FST 054 STEVE O’DONOGHUE - MARTHA

            Steve O´Donoghue      -    Martha

10 Track CD- Album

Cat.No. FST 054

                        Don´t give up the ghost

                        Come out of the rain

                        Johnnie Walker

                        Turned twenty-one (and bust)

                        Stranded

                        Text book hippy

                        Cathedral bells

                        Snow white

                        England´s glory

                        Glass house

England IS glorious. It

has produced some of

the finest brains on the planet; William Blake

and John Lennon to

name a couple.

There’s more than a whiff of the Beatles on this finely crafted piece of work by the very

reverend Mr Steve O’ Donoghue. But, I guess, The Beatles are inescapable; they

encompassed so much of popular music. The piping, reedy keyboard on 'Johnnie Walker’ is

very reminiscent of ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Half way through the album, Steve hits gold.

‘Stranded’ really suits his voice. The crooning romanticism and gentle jazzy seventh chords

work a treat. Steve’s voice does remind me of the singer from Prefab Sprout, whatever his

name was. What a beautiful lyric one encounters in track 7, ‘Cathedral Bells’: “She just

smiles through her tears”. Gorgeous moment. Religiosity unbound! The melody that

accompanies the lyric, gosh! It is art. The guitar is wonderfully busy throughout the record,

constantly jumping around, dancing, flitting like a delightful sprite. Steve has obviously got a

love for words. The way he rolls them around his mouth like a fine cognac, particularly on

the last track of this album ‘Glass Houses’. This is a great song, very plaintive. The

sentiment of the lyrics here is interesting: “People in glass houses shouldn’t take their

clothes off because others are looking… Sitting in my glass house, I hope the cracks don’t

show”. We are all fragile creatures that often have to hide our weaknesses from a world in

which brutal struggle is the norm. In this sense, we are all glass houses. Secrets are difficult

to hide. Our true personality is bound to shine through eventually. One thing though, this

album lacks a real punch in the gut.

Melodeus Nomadicus

Sounding more like the heyday Liverpool sound than what the uninitiated might call today's Manchester sound. For those in the know however, Steve is in the vanguard of a bustling, post busking, acoustic scene in the city, which is supported and finds a world-wide window through the auspice of www.acoustica.tv who helped him released two very fine introductory singles last year Glass Houses and Johnnie Walker . This and hard work playing every open mike and support spot within a petrol tank expenses of Manchester has culminated in a record deal and released of these and 8 more pristine pop offering by German label Fire Station. Steve is becoming quite the ambassador for this kind of home spun but still quintessential British pop, with organic musician led trails opening up all over Europe for him, evoking and mirroring the quality of the likes of Ray Davies, Nick Lowe, Glen Tilbrook, John Lennon, Ian Brodie, Roddy Frame, if not their more industrial rise to fame. The winding road and not the fast track awaits Steve, but a life full of experience and song is assured. We could all find a song from the iconic list above to whistle down the wind, Glass Houses has become one of those big songs for me, such a shame that it hasn't much of a chance of blowing a hurricane around the world in these pop idol dominated days, however I for one am really looking forward to getting to know the rest of this album, well worth hunting out.

              www.flyinshoes.fsnet.co.uk

Whilst Manchester is perhaps better known, musically, at least, for the days of the Hacienda, and recent bad boy image guitar bands (Oasis?), there is a somewhat more underground music scene that includes a handful of relative unknowns, who ply their trade to small appreciative audiences in dim (sometimes smelly) sidestreet music venues.
Along with the likes of Matt Hill, Anna Kashfi, Kirsty McGee (at the acoustic end), Hooker and Bonebox (at the plugged-in rock end of the local scene), O Donoghue makes his mark on local open-mike and pub territory, although seemingly happy to by-pass the attention from international audiences by way of association with the Manchester music scene, opting instead for a German label for the release of 'Martha'.
It's easy to see why 'Martha' might be at home on the European market - filled with instantly infectious pop tunes such as 'Come Out Of The Rain' and the Beatlesesque ''Johnnie Walker', along with the jazz-pop 'Stranded' and 'Cathdral Bells', the album will be a welcome addition to any pop collection.  However, whilst O Donoghue aspires to write perfect pop songs, the end result of the album as a whole leans towards the mediocre end of the genre that aficionados have become a little blase about.  As a general pop album, it has merit, O Donoghue perhaps being Britain's answer to Chicago-based Chris Mills. There is also a certain charm and polish to the album, by way of thoughtful and poetic lyrics, and the general style leads one to believe that O Donoghue might have honed his craft as a busker, buffing his original tunes to a high sheen on the streets of Manchester.  Had this been a Sydney musician, no doubt he would be very popular on the Club Acoustica circuit.
Although musical comparisons to Roddy Frame abound, there is very little in the way of influential citations.  It would be easy (and lazy) to throw the term 'self-styled' into the equation, but I suspect that pop minstrel O Donoghue crosses the geographical border between Lancashire and Merseyside, and weaves Liverpudlian pop (Bealtles era) into his undisclosed influential threads.

                                                 www.musicworkz.co.uk

This was a disc sent to me by Uwe at Firestation, and it too was billed as another Aztec Camera influenced band. But in this case it is a bit extraordinary as Mr. O' Donoghue really does sound a lot like Roddy Frame and the opener here Don't Give Up The Ghost really could be lifted from "High Land, Hard Rain" with it's plaintive vocals and acoustic backing. After a few more tracks it's obvious he is no clone and certainly brings his own stylings to the table. Overall it's a pretty fine album, but it does have the problem that no one track really jumped out and grabbed me, and gave the album a definitive feel or message. The overall style doesn't vary a whole lot either and there is for me at least a feeling of tedium before it gets to the end. I'm not sure why that is, because individually the songs are all good, but as a program it seems to be a bit much, something akin to my feelings about Isobel Campbells records. Of course you may not feel that way so I do recommend you check this out especially if you are a fan of early Aztec Camera. Hip-ometer Rating ~ 8.9

                             www.indiespinzone.com

Is there any room in the world for this record? Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, but with Paul Heaton and Dave Rotherway of the South both releasing solo efforts, along comes Steve O'Donoghue's Martha.
It's not a bad record at all.Infact the Beautiful South would probably be glad of one or two of these self penned songs.
It could be worse-Steve's from Manchester- it could so easily have been an Oasis patiche!Heaven knows we'd be misserable then.
Stand out tracks Glass House, Johnnie Walker, England's Glory and Don't Give Up The Ghost

pop. Rating 3

              Chris White from London

www.pennyblackmusic.com