Richard Townend/The Mighty Bosscats: Bossman
Richard Townend is one of the most original and prolific singer-songwriters on the UK blues music scene and over many years he has produced a regular flow of highly entertaining and smart albums both with his posse of musician friends in the band The Mighty Bosscats and as a solo artist. The new soon to be released album 'Bossman', a chunky affair of fourteen tracks, certainly adds to his reputation as a consistently accomplished and intriguing wordsmith and musician.
For this album Richard has put together a collection of absorbing proper songs about our lives, picking up on moments, ideas and events that touch us all, missed opportunities, places we feel comfortable (we all have one), anger at betrayed love, sad departures and there is even a pop at the skin deep fakery that has infected us from the likes of Kanye West and celebrity culture in 'Who Are You'.
Without knowing, you can imagine that, as a song-writer, he is writing from experience. There is a deal of reflection and introspection here to which we can all relate...for example, it is difficult not to be moved by the beautiful track 'Every day' which sprang from the death of his father and contains the killer hook 'there's not a time when I don't think of you' and I urge you to go and check out the video of his song 'You are You and I am I' which is a brilliant piece about slipping apart. But hey, Richard is a cheerful guy and it's not all about sad screw-ups.! His tracks 'Molly's Dive', 'Time' and the title track 'Ask The Bossman' are all up-beat pieces about looking inside and seeing the good stuff, with 'Time' in particular bringing some solid beat Johnny Cash type urgency and some smart guitar. Also, if you liked the way Kris Kristofferson managed to get some dry humour out of some difficult situations, you will love what Richard does lyrically to a good few of these tracks.
Apart from a bit of vocal double tracking, there are none of the familiar acoustic solo loops on here and once again he has alongside him - adding colour and breadth to his husky mellow voice – the crew of The Mighty Bosscats who provide just the perfect complement to every well arranged track.
This is a first-rate song-writer's album. It overflows with telling lyrics and ideas. It is an album to Listen To. When you have done that, Listen To It Again.
