Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
All that may seem lost, upon reflection in re-discovery, leads to more questions that need answering in the Bright Hours afforded the fan and the music devotee.
If ever there was a case to doubt the sense of the music marketing world then Lancashire’s Bradford surely fits the bill, and like The Small Faces in the 60s, Bradford can quite honestly be regarded as one of the biggest under-rated by society groups to have been lauded by the minority ever.
The trouble with hype is that it can swallow up everything else around it without filtering what is actually stimulating, noteworthy or exciting out from the mouth of the whale of publicity; that age old dilemma that if you don’t fit the narrative of the moment or the vision of those to whom fashion not only dictates but counts the pounds as they enter the bank account, then inevitably you will fall down, you will be bereft in the wake of what is made popular by design, not by fact or opinion.
One of the most remarkable bands of their time arguably suffered from the wake around them, but Time never forgets, Time has no illusions in which to grind out someone else’s sense of fashion faux pax, and for Bradford to return with Ian H on vocals and Ewan Butler on guitar, as well as the original producer from the debut recording of Shouting Quietly, Stephen Street, becoming an official full-time member, the Bright Hours are gleaming, instantly dazzling and so vivid, that the wearing of shades is not just advised, but metaphorically handed out at the check out desk.
Thirty years may have passed in the blink of any eye for many, but Bright Hours is an album consumed with Time and tide, it is a recording that understands that what may have been was but a prelude, a meaty one, artistically unblemished and more than stood up to scrutiny, but it was still the opening segment from a life that had yet to truly to start, yet to catch fire and sweep the critics and the fashion dictators aside.
Through tracks such as The Weightiness of The Pointlessness, My Wet Face, the phenomenal This Week Hs Made Me Weak, The Rowing Boat Song, Feathers In The Fire, and I Make A Fist, Bradford have returned to break the neon light that cast them into the shadows of the mind and in turn make sure the high density torches they carry reveal all between the cracks of society, the blue light picking up what lays in between, the discouragement of the fashion conscious in their own pursuit of picking a favourite by their looks and not their application.
Bright Hours is a rampage of guilt free expression, a beautiful wander down an old familiar street which has the roadwork redone in the absence of Time, and what a smooth enjoyable ride it offers.
Bradford release Bright Hours on 19th February via Foundation II.
Ian D. Hall