Album Review: Various Artists - All Along the Wall (Fellside)

Originally commissioned by Cumbria's Brampton Live in January 2010, All Along the Wall is a project that brought together five notable songwriters and two poets in order to collaborate over a five day period, leading up to the performance we hear on this CD, recorded live at The Wave in Maryport. Fellside Records were there to capture the performance and on this release, we hear a fresh, enthusiastic and informative programme of songs and poems celebrating the lives, the experiences and the relationships people have had with Hadrian's Wall throughout the ages.    

In a sort of cross between the Transatlantic Sessions and Big Brother, Jez Lowe, Julie Matthews, Rory McLeod, Boo Hewerdine, Ruth Notman, Kate Fox and Elvis McGonagall found themselves hidden away in the remote Saughyrigg Farmhouse in Northumberland, where they began an intensive workshop of writing, composing and collaborating on material to be used in the final performance on the sixth day. Fiddle player and Bad Penny Kate Bramley joined the ensemble towards the end of the week and also featured in the live performance.

The songs and poems cover a range of ideas and scenarios relating to the wall, from humorous social commentaries, historic ballads, ancient stories and striking love songs. Whilst some of the songs and poems are centred very much around the historic significance of the wall, others have a very tenuous link or no immediate relation at all. Mostly experimental, the compositions come together not only as commentaries on a specific theme, but also as investigations into the potential rewards of songwriters and poets working together. Ruth Notman and Kate Fox's Dear Friend for instance is just that and demonstrates once again Ruth's command over conveying a sensitive subject, reminiscent of her beautiful Over the Hill from her debut album THREADS. 

Following the wall from east to west, Jez Lowe opens the project with the title song, interspersed with Kat Fox's determined evaluation of Wallsend, the starting point of this journey. Whilst Rory McLeod provides both songs and poems, maintaining his familiar wordy assault style on Other Side of the Wall and Romanitus as well as a more gentle approach on the beautiful Galloway Girl, both Boo Hewerdine and Julie Matthews stick pretty much to songwriting with a handful of thoughtful meditations in their own distinctive styles, such as Hewerdine's Church of Stolen Stones, End of the World and The Wrong Side of the World and Matthew's Rock of Gelt, beautifully sung by Notman and Cursing Stone, one of the project's highlights. 

Throughout the concert the collaborators liberally chip in with the odd harmonica accompaniment (McLeod), whistle (Lowe), fiddle and viola (Bramley), the odd ukulele and gazouki (Matthews) and accordion (Notman). But it's the contribution of the poets, Tyneside's Kate Fox and Scotland's Elvis McGonagall, who maintain a wry contemporary presence throughout, each providing voices from both sides of the wall.  

There's a sense that during this project, the collaborators couldn't possibly adopt the 'all work and no play' notion and I dare say there would be down time for rambling, contemplating and bonding. This is evident in the way each of the contributors interact with each other throughout. The closing song of the set is the suitably thoughtful Shore to Shore, preceded by Fox and McGonegall's Walk on the Wild Side; a fine and fitting conclusion to not only a remarkable and entertaining piece of music and poetry, but also a tribute to one of our most enduring historical monuments.

Hopefully, this review will have reached its own conclusion before four of the above mentioned (Julie Matthews, Jez Lowe, Ruth Notman and Kate Fox) complete their performance at Northumberland's Queen's Hall Arts Centre in Hexham tonight at the official CD launch. I only wish that I had been there.