Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Going down the local was always an occasion. In the late 1960s, Football World Cup winners Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst were seen with their wives advertising the virtues of the local pub. In amongst the celluloid joviality and perhaps forced banter, there was a strong point to be made. The pub was the centre of the community and everything that was to happen, was to take place there. Of course the world has moved on, from having a meal rather than just a packet of salted peanuts, to family friendly options and even the cleaner atmosphere now associated with the smoking ban, the pub has had to change to survive.
Live music is one such option in how the local has had to adapt to avoid closure and many a musician or group has surely had the pleasure of performing infront of a few locals and die-hards willing to make an evening of it. It is nothing new, pubs have been doing it for years but what is perhaps a unique venture realised by The Norton Arms is to showcase the musicians who perform at the Runcorn pub in the form of a well produced C.D. smartly titled Live and Original Artists at the Norton Arms.
The album consists of 15 tracks by 14 different artists and each one is a surprise. Clean, crisp, fresh and as tasty as a well served local bitter, the songs capture the point of getting out of the house, of turning off television programmes that delve into people’s egos and massage them to the point of indolence but for whom in many cases wouldn’t dare do anything if it didn’t involve a camera and the chance to bare all for the nation.
Not only is the album a great listen but it and the owners of The Norton Arms support a wonderful charity also and with tracks by artists such as Trish Watt and her tremendous song Life In A Day, Little Jo and The Misfits’s Taste of Fear, Hannah Rose Platt’s steamy Temptress, James Lyon & Lea La Zei’ Papillion, the phenomenal Laura James and her beautiful song Crocodile Tears and the ever consummate John Chatterton with two numbers, Robin Dance and The Space Between, the album is something to take great pleasure in.
Compilation albums are everywhere, some are better than others, some are designed solely to take the music lover for a ride, a few though have all the best intentions in the world and they back it up with a really great soundtrack.
Live and Original Artists at the Norton Arms is one in which sits very happily in the camp of having a meaningful purpose and a true objective. A very cool album and charity in which to support!
Live and Original Artists at the Norton Arms is available from the Norton Arms and any profits raised from the sale of the C.D will be going to the Halton Community of Youth.
Ian D. Hall