Here Again By Brett Huckfield ; Best Single of The Century!! (Here Again - Brett Huckfield)

Member Name: Caveat-Emptor

Product:	Here Again - Brett Huckfield
Date:	27/06/09 (16 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Emotive Lyrics, Breathtaking Melodies, Brilliantly Sung And Performed.

Disadvantages: Absolutely None -This Is A Flawless Modern Classic

My review of Brett Huckfield's stunning single; HERE AGAIN

I first heard 'Here Again' by Brett Huckfield on Global Radio 1 when it was made RECORD OF THE WEEK' by the brilliant (and brave!) radio presenter and investigative reporter Richard J. Hannah -probably best known for telling Lily Allen off on air during an interview for her 'pro-drugs' stance, (which Richard J. Hannah was non too pleased about because one of his grown up children is a recovering drug addict). Lily was upset and being told off -but my sympathies were entirely with Hannah!!

As soon as I heard the opening guitar riff to HERE AGAIN -I knew it was going to be something special. Being a guitarist myself I always appreciate great playing -and I think the opening guitar line to Brett Huckfield's song is the best thing I've heard since George Harrison played the legendary guitar solo on 'Something'.

After many years of playing and teaching guitar -I realised that any fool can play quickly with a bit of practice, but to play with class and feel, to pick out a really expressive melody -that requires real talent.

The lyrics were startlingly good, and just drew me in - I couldn't believe how great and emotive they were... This is the first song in years that actually sent shivers down my spine - it reminded me of that exciting magical feeling I got when I was a teenager - for the first time in who knows how many years I had my breath taken away my a song....

In terms of the excitement I felt, it was like being a spotty 12 years old kid all over again and utterly obsessed with music; only this time I'm old enough to appreciate the lyrical depth!! So you should know that I'm unashamedly biased towards HERE AGAIN!

Lines like 'A lovers dream in passion's ghost' and 'time moves on... like a river dried in the desert sun' inspire in me such imagery! The first time I heard HERE AGAIN by Brett Huckfield I though it was a love song, a few listens later I thought it was a song about re-capturing lost dreams (certainly re-captured my passion for music in a way I'd almost forgotten -lol!), after yet more listens I was sure this was a profound, philosophical song about the human condition....

Eventually, I realized that I'd missed the point; because HERE AGAIN was all of these things!! For me to try to pin it down the song's meaning was a mistake and lack of imagination on my part, (I've no doubt there are other gemstones of meaning sunk deep into the fabