Search - Steve Hyams :: Feather & Tomahawk

A great album by a great English songwriter

08/18/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In 1976 while he was in London, Tim Hardin heard a young singer/songwriter playing his music. He recognised the skill and passion that Steve Hyams was to bring to his music over the next 30 years.Steve Hyams is one of the great English songwriters. In 1974, after playing in bands in England, Ireland and France, he went to Los Angeles to record an album with Elliot Mazer, who had recently produced 'Harvest' for Neil Young. The songs recorded for this album, which ended up being produced by Denny Seiwell, were unfortunately destroyed in a fire. We are lucky that Steve re-recorded them a couple of years later with some great English musicians, including Nic Potter and Bryson Graham. The resulting album 'Mistaken Identities' was startling in the way it pointed to the twists and turns English music would take in the next few years. The songs predicted the English love affair with reggae and had a quality unique to that time.'I fall over I fall down', which was recorded for 'Mistaken Identities', was one of the songs that Marianne Faithful chose to record for her great comeback album broken English. Due to unavoidable circumstances the song did not appear on the albumIn 1977 Mott the Hoople were so impressed by Steve's talent that they asked him to join the band as their frontline singer/songwriter. Only a few songs came of this musical relationship and one can only wonder at what an album would have containedIn 1997 Steve Hyams released an album with Angel Air called 'Feather and a Tomahawk'. This album again demonstrated the great quality of his singing and song writing. He was joined on the album by his Mott the Hoople colleague Ray Major, who played some of the best guitar of his illustrious career.If this album slipped by you when it was released you should not let the opportunity pass a second time, when Angel Air re-issue the album this September. The album is important in their catalogue's development as it was the first contemporary recording on an label that had hitherto specialised in re-issues.The album from start to finish is a worthy successor to 'Mistaken Identities'. The songs reflect the lessons taught by a life lived to the full. It's hard to single out individual tracks, as all are great rock songs but my particular favourites are the heartbreaking title track and the gentle introspection of 'in the morning' 'Eldorado' and 'Bethlehem Steel' provide an excellent foray towards country music, and I'm surprised that these songs haven't become standard country covers. Continuity is provided by a new version of 'Do it again', which also appeared on Mistaken Identities. The album is full of great rock songs.

Treat yourself right, buy this CD and play it loud ! James Holbrook"