Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If we were fortunate enough as children to feel the excitement of the energy that seeks out the growing thrill as the crowds mass beneath the dazzling, shining lights, as the smell of frying onions, various meats fill the nostrils, and the screams of delight as various rides entice and lure with the acknowledgement of a friendly voice asking for their palm to be greased with coins in exchange for a five minute adventure, you can be sure that what you are remembering is the fond memory of everything associated with All The Fun Of The Fair.

There was something wholesome of being seduced by the atmosphere of the carnival, the noise of the circus and all its imagery, of the dangers of the knife thrower and the bravery of their choice of staunchly stood companion, of the innocent laughter as clowns plied their trade, and strongmen astounded many with their guile and strength; and yet it was always the music that was the true hero of the moment, the expectation of a night’s freedom in a land of make-believe and fantasy diversion all becoming understood because of the music that can be heard in every corner of the field illuminated by the neon lights searing the sky.

It is the music that the legendary Hugh Cornwell, along with Pat Hughes on bass guitar and Windsor McGilvray on drums, brings to the culmination and darkening months of 2024 that makes his brand-new live album All The Fun Of The Fair an entertaining, reverberating sense of classic persuasion from the former Strangler of his solo, and selected highlights from another time, songs which have become the main attraction of a career well played and donned with honour as a master of ceremonies introducing the moment of embrace with pleasure.

There is so much love from this album which takes its place just after the 2022 studio release Moments Of Madness and as the carnival ether fills the mind with songs such as Iwannahideinsideaya, Moments Of Madness, Too Much Trash, and When I Was A Young Man working so well alongside Skin Deep, Delightful Nightmare, Mr Leather, Always The Sun, the excellent Strange Little Girl, Goodbye Toulouse, and Totem And Taboo all giving their respective beauty and time to the live experience, the lights blaze with passion and joy of seeing a icon once more being captured live for all too hear.

All The Fun Of The Fair is a reminder of just how important Hugh Cornwell is to the legers of British punk and rock history. After more than fifty years of producing material that has delighted fans, another turns on the live merry-go-round for the fans to swing to, to be moved by to the sky and back.

Ian D. Hall