Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Sometimes becomes an occasion, then it takes on a completely different meaning. As Sometimes is oft to do, the spirit of it can quickly transform in to a full blown opportunity, from the odd visit from a loved one to your door, to the day in which the occasion is celebrated with a mutual pact of understanding and genuine affection, Sometimes can manifest and transform into an occasion.

For Derek King, a man who normally puts his musical appreciation and knowledge into the fine art of helping others get noticed, K’s Choice’s being an optimum example of how the musician works for the benefit of others, to bring together a collection of his own songs in one delightful album is just a mouth watering prospect to sit down and while away in the gentleness of the event.

Aided by some of Liverpool’s finest, Jon Lawton, the exquisite Stephanie Kearley with a fantastic string arrangement and the compelling SheBeat providing a genuinely interesting female backing voice to the songs, Sometimes is to be seen as timeless, tangible and beyond the frailties of fashion. It is a set of songs that breathe existence because they are written with honest endeavour and the seeking of personal experience, there is no fluff, no concept of unwarranted desire in the tracks, just a simple purity that is hard to shake.

The ten songs cover all aspects of living within the shell of the flesh and blood, the skin in which we have been placed in, the frivolity of damned existence and tracks such as To Be A Boy, the precision of Villainess, the smashing Beautiful in Blue, in which is hard to not get caught up in the direct appeal of the song, Demons and the album closer, the twisting in the gut and the kick in the teeth of how a particular time in history was demonised and made honest hard working ordinary people to be the ones that took the blame in the excellent The Price of Coal, all are to welcomed, to be saved.

For Derek King, his K’s collection of songs stand out for what they give to others, in Sometimes, the songs give so much pleasure because the sheer honesty in the man comes bounding out of the album and greets the listener with arms wide open. Such is the joy, such is the set of songs to be explored; Sometimes that’s all that is needed.

Ian D. Hall