Fairground Attraction - Beautiful Happening

  by Zena Grieg

published: 19 / 12 / 2024

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Review

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 Happening
2 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.u
https://www.facebook.com/p/Fairground-
https://www.instagram.com/fairgroundat
https://www.instagram.com/fairgroundat

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