Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The name alone evokes images of nights in the more entertaining and laid back venues in Liverpool, the relaxed atmosphere of the afterglow of an easy afternoon turning its hands to the time of the extraordinary and the anxious furtive glances of a night in which elegance and style are only part of the running order. For Liverpool’s Mellowtone, the homes have been many, the acts numerous and always welcome but there is really is only one Dave McTague.

For ten years Mellowtone has been a cornerstone of the music scene in Liverpool, they have crafted together with the intricacy of a lace-maker a fine collection of artists who have performed for them in venues such as Quiggins, 3345 Parr Street, The Kazimier, The Shipping Forecast, The Scandinavian Church and of course Leaf on Bold Street.

Such nights are important to the music goers of Liverpool, they have and will continue to be something very special in the calendar and there are times when you can a lover of music be upset by thought of being absent from one of the evenings more so than missing a phone call from a loved one.

Anniversaries are there for a reason, they help keep us focused on what is important, what is close to our hearts and for Mellowtone a tenth birthday of promoting and hosting some of the finest music around is only right and proper and in Mellowtone: Ten Years the happy memories of what has been come flooding back and the joy it brings is unsurpassable.

To have found yourself in any of the venues over the last decade whilst artists such as Nick Ellis, Edgar Jones, Hannah Peel, the superb Ragz, Paul Straws, Cousin Jac, the incredibly talented Natalie McCool, Dave O’ Grady and Mike Badger & The Shady Trio perform on stage is to catch glimpses of yourself savouring each note, each dramatic instant of unexpected pleasure, the click of a camera in which local photographer Graeme Lamb captures the vividness of the event for all time and it brings tears of joy to the time in which you relive them all.

With 18 tracks in which some of the performers have given over to Dave McTague and Mellowtone for this particular compilation there is so much to hear, to wallow in, that it dares suggest that no matter what, that if proof were ever needed, that Liverpool in all its guises, in its champions of the music night in which the big names do not dominate the city’s headlines, is the true home of artistic and cultural endeavour.

There is only one Mellowtone, there is only one Dave McTague but there are hundreds of great performers and an untold wealth of audiences who have made this particular night what it is, and the compilation C.D. attests to that.

Ian D. Hall