Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In the bleak midwinter…we can either count our blessings or drown our sorrows to the point where we become numb to the pain we have suffered during the year, or to the thought of what is to come. Even if we don’t look upon the ritual of Christmas as anything other than exploitive, there are moments in which the cold or untrusting heart can be swayed into accepting that the year’s end does not mean finality, but the prelude to new beginnings, to accepting change with a song in your heart and with passion to see you through the darkest days.
2020 will be a year that undoubtedly nobody forgets, and in a way that is okay, for it might allow us in time to come to be more honest with our love and appreciation, to acknowledge that we have allowed those who seek to make us smile, to be left behind, to sing to themselves quietly.
In such times the memory of the beautiful song comes to mind, and that of the tenacious drive of the artist to have their voice heard, to move people like never before, and with a tour cancelled there is only one other way to reach the soul of a crowd and that is through the belief of unity in the release of an a live album; a concept that singer/songwriter Johnny Coppin has embraced fully, and in Midwinter/Live In Concert, the regaling sound of cheer is beautiful, fulfilling and sparkling with insightful meaning into the human condition in dark times.
We come together so we can remember what is important, but when we have to be safe, it is the song shared by others that keeps us going, and with Paul Burgess, Dik Cadbury, Geoff March, Mick Candler and Gareth Sampson joining in celebration with Johnny Coppin in a special performance that was captured in the Christmas of 2019, the bleak midwinter is, maybe not banished from the mind, but at least put aside for a while, enough time in which to remember to share health, wealth and happiness with people you may not have been able to contact or be able to see during the year.
In songs of rejoice and Folk carols of pleasure such as Song For Loders, the stunning Gabriel’s Message, The Lighthouse Keeper, When Christmas Day Is Near, Gloucestershire Wassail, Welcome In Another Year, The Eve Of Christmas Day and the heartening, comforting tale of Miss Fogartys Christmas Cake, Johnny Coppin will remind all who listen that Christmas, especially ones in times of apparent darkness can still be illuminating, that the shortest day is but a prelude to the warmth and spring renewal returning.
Ian D. Hall