Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

In the simplest of actions can lay the decisions of genius. No matter what form the art or scene takes, a moment of perceived simplicity, of creative minimalism is towering and deserving of the audience’s full and unequivocal attention; there is no other way to laud an album which is grounded and passionate, one that understands It Starts With The Soul.

If your soul is not willing to make the step from functioning outside of its comfort zone to willing the world to be changed, or at least stop and think for a while on your actions and words, then it could be argued that it has no right to be let loose, to feel the freedom it obviously desires; that might be considered too harsh but it is a point of view that requires thought, for if you don’t believe the truth of what your soul is telling you, then how do you expect others to have faith in your principles and notions.

If there is a defining album which holds this attitude dearly then Stephen Harrison’s It Starts With The Soul is perhaps it. Softly played, a shiver of anticipation of what is too come, but in its lyrics, in the mastery of the subtle performance, this is the kind of album you can only ever hope to hear, but it is one made very real, and musically, incredibly appetising.

Expression is everything, it is how you conduct the feeling into one of memory that is the key, and in songs such as Trains, Iago’s Light, the sensational The Middle of the Morning, which has the depth of character you would expect only a band like The Moody Blues to harness, Show The Summer To The Spring and The Radio of Love, Stephen Harrison breaks the ground of indifference that some espouse and allows the bravery of love to step forth into the light and be seen as ground-breaking, as distinctive and forthright.

In the simplest of actions, a human being can be seen as genius, powerful, directly responsible for making another person think positively; regardless of any accolade that might otherwise appear, Stephen Harrison and his music should be seen and heard for what it is, unrelenting beauty.

Ian D. Hall