Fairground Attraction - Beautiful Happening
by Zena Grieg
published: 1 / 2 / 2025

Label:
Absolute
Format: CD
intro
Uplifting first album in 34 years from chart-toppers Fairground Attraction finds them a vibrant reincarnation
Thirty-four years since their break-up and last album, the 1990 ‘Ay Fond Kiss’, London-based, double Brit Award-winning folk/soft rock group Fairground Attraction - Eddi Reader, Mark E. Nevin, Simon Edwards and Ray Dobbs - have reunited and released a comeback record, 'Beautiful Happening'. After the hiatus, which was in Reader’s words “threshed with families, divorces, bringing up kids”, the decision to reform came when Reader invited her ex-band members to join her to perform at the thirty-fifth anniversary of Club Quattro in Nagoya, a venue the band had played previously. The result, ‘Beautiful Happening’, the band’s second album, is a colourful potpourri of pop, folk and country-influenced songs. Highlights of this twelve-track collection include: the melodic Americana-tinged title track (originally written for Andrea Bocelli) with its reverberating acoustic guitar and accordion; upbeat, country-inspired ‘Sing Away’, highlighting Reader’s sultry vocals; the catchy lead single ‘What’s Wrong With The World’ with its reflective lyrics: “I come face to face with my imperfections/’Cos you can change the mirror, but not the reflection”; achingly sad ‘A Hundred Years Of Heartache’ with its ultimately upbeat lines: “I’m coming home, the end is in sight, I’m coming home/ I’m gonna rest my head, rest my head/And a hundred years of heartache are over now/A hundred years of heartache, I made it somehow”; wistful, pop ‘Learning To Swim’ with its whimsical ukulele; the resounding gospel-flavoured soul ballad ‘Gatecrashing Heaven' ; jazz-tinged ‘Sun And Moon’; the fun, foot-tapping ‘Miracles’; and the closer, the intimate, tender waltz ‘Lullaby For Irish Triplets’. Engrossing, uplfting, ‘Beautiful Happening’ is a welcome comeback.#
Track Listing:-
1 Beautiful Happening2 Sing Anyway
3 What's Wrong With The World?
4 A Hundred Years Of Heartache
5 Learning To Swim
6 Gatecrashing Heaven
7 Sun And Moon
8 The Simple Truth
9 Hey Little Brother
10 Last Night [Was A Sweet One]
11 Miracles
12 Lullaby For Irish Triplets
Band Links:-
https://www.fairground-attraction.co.uk/https://www.facebook.com/p/Fairground-Attraction-61556800709489/
https://www.instagram.com/fairgroundattractionofficial/
https://www.instagram.com/fairgroundattractionofficial/
Play in YouTube:-
Have a Listen:-
soundcloud
most viewed articles
current edition
Spear Of Destiny - InterviewRobert Forster - Interview
Fiona Hutchings - Interview
When Rivers Meet - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every Song
Brian Wilson - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Chris Wade - Interview
Pistol Daisys - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Credits - ARC, Liverpool, 17/5.2025
Nils Petter Molvaer - El Molino, Barcelona, 24/4/2025
most viewed reviews
current edition
Peter Doolan - I Am a Tree Rooted to the Spot and a Snake Moves Around Me,in a CircleGarbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Vinny Peculiar - Things Too Long Left Unsaid
Little Simz - Lotus
John McKay - Sixes and #Sevens
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
HAIM - I Quit
Morcheeba - Escape The Chaos
Vultures - Liz Kershaw Session 16.06.88
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart