Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Music is nothing without enthusiasm, the blaze of ongoing passion and the fervour of belief that what you are producing is something that will nestle at the heart of many a listener and grab their attention and excite them to a point where apathy is thrown to ravenous wolves and the deadly soulless.

Enthusiasm and passion can mean a lot more to in some respects to the listener than any amount of talent can offer. Some of the greatest guitarists to have ever strode the musical stage look and sound so disinterested in what they do that they somehow suck the joy out of a gig and out of life. Like being married to the most nagging partner possible to can have you cowering under the weight of one raised eyebrow, or being friends with someone who you fail to understand what ever drew you together, if the passion isn’t there, then why are you playing the game?

For the Keith Thompson band, passion is riddled throughout his new album, the songs are as delighted to be played as finding an alien visitor in your local pub extoling the enjoyment of a properly brewed bitter and finding out he is a dab hand at cribbage. Catch The Fire, perhaps an instruction, possibly a cheerful command from a man himself playing as if the smouldering tones of his songs are igniting the personal freedom one gains when creating something cool and enticing but most of all, a lesson in how passion is needed no matter what you strive to do in life. Without passion you may as well be a hard edged rock, unblinking, uncaring and only useful for sitting on when life becomes too weary.

With very special performances from Buddy Whittington and Laurence Jones, as well as Keith Thompson’s own band which includes a tremendous set by Neil Simpson on bass and the stirrings of beauty in Patsy Gamble’s saxophone, Keith Thompson delivers the 16 track album with deftness and a touch of musical madness.

Tracks such as Paid My Dues, the brilliant Burning The Playhouse Down, Getting Ready To Burn, the thrilling Wrong Side of the Bed and Access Denied makes Catch The Fire dismiss musicians who just seem at times to only care about the mood they are in rather than the chance to inspire at any cost. To Catch The Fire is to hold the passion, let it burn brightly in your hands.

Ian D. Hall