Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Strange Things Happen when we take a chance and listen to another’s point of view, the way we might even be willing to open our minds to a different belief, perhaps even embrace it and spread the word; it is always in the unexpected place and moment when such a revelation can occur, we just have to recognise its significance when it happens.
We have all been that person who will casually pick up a book, look at the cinema listings or even be tempted to indulge in a new fad but we pull back, we skim the publisher notes on the back, we decide its going to rain that day so why go out just to sit and watch a film we might not like and that new fad, there will always be another one to investigate next week and the week after that. The point of life is not to even throw yourself mercilessly in to everything as if looking down from the top of the 10 metre diving board just because everybody is doing it, Strange Things Happen at the least expected moment, but when it hits you, you feel as if you can go one step further in your admiration.
In Chris Rogers’ resonating album, Strange Things Happen, the feeling of a switch being flicked inside your mind is palpable, an extraordinary and surprising moment of warmth comes through the speakers and it is one that is characterised by the emotion of the intrepid, the refusal to be beaten by the unsure reaction, the same reaction that comes when a reader with good intention will wander into a book store looking for enlightenment but coming away a small card and a novelty pen, the response will come, the art will present itself, you just have to be ready for it to strike when it happens.
The heart pounds in unrecognised anticipation for each new song that plays across the album but in tracks such as Chameleon, Glycerine Tears, I’ll Keep A Candle Burning, Miss Willmott’s Ghost, Run Along Home and the exceptional Vampire’s Prayer, which closes the album not only with sincerity but with immense power, a new found respect for taking chances and understanding is forced onto play. It is the recognition that strange things do happen, but normally it is because you are in the right place to appreciate them.
A wonderful set of songs, explosive, stylised and full of sentiment; an album of persistent fury, and it is to be adored.
Ian D. Hall