It's generally accepted that once musicians hit middle-age they'll keep regurgitating their past glories with diminishing returns, take a swerve for the middle of the road, and generally become less experimental and more dull. Not so with Steve Cradock it seems. There are no tedious albums of cover versions to please your Mum on the horizon. The man is still digging around in the '60s like he has been for twenty years, but the results are sounding fresh and exciting. Recent single 'Sheer Inertia' was a wonderful psych track that nestles in nicely with the current appetite for all things trippy. It seems the rest of the album will follow suit.
Out next week, 'Travel Wild, Travel Free' could be the surprise package of the year. To repeat what we said before: if these songs were by Tame Impala or whoever, the press would be lapping them up. Nothing here is new; it's the same sounds from a long time ago, the same effects on the vocals and the guitar, the same harmonies... but better songs. Maybe a spark has lit and Cradock realises he knows much more about this stuff than the young pretenders, even if he hasn't always shown it in the past. 'I Am The Sea' is a classic sounding tune with all the right hallmarks. Props to his kids, aged 9 and 10, for producing and directing the video too. Good things all round.
Steve Cradock's website
Buy the album
Catch him live:
Oct 26 The Wardrobe, Leeds, UK
Oct 28 East Village Arts Club, Liverpool, UK
Oct 29 The Cluny, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK
Oct 30 Oran Mor, Glasgow, UK
Nov 01 Library, The Institute, Birmingham, UK
Nov 02 Leadmill, Sheffield, UK
Nov 04 Scala, London, UK
Nov 05 Komedia, Brighton, UK
Nov 06 The Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
Nov 07 Bodega Social, Nottingham, UK
Nov 08 Thekla, Bristol, UK
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