Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It seems an interminable age since Alan O’ Hare put forward the cause. The imposing marriage between the personal thought and the anger that burns within at the way that the world has taken a sudden turn to an extreme position in that all has been made steadily good now comes crashing down amongst the bitterness of memories. Yet there is hope, there should always be the glimmer of optimism that makes each day worthwhile and keeps the anger tucked up inside just that little bit longer. Such is the power of Alan O’ Hare’s writing under the banner of Only Child that the latest album, From Muddy Water To Higher Ground is just that, the anticipation of seeing your loved one smile whilst raging at the past and the future in the same breathe.
Only Child is far though from being a solitary affair, not only with some of the very best of musicians in Liverpool making an appearance, including Birmingham’s Luke Moore, who surely is becoming the 21st century version of E.L.O’s great Jeff Lynne, John Gibbons, Lee Shone, Rachel Cooper, the gracious Laura McKinlay, the subtle beauty of bass provided by Vanessa Murray, Jon Lawton and Danny Kirkham, but also those that don’t get mentioned in the instrument credits, the family and friends that have guided Mr. O’ Hare to this point in his life. His obvious love for these people instead coming through in certain songs and like all music, the harder you truly listen, the more you actually take note, the more you realise that Alan is not just a song writer with a true sense of purpose but also a poet whose buttons have been pressed so hard that without that background family to reign back the full extent of the burning passionate anger, he really could start the fight back against the wrongs in the world armed only with a pen and a guitar chord.
From Muddy Water To Higher Ground takes that anger and moulds it into an album that will, if you are of a certain disposition to understand feelings, make you cry for what happens in the everyday but also weep unashamedly for the happiness found in the smallest moment. the dichotomy between tracks such as Gypsy Boy and While She’s Asleep, the difference in one person’s actions in tracks such as Green Eyes Singing and the shadowlike disgust feel of The Price show perfectly that within anybody’s mind there is always a battle raging and it takes music to soothe and control the anger and to replace it, hopefully, with at least one image of love. It is an ability seen and understood by many but perhaps arguably not with the same sense of keenness afforded to Alan O’ Hare.
With the highly enjoyable St Saviour’s Square and I Ran Away making up a number of excellent songs found on the album, this is Only Child, this is Alan O’ Hare at his very best. To weep at the injustice found within the lyrics is not a sign of weakness but merely an understanding of the anguish all should feel.
Ian D. Hall