Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

History is made by those that write it. Whether for ill or for good, the written word is the perfect response to an event; even a hundred years after the aftermath and fallout that has been captured forever in a slice of Time. The writers, musicians and photographers somehow manage to evoke a message of rememberance that is perhaps unique amongst all of human responses to a critical event or personal emotion. Especially when seen through the eyes of the passionate and highly skilled.

For Larry Miller, his latest album, Soldier of the Line, is arguably not only one of the finest records of his career, but one of the most outstanding of the year across the whole range of music. The wave builds from the very outset of the album, the rising tension of a man who has seen the past and what it actually means as he sees a relative in hospital during the First World War via the medium of photography. The reaction it installs into his song-writing psyche, the desolation of spirit that is coupled with the very modern issue of failed relationships and the feelings of inadequacy that tramples over each one of us when trying to make a small path through life; all is captured and held hostage in such a fine and remarkable record.

The very personal album title track Soldier of the Line grasps the listener by the shoulders and bellows, it positively roars across the decades that have passed between the most insane period of human history and to a time when self-sacrifice has been replaced by greed and want, the “I want because it is my right” philosophy has been well and truly established. Whilst war on any scale is horrific and can be seen as pandering to a certain section of society who are only too keen on keeping order at any cost, it also shows the honour in saving those that cannot save themselves, those that are truly threatened by oppression, cruelty and subjugation are those that we should help our fellow man when the call is raised.

With outstanding tracks littering the album, such as Failed Again, Our Time is Coming, Come Hell or High Water and the truly terrific Bathsheba, Soldier of the Line rocks the soul and soothes the Blues before assaulting every sense possible with an explosion of brilliance white heat of guitar, astonishing and exceptional, just something that cannot be contained; a declaration of war against the comfortable and undeservingly content. Terrific!

Ian D. Hall