Coles Corner

Amazon.com
Richard Hawley spent the ‘90s primarily as a guitarist with Pulp and Longpigs, and contributing in-studio for the likes of Beth Orton and Robbie Williams. The 21st century, however, has seen Hawley make his way as a stellar solo artist. A loose tone poem/ode about a specific, well-traveled locale in his native Sheffield, Coles Corner is dense with songs that manage to be both weighty in tone, yet airy in execution. Sung in a thrilling baritone that falls somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash, his lyrics scrutinize that ghostly intersection of places and people, and how little pieces of ourselves we leave behind accumulate to form a kind of psychic footprint. The record bleeds with heart-on-the-sleeve sincerity that has nothing at all to do with indie music's recurring fondness for bitter irony. "The Ocean" is a prime example, filled with slow, sweeping motifs and unabashed grace. Hawley doesn't forget his guitar, breaking in with thick, messy riffs on songs like "Born Under a Bad Side" and slide atmospherics on "I Sleep Alone" and "Hotel Room." It's a satisfying piece of work, and while it cements Hawley's reputation as a skilled songwriter and musician it also exposes him as a world-class hopeless romantic. –Matthew Cooke

Coles Corner,Richard Hawley,Mute U.S.,Adult Alternative Pop/Rock,Chamber Pop,Indie Pop,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop,Singer/Songwriter

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Coles Corner

Average customer rating: Coles Corner WOW! Just 5stars. Classic Late Night Songcraft It's all true...

Coles Corner Richard Hawley Manufacturer: Mute U.S. ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Chamber Pop | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music Adult Alternative | Pop | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Z Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Leaders of the Free World Lookaftering At War with the Mystics ASIN: B000AA4LN2 Release Date: 2005-09-06

Tracks:

1. Coles Corner
2. Just Like The Rain
3. Hotel Room
4. Wait For Me
5. The Ocean
6. Born Under A Bad Sign
7. I Sleep Alone
8. Tonight
9. Wading Through The Water
10. Who's Going To Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
11. Last Orders

Amazon.com

Richard Hawley spent the `90s primarily as a guitarist with Pulp and Longpigs, and contributing in-studio for the likes of Beth Orton and Robbie Williams. The 21st century, however, has seen Hawley make his way as a stellar solo artist. A loose tone poem/ode about a specific, well-traveled locale in his native Sheffield, Coles Corner is dense with songs that manage to be both weighty in tone, yet airy in execution. Sung in a thrilling baritone that falls somewhere between Leonard Cohen and Johnny Cash, his lyrics scrutinize that ghostly intersection of places and people, and how little pieces of ourselves we leave behind accumulate to form a kind of psychic footprint. The record bleeds with heart-on-the-sleeve sincerity that has nothing at all to do with indie music's recurring fondness for bitter irony. "The Ocean" is a prime example, filled with slow, sweeping motifs and unabashed grace. Hawley doesn't forget his guitar, breaking in with thick, messy riffs on songs like "Born Under a Bad Side" and slide atmospherics on "I Sleep Alone" and "Hotel Room." It's a satisfying piece of work, and while it cements Hawley's reputation as a skilled songwriter and musician it also exposes him as a world-class hopeless romantic. -Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews:

Coles Corner.......2006-07-27

Once in a while a song writer composes a song that creates the same emotion in a listener that the subject of the song does. Laura Nyro got it right with Wedding Bell Blues (marrage) and Stormy Love (divorce). Dennis Lambert got it right with One Tin Soldier (war) and Dream On (children). Hawley got it right with the title song Coles Corner (looking for love).

The lyrics are crisp and clear. I quote:

I'm going down town where there's music,
I'm going where voices fill the air,
Maybe there's someone waiting for me
With a smile and a flower in her hair.

The melody is well crafted. The arrangement is beautifully simple. The strings are lush without being too much.

Alas, as also is the case with Nyro and Lambert, Hawley's vocals are an aquired taste. I hope someone covers this. But to those who appreciate listening to that unique thing the songwriter's voice brings to a very special song, it does not get any better than this.

WOW!.......2006-06-11

I listened to an interview with the artist downloaded from the Gaurdian newspaper online. He played a couple of acoustic numbers. The vioce, big, deep and rich with just a hint of nicotine. The songs, fresh, mesmerising and heartfelt. Immediatly purchased this album and recommend it to all conisuers of intellegent, well constructed, superbly produced romantic pop music. Treads some dreamlike territory that resonates with echos of Jimmy Webb and Glen Cambell, Burt Bacharach,Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison. Pulsating with atmosphere, expansive and lush. Has it all. Why isn't this guy huge?

Just 5stars........2006-04-05

This is almost as good as "Late night final", so this is very good.

Classic Late Night Songcraft.......2006-03-29

This is a lovely record, one worth listening to every time it rains, as I'm doing now, here in old LA. The vocals are warm, the songs classically structured, and despite other reviews, this is NOT over produced. Yes: There are understated, very understated, strings on a few cuts--a FEW. Some reverb touches appear here and there. But that constitutes over production? In what parallel universe, what Bizzaro World? And the nonsense about this being a Country record is laughable. Which country, exactly, are we talking about? There's exactly one song that might fit that genre. And it is classic and beautiful. Sure, there are some songs that derive from the precursors to country, the old folk song styles, which were themselves derived from Celtic ballads. But "Country?" Not to offend anyone, but that just isn''t accurate.

I would say the vocal and songwriting analogy would be closer to Nick Lowe's latest work, rather than Cohen or Cash. Cash had more of an edge to his tone; Cohen doesn't have Hawley's sense of pitch, though he has a whole lot of lyrics. This is more Spartan, like Nick's "Dig My Mood," though melodically it also closes in at times on Orbison, and there is an echo of Roy in the phrasing. I might offer the caveat that the lyrics are not the kind of wordplay that makes Nick Lowe a genius, nor the vocal passion that trademarks Roy Orbison, but Nick and Roy belongs to a different pantheon entirely. What Hawley is doing here is turning cliches around and upside down, perfectly respectable in my book, and singing them with the kind of integrity that honors the emotions behind the otherwise stock imagery.

I grow weary of cricics who have never played music, never taken a music course, critics whose sole credential is that they passed Freshman English with a B, damning great records like this one just to see their own prose in print. If you like classic popular song forms, delivered with grace, skill, dignity and a sincerity that cannot be faked, then this is for you. I, for one, would love to shake the hand of the man who could make a record like this in these times of abject vapidity.

It's all true..........2006-03-28

I know it's easy to be cynical about an album that has been lauded as much as this one, but it's all true. His solo albums just get richer, deeper and more sublime with each release. Some people have mentioned how he has moved away from his sound on Lowedges, but it's still there. It's just matured and blossomed. If you have the chance to see him live, don't miss it.

Average customer rating:

Coles Corner Richard Hawley Manufacturer: Mute ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music Similar Items: Born Under a Bad Sign Just Like the Rain Run for Me Hotel Room Coles Corner ASIN: B000BP2DQS Release Date: 2005-11-07

Tracks:

1. Coles Corner - Richard Hawley
2. I'm Absolutely Hank Marvin - Richard Hawley, Hank Marvin

Album Details

The Album's Standout Track and the Second Single to Be Taken from the Album of the Same Title. The CD Single Contains a Non LP Track and features the Legenday Hank Marvin of the Shadows Fame.

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