Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Such words have to be delivered with solemnity and with hand on heart, a declaration of involvement from the soul must be admitted, and yet upon hearing the genius that is John R. Chatterton you cannot help but feel the sense of occasion that arises, whether in the live, or in the fantastically produced self-titled recording welded together out of intent and presence…it is a clear message for those attending a gig that this album captures and frames the outstanding guitar playing of a musician to whom the world in its entirety should listen to.
Declaring an interest does not impede enjoyment, if anything it allows you at times to be cynical, to cast an eye over the product and show the flaws and the act of musical kintsugi in a way that is honest, decent, and right.
The interest declared will come from those who have found themselves within the area to which Mr. Chatterton ply’s and plays his trade. To anyone who lives in the northwest domain, the realm that Liverpool’s music influence casts its lengthy and well-preserved shadow over, what will be immediately seen in the instrumental tracks, the self-confessions and unspoken observances, and the tremendous cover of Come Together by The Beatles and the rearrangement of Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love in the retitled…It’s Getting Near Dawn, is just how stunning and beautiful the musician’s own employment of the guitar is.
Some artists become a well-kept secret, held tightly by a series of gate keepers and loyal souls, but it must be stated that like many, John Chatterton shows with defiance wrapped in pleasure that he should be admired just as far as he is adored near.
The experience that is unleashed in tracks such Heartsong, Song Of The Stream, Wastelands, A Piper At The Gates, Song For Flo and Tilda (The Rabbit Song), and The Dust Of Snow, is a soul in comfort, of a kind of unlimited reality assured, and when you read the credits the words of Robert Frost clear any misted doubt from the listener’s mind…for if there is a soul that embodies the unspoken word in a poem with grace, it is John Chatterton.
A timely and outstanding reminder that some of Britain’s finest musicians are those who remain unknown by the vast majority; it is time then to address that point and immerse yourself in a master’s integral presence.
Ian D. Hall