Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

You have only to listen to Three Minute Hero to know that inside the man sits the heart of socially aware human being, a person of intrigue and one who knows the intricate nature of penning a song which is both catchy, to any genre lover, and one that has a huge point riding along just underneath the sense of sound, one that asks a question of the listeners.

This arguably is focused and intensified in his latest studio release 173 (Is Just A Number), a song which begs the indulgence of the listener and offers a sort of musical salvation to those who believe that ageing is a process that takes everything away from the human spirit, that experience is a second rate tool compared to the beguilement of youth.

The story of a man who seems to find that age is no barrier if you grab life and use it to its fullest, that he has seen almost everything go on around him but who ruminates on the past, who slips into melancholy as he realises that in the end, age is only a number when it means you have done nothing with your life. It asks the question of whether the striving to live as long as you can, to try and live forever is actually worth it if your life has had meaning; if it has been part of Time and not ignored as many are apt to do.

173 (Is Just A Number) has to be considered one of the stand alone songs of the year. It has already been a firm favourite of the live set for quite some time but by placing into the world as physical entity, Time at least has been sated and has something of importance in which to champion.

The song is meaty and yet played with the gentleness of a kitten finding out that string doesn’t bite back, full of social commentary on why the young perhaps at times need to look to the mistakes of their elders and to remind themselves to never to settle for second best but with the type of catchy refrain that just installs a sense of joy. It is the single in which melancholy joins hands with happiness and creates a child of warmth and maturity.

Three Minute Hero, a hero now of Time and age.

Ian D. Hall