Oysterband - Read the Sky

by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 1 / 3 / 2022

Label: Running Man
Format: CD

Rousing and Green-friendly political folk rock in first album in eight years from the highly acclaimed Oysterband

Review

Oysterband started life as The Oyster Ceilidh Band in the late 1970s. They were from Whitstable, East Kent - famous for its fine oysters – and were a noisy, highly political ceilidh band back then, popular at local dances. Ever since those early days, they have continued to evolve and now, after an eight year gap (“Hey, we were busy”, the band explain), they are releasing their twelfth studio album, ‘Read The Sky; with ten new tracks. Performing on the new record are the core original trio of John Jones (melodeon, lead vocals), Alan Prosser (guitar, vocals) and Ian Telfer (violin, keyboard, vocals) as well as Al Scott (bass, mandolin, vocals, Sean Randle (drums, percussion, vocals) plus Adrian Oxaal (cello, electric guitar, vocals). Stand-out tracks include ‘The Corner of the Room’ - a reflective tale of young love - with a rousing chorus which will be popular at live gigs plus the easy-on-the-ear ‘Born Under The Same Stars’ and ‘Wonders Are Passing’ which highlights how the world is changing fast – and not for the better. ‘The Time Is Now’ was written and released to coincide with Glasgow's COP 26 summit and it packs a hard punch, calling for urgent action on climate change... “Ice turns to mud, the future slides away” and ‘My Son’ is a similarly powerful song. The artwork on ‘Read The Sky’ merits special mention too. It is highly original and distinctive with a digipack which folds out perfectly. Over the years, Oysterband have won many accolades including five BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their storytelling and their urgent passion about Green issues is especially relevant - and ‘Read The Sky’ will further broaden their existing fan base. The band are at their best in live performance. They are keen to tour post-Covid and already have 32 concert dates arranged for 2022 – in the UK, Germany, Denmark and Luxembourg.

Track Listing:-

1 Born Under The Same Sun
2 The Corner Of The Room
3 Roll Away
4 Wonders Are Passing
5 Fly Or Fall
6 My Son
7 Hungry For That Water
8 Star Of The Sea
9 Streams Of Innocence
10 The Time Is Now