Band Overview: Mostly Autumn

As regular readers will know, I'm a big fan of York's Mostly Autumn. If you've read some of my previous postings and want to check this band out, I strongly recommend you try to get to see them live. You won't regret it, I promise you.

If you want to hear them on record, they've released seven studio albums, of which five are considered 'proper' releases. I've written brief reviews of all seven, which should give you some idea where to start.

Mostly Autumn's debut album, 1997's "For All We Shared" was a pretty diverse affair. If anything, it was a bit too diverse for it's own good, with Floydian epics like "The Last Climb" and Uriah Heep-ish opener "Nowhere to Hide" sitting uneasily with folk-rock jigs such as "Shenanigans" and "Folklore". Although patchy in places, it nevertheless contains some real gems, most nobably the anthemic "Heroes Never Die", and the spine-tingling "The Night Sky" with a fantastic violin solo from Bob Faulds.

1999's "Spirit of Autumn Past" continued in a similar vein, displaying the same diverse set of musical influences, albeit with some slightly stronger songs, and a bigger role for Heather Findlay's ethereal lead vocals. It's the first album to feature flautist Angela Goldthorpe, who'd previously appeared as a guest musician, as a full member of the band. Sadly it's also the last to feature violinist Bob Faulds. Although there's still a bit of filler, the good ones more than make up for it; from the rousing electric folk-rock of opener "Winter Mountain" to the symphonic rock closer "The Gap Is Too Wide" with it's massive choral finale. Other highlights are the title track, a anthem in similar vein to "Heroes Never Die", and Heather's "Evergreen" and both of which are still favourites in the band's live set.

2001's "The Last Bright Light" marked a significant step forward. With the band slimmed down to a seven-piece, this album had a far more unified feel. Where the two previous albums had been a bit of a jumble of disparate sounds, now they'd managed to streamline the different influences into a distinctive musical identity of their own. The Pink Floyd influence was still there, as was a very strong celtic feel. The songwriting is stronger, the arrangements tighter, and there's much less filler. This is the album where Heather Findlay really comes into her own as a lead vocalist, on ballads like "Hollow" and "Shrinking Violet", and harder-edged songs like "Never the Rainbow". The album closes with the epic "Mother Nature", which has become the band's signature tune. If you're into celtic rock, this is probably the one to get. Their live set still draws heavily from this album.

"Music Inspired by Lord of the Rings" is a minor affair. Some might even say that releasing an album with a title like that was a seriously bad career move. The band don't really consider it as their "proper" fourth album, and this largely instrumental record was written and recorded in a very short period after they'd seen Peter Jackson's film. It contains reworkings of two instrumentals from earlier albums, "Out of the Inn" from their debut, at "Helm's Deep" from "The Last Bright Light".

"Catch the Spirit" closes the first chapter of the band's history. It's a double album consisting of re-recordings of the best material from the previous three and a bit albums. Worth getting as an introduction to the band, and some of the recordings and arrangements improve on the originals, most notably "Half the Mountain", originally from "The Last Bright Light".

2003's Passengers was their 'real' fourth album, and marked a major change in direction. The production was far richer, giving a big, rich sound, and the songs were less celtic and more commercial hard rock mixed with lush ballads. Heather Findlay handled the bulk of the lead vocals, with Bryan Josh singing just a couple of songs. While celtic rock fans expecting a rerun of "The Last Bright Light" might have been slightly disappointed, there are still plenty of great songs on this disk. My favourites are the hard rocking "Caught in a Fold", the acoustic "Bitterness Burnt" (perhaps the only remnant of their celtic sound), the sweeping ballad "Another Life", and "Simple Ways", with the huge symphonic instrumental section. The only thing missing was an epic closer; although the closing number, "Pass the Clock" was lengthy, it lacked the epic grandeur of the "Mother Nature", "The Gap Is Too Wide" or "The Night Sky".

I've already written a track-by-track review of 2005' "Storms Over Still Water" here, so I'll just give a summary. Storms is very much an album of two halves; the first half is made up of short, fairly commercial songs in the same vein as Passengers. The second half consists of longer atmospheric pieces that echo the Floydian epics of earlier albums. Both halves are equally superb; they've reached the stage when they don't do filler any more. It's as good as anything else they've done. Still, I'd hesitate to name it as their best album, because that would imply that "The Last Bright Light" and "Passengers" weren't as good.