RAINBOW MAN 03:37
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Hanging on a fence at 6am That's how they found you Buzzards fly black against the early morning sky Circle around you Took your money, took your clothes They could not take your dignity Scarecrow boy strung up upon the prairy there that night You just wanted to be free You're a rainbow man Biggotry paraded like its aristocracy You know that you're a rainbow man And they can't harm you now They can't hurt you now So stands the scarecrow boy, silent in the wind Crucified in hate crime and for what? some so- called sin And the world they cried for you But it's so en-vogue to hate And help it came too late You're a rainbow man Biggotry paraded like its aristocracy You know that you're a rainbow man And they can't harm you now You're a rainbow man Biggotry paraded like its aristocracy They can't hurt you now They can't hurt you now Ten years pass the world has changed Learnt to tolerate We forget the names of liberations casualties Those who died in hate They should hang their heads in shame Those who still don't know you're name But you didn't die in vain. You didn't die in vain You're still alive in every rainbow flag that flies And they can't hurt you now They can't harm you now They cant harm... You're still alive in every rainbow flag that flies And they can't harm you now
7.
OCEAN 04:29
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8.
REDEMPTION 03:38
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9.
BETTER MAN 02:37
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about

"Balladeer is the 2nd album fro London based Singer Songwriter Alan Bonner. He Embarked on a world tour throughout 2012 /13 to support the record.

Born and bred in the parochial heartlands of Suffolk and then polished by the coastal gentility of Brighton Institute Alan Bonner does not exactly scream Sex and drugs and rock ‘n’ roll at you - more a case of Next and rugs and chocolate roll. With his pre-Raphaelite tresses and slightly androgynous looks he is visually anachronistic, as though beamed up from the mid-seventies complete with the comparative innocence and sensitivities of an era that is already becoming lost in the mists of time.

Slightly glam, slightly hippie, it’s as though he was cryogenically preserved, just in case Vietnam became the overture to a holocaust. Armageddon never quite made it but Alan did and he espouses sentiments and thoughts that are not the natural oeuvre of a world besotted with iphones and ipads, and yet because they are delivered with idiosyncratic sincerity they charm and delight.

Alan Bonner has reached maturity with his current album but he is an anomaly, having been conceived by influences handed down from a traditional singer-songwriter lineage. His heritage is that of folk and balladeers and buskers. Indeed, the new outing is actually called ‘Balladeer’ - a beguiling seduction of words and music which delineate and define him – the minstrel for an era of coalition and recession, the piano player with the lyrical heart and poetic soul.

His voice has already been recognised to have flavours and textures from Bowie to James Taylor to Rufus Wainright but it also has a distinctive quality of its own. An occasional vibrato adds emotional fragility to his compositions and a little street dialect in his diction adds a contemporary facet that wouldn’t be evident in the work of his musical antecedents.

This is the type of music that will endure long after other fads and fashions have passed on by. When the power lines are down the likes of Alan Bonner will still be able to sit at a piano and pick up a guitar and mesmerise audiences with ability and creativity, without whistles and bells, without smoke and mirrors, but with just ability and emotion. There is a time and a place for everything and a season for all things. The self-assured songs on this album will find a bridge that crosses over from Spring to Winter and they will sit snugly in most collections. The album is timeless, not only in the accepted sense, but in the way the clock stops when you listen to it and the world pauses to breath and bask in its warmth.

He is an impressionist using his voice and finger-work to paint with delicate brush-strokes that add sufficient colour and contrast to form strong images in the mind. Some are light sketches, like the track ‘Little M’ - pretty and tinkling and with all the sweet ingredients of a lullaby but without tasting of saccharine. Other pieces are richer evocations, like the very personal love song ‘Talia’ which is an open window on his own relationship.

It is a collection nourished by influences although perhaps not so much influence as a distillation of the collective craft bequeathed by generations of forbears. Judicious use of instrumentation such as ukulele and cello add a flourish and burnish which offer perfect ornamentation without drowning the effect in over-production. Indeed the whole work is modest and understated and yet Alan is mustering a catalogue that would entitle him to be much less reserved than he is. Indeed the parting song on the album is called ‘Better man’ and has the air of a shanty with its decorative use of an accordion. What better way to describe the man himself – better than so many of his contemporaries and awaiting the acclaim that on the evidence of 'balladeer' should imminently arrive.

ELECTRIC HARMONY Review 2012

credits

released May 14, 2012

All Songs c.2012 Alan Bonner
Produced by Polly Hewett and Alan Bonner
Mixed and Mastered by Vincent Browett
Cover art c.2012 Talia Giles

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ALAN BONNER London, UK

"Alan Bonner has the means of a pauper but sings with the heart of a king" is what one critic wrote in review of the English musician's 2012 Balladeer album.
He has toured extensively on both sides of the atlantic & in Europe
Night Music - His 3rd album was released in 2016. He has received airplay on BBC6 Music and MTV Italy, & has appeared in publications Time Out Attitude, Gay Times, & Grazia ... more

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