Blyth Power P.O. Box 255 Harrogate HG1 5ZL
Tel: 01423 552342
Mobile: 07901 898473
E-mail: Blyth Power
With
their twenty fifth anniversary fast approaching, Blyth Power remains one
of the most original and innovative bands around. Formed in late 1983
by singer/drummer Joseph Porter, one of the prime features about the band
is their all-consuming individuality. They have a strikingly identifiable
and personalised sound built basically around Joseph’s epic songs,
with their colourful personnel, exotic story-lines and crashing, impassioned
choruses.
What does the band sound like? How long is a piece of string? With a catalogue
of 130 original compositions to choose from, the band are able to adapt
their set to suit their surroundings. With a whole range of both acoustic
and electric songs, Blyth Power can settle comfortably into the tidy seated
arena of an art centre and discuss matters on intimate terms, with precision
and definition. Just as easily they can select a programme of up-tempo
numbers to get the dancers tumbling over each other in a smelly rock-club
basement, or reeling in a wet Marquee after a long day at the cider tent.
Present to all humours and any occasion, ‘they change a visor swifter
than a thought.’ There is no fixed set of songs. Each audience is
presented with a tailor made selection that can vary from the gentle acoustic
arpeggios of Burning Joan to the full-on punk rock assault of
songs like Carlisle and Sometimes I Wonder. There is
everything in between as well, and it is with a sly sense of mischief
that the band will take delight in taunting the least folk-oriented crowd
with the sound of accordions, or slipping in a raucous anthem to enliven
the atmosphere of a balmy country fayre.
But overriding everything is the breadth and content of the lyrics, which Mr Porter claims are his first love, and his most cherished care. Irony and subtext mingle with plain-speaking and historical metaphor in brilliant tapestry of colour and irreverent speculation. Will Charles succeed to the throne? Will politicians ever keep their pants on? Why was Mary Tudor so uncouth as to burn total strangers, and will the legacy of sweat and boredom left in the desert by the Templar Knights be rekindled in the Kevlar helmets and SA80s of the modern armies bound for Baghdad? Anyone can make music, but not everyone can find the time to make every word count for a dozen, or to unravel the intricacies of human fallibility with a perception that rarely falls short of sympathetic.