Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is arguably the vulnerability of the heart, the moment of exposure in the defenceless feelings that hit us when we are most frail, most delicate, that have the potential to bring out the very best in us; either we dig deep into reserves that we had no idea existed or we allow Time to beat us, we allow sentiment to become glory, idealistic and tangible but instead an offering that those we grieve for would see as insubstantial.

In grief, as in every emotion, can come creativity and it is in that abiding nature of humanity in which the beautiful words, the poetry of lyric writing and the gentleness of an instrument bowing almost in deference to the ideas in the head, can become clear and intoxicating. In Trevor Jones’ new album Happy Blue, the idea of allowing the lyric to stand strong, almost overshadowing the spectral music but never over powering it, is fundamental for the language of a truth of human nature to come forth.

Whilst the feeling of delicate, of subtly and grace is the watchwords in which the album is to be framed within, Jones brings a robustness to the affair, the image of a keeper of the flame never far from the thoughts of the listener, of a man being entrusted with the family secret and to whom guarding it is the most important task he will endure. It is that holding of the family’s existence, in keeping the words and thoughts of their lives strong, that makes Happy Blue so appealing.

Tracks such as Ghost Of Song, the beautifully captured Lovers Never Tell, Weakness and Wine, Battersea Boy and the sweet caress that comes over in Last is enough to have the heart massaged by the music, by the tempting words, so much so that the listener is left in no doubt of the assured cool that resides in each thought.

Happy Blue is an album of great depth, of simple and irresistible pleasure, one that the listener knows comes straight from the heart and in its delivery is significant and honest; a tremendous listen.

Ian D. Hall