David Kidman - Freelance Music Reviewer

David is a freelance writer, currently based in West Yorkshire.
He was born further south, however, and lived and worked even further south for rather too long before grabbing the chance to move north when it finally came!

From a very early age, he has been keenly interested in (and knowledgeable about) music, this interest eagerly extending beyond the realms of folk into many other kinds of music, ever keeping an open mind to new musical experiences.

Although he has always embraced a certain critical mind-set, David’s writing career only really began in earnest around fifteen years ago, since which time he has contributed to a number of publications.

As well as fRoots and The Living Tradition, these include:
·        Online magazines – principally the well-respected Net Rhythms website (www.netrhythms.co.uk), more recently also Folkandroots.co.uk, and latterly with a dedicated page on the Acoustic Rotherham website (http://www.jmucreate.com/acousticrotherhamdavidkidmanreviewpage.html);
·        Print-based magazines – some with a national circulation (principally Properganda - the trade distribution mag - but also Rock’n’Reel Mk.1 and Traditional Music Maker); & several with a regional base (principally Folk Roundabout, also Stirrings, Tykes’ News, and very occasionally Folk On Tap).

The validity and effectiveness of his approach is reflected in the many positive testimonials received, and in the number of contextual review quotes encountered on artists’ own websites and publicity material!

... In the words of top singer-songwriter George Papavgeris:
"In all his work David shows an uncanny perceptiveness and enormous integrity, both served well by his meticulous attention to detail.  These characteristics shine through in everything he does.  As a reviewer of other people’s work he is able to get quickly under the skin of the creator and understand the underlying motives, enabling him to serve as an adviser, while at the same time he is able to stand back and use the perspective of varying audiences to give well rounded and informative critique on the result."

... This from master songmaker Ray Hearne of the NoMasters Cooperative:
'Nobody takes listening to songs and singers more seriously than Dave Kidman. A genuine and serious vocation, seriously sustained and carried over into performing, collecting and reviewing. Tirelessly evangelical on behalf of grassroots song, a Dave Kidman review is a serious review.'
 
... And from musician extraordinaire David Moss, formerly of Banoffi and now Lightgarden:
"Having forgotten that the first Banoffi CD had made its way to David, I was astounded to actually receive a phone call from him asking about the content and background to the songs and the band. I didn't know that reviewers did that. I now know that only David Kidman does that. His astute, considered listening skills and quest for honesty and accuracy give a rare and welcome quality and authenticity to all his work, be it his
writing or his singing or performing."

This page is still under development;  the Reviews link below will be initiated in due course. when time permits...  
In the meantime, to access some sample reviews under David's byline, please follow the links above to NetRhythms or Folkandroots.co.uk, or his Acoustic Rotherham page, or click the Black Swan Folk Club link on the Links tab. 

Any fees for specially commissioned work are flexible and negotiable!

Use the contact form below to get in touch. 

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David's Mission Statement

“My personal policy is to provide honest, objective, fair and constructive criticism and feedback. I will take time to do the job properly, and will not rush reviews through on one brief or casual listen.”

“I care about the music – passionately – and my intention is to do justice to both the music and the artist/s (although with the listener and potential purchaser in mind too of course). This is my way of using my expertise to give something back in return for all that the music has given me.”

“I review CDs of many types and genres of music: primarily folk or folk-related but also roots and Americana, country, blues…  however, my remit often also stretches further afield into some indie, classic and classical, some rock, prog, psych, pop, weird and wonderful stuff, some world music too.  But generally I won’t take on anything that’s not (or isn’t likely to be) within my field of expertise or experience.”

“I also sometimes review live gigs, festivals and other music events."

Reviews
MARY JANE – Mary Jane (Talking Elephant TECD.168)

The good guys at Talking Elephant have recently pledged their faith in signing this Southampton-based outfit, so they must be worth hearing – but that turns out to be a mammoth understatement!  For on further investigation it transpires that Mary Jane have been somewhat of a best-kept secret for close on 20 years; they formed at the tail-end of 1993 (out of the ashes of psychedelic band The Magic Cat), and spent a considerable time being better-known on the European scene, releasing their first four albums on the German label September Gurls along with a series of enticing offshoot projects, and all with a succession of personnel changes that would tax a Pete Frame family tree.

Mary Jane’s modus operandi is perhaps most readily described as good old folk-rock: folk-rock that’s recognisably of the old-school, sure, but of the sprightly, fleet-footed, freshest-sounding variety, solidly acoustic-based but with plenty of electricity (in both senses of the term) and devoid of leaden, lumpy rhythm or unwanted tired cliché. Listening to Eve, their fifth album release (and their first in eight years), is like being transported back to 1968, 1969 or 1970, the ultra-prolific time when all manner of more obscure, cult wyrd-folk (tho’ the term hadn’t been invented) bands were doing really interesting things with traditional material, giving it their own personal slant with a bit of judicious rocking-out for good measure, and topping up the trad with superior self-penned material to a greater or lesser degree according to predilections. Mary Jane is a band cast firmly in that mould; for, were it not for the exceptionally bright, clear sound and balance, the top-flight production values of their album, you could quite easily be deceived into thinking you were uncovering an archive treasure, a long-forgotten album that’s lain buried for the best part of 40 years in some obscure vault somewhere.

