Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Ultimately all that can matter from a single release is whether it grabs you first time round and playfully suggests that you go and investigate the hopefully inevitable album or E.P. that comes a few weeks after. In the end the complete work is where the reveal into an artist’s soul and thoughts lay. Like a Shakespeare sonnet being read aloud in an English class and discussing it with knowledge without having read any of the others, the whole body of work is where the real insight comes into play.

That is of course unless you are Thom Morecroft, then every single, every note is worth immersing yourself into as if it’s the last time you will cherish the moment. Like artists such as Steve Hackett, David Bowie or Ian Prowse, even listening to a single is to discover so much out about the performer that that one sonnet of Shakespeare’s time can be held as illuminating.

Such is the grip of On All Night that the everyday distractions such as breathing will become obsolete for a short time. There are moments in which a soul is captured just by the words read, sang or played with and this for Mr. Morecroft is one of them, a song that gently opens itself up and then repeatedly slams its face into the thoughts of those grabbed by the raging fire.

Assuredness comes in many forms and the more you hear of Thom Morecroft, the more you realise just how genuine he is, not just as a performer but as a human being also. On All Night grabs the attention because of the basic spark, the shred of decency and honesty that you hope for in all performers.

With a timbre in his voice that is reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsay Buckingham, Thom Morecroft steals the day, to the point that the 24 hour pillage is enough to think that bed may as well be an option as nothing really is going to top this. Of course a day is a long time and a member of the Westminster Empire might be found in a compromising position with a giraffe on Hampstead Heath but until then, On All Night, is as great a proposition that you are likely to hear.

Ian D. Hall