By some way the closest musical and spiritual reference point from that era, I feel, is Trees, though there are touches of Mellow Candle, early Steeleye and Unhalfbricking/Liege & Lief-period Fairport there too. Eve has the absolute authentic vibe of that era, but with a more aggressively confident demeanour that’s born of years of hard graft and accumulated musicianship as well as a deep-rooted conviction that transcends any desire for pastiche or lazy derivativeness, and it’s markedly less tentative or clumsy than its forebears in terms of experimentation (embracing episodic changes of time-signature and texture with fearlessness and logical ease). The real deal, in other words. These guys know how to have intelligent fun with their music-making, respecting both their sources and their listeners without getting too self-indulgent, weirdly esoteric or otherwise wilfully inaccessible. Of the key latter-day exponents of folk-rock, Mary Jane perhaps have the closest kinship with Bluehorses, or Mostly Autumn (without the same extent of prog tendencies), The Morrigan, Rhiannon, or even the original incarnation of Blackstone Edge. Some of Mary Jane’s individual and strikingly unusual treatments also evoke the Unthanks in their spirit of adventurousness and the frisson of excitement they create – Cruel Sister brings several such moments, where some of the vocal phrasing uncannily recalls a more forthright model of Becky Unthank, even though in purely musical terms the style of arrangement more closely resembles the aforementioned Trees.

Mary Jane now appears to have become a six-piece lineup, but at the time most of Eve was recorded the personnel consisted of founder members Paul Alan Taylor (guitars) and Jo Quinn (lead vocals, flute, recorders, violin), with violinist Gillie Hotston, drummer and lead vocalist Steve Barker and bassist Jon Hawkes. That bald listing doesn’t give a true idea of the richness and depth of the band sound on Eve, in both instrumental and (especially) vocal departments. In the latter regard, not only does Jo have a voice to die for (ethereally poised, swooping and soaring, often quite like Renaissance’s Annie Haslam with shades of Judy Dyble, comparably perfect in terms of diction but with an extra edge of powerhouse, a Grace-Slick-like earthiness that matches her intense strength of register), but the layering of vocal harmonies and the amazing intertwining of parts prove strong and often highly original. A recently-struck bond between Mary Jane and Portsmouth folk-rockers Arlen has resulted in that band’s vocalist Lucy Rutherford contributing big-time to a couple of Eve’s standout tracks – the epic Cruel Sister and a spine-chilling, nay quite time-stopping acappella rendition of When I Was In My Prime.

Me, I believe that the best folk-rock tends to be created where the elements of inventive interpretation, arrangement and spiritful workout are kept in credible balance and due perspective; and Mary Jane have all that going for them. There’s a sensitivity in their integration of decades of rock and folk influences, manifest in a conscious desire to vary, or deliciously underplay, the metrical beat. But when something heavier is called for, as on the storming Clonakilty, then Mary Jane rises to the occasion and pulls all the stops out; the soundscape opens out stylishly, it’s complex yet not overloaded, for every strand of the texture is allowed free rein and can be heard with blinding clarity throughout the course of the track. The sheer passion in execution crashes round in your head and heart like there’s no tomorrow. As it does on the disc’s opening salvo, an especially feisty and imaginative take on Twa Corbies.

Cruel Sister is another supreme moment – it engages so well because it’s organically evolving with the unfolding call-and-response of the ballad, and not just engineered as a lame excuse for a solo or two (well OK, the band don’t exactly have a Thompson or Swarb in their ranks, but equally they don’t lack serious musical chops). Mary Jane’s hard-driven take on The Great Silkie may in terms of attack and tempo be worlds away from Trees’ masterfully moody version, yet in its own way is probably every bit as “skerry” (read “scary”!) in its effect on the listener. The protagonist of Lovely Joan is an altogether different creature from the one usually encountered in folksong, here escaping any charge of prettiness with her swaggering, funky, almost Zeppelinesque gait, and her triumphant reel forms a natural coda to the track.

The title song, which refers both to the twilight of the day and an allegorical character representing this mixture of light and dark, is presented in two different settings, each in its own way highly persuasive. The “single version”, a sure-fire candidate for ready radio play, is gutsy and dynamic, and features the forthright fieriness of the band’s newest recruit, fiddler Serena Smith, here making her recorded debut with the band (she adds a special touch of the Irish in her signature fiddle style that both contrasts with and complements Gillie’s classically-influenced playing). The more considered, extended version is particularly fine and arguably even more satisfying, however, in context. Let The Fire Begin, with its ritualistic echoes, starts promisingly but becomes a touch self-conscious, its repetitive mantra eventually seeming slightly wooden and its episodic development a touch contrived; and So Be Wise feels rambling and inconsequential; but even these weaker moments are relative on what is basically a vibrant, strong album with a real sense of identity. It’s a disc that due to its distinctively punchy character really does make you sit up and take notice and realise there’s much more life left in the folk-rock genre than its detractors will admit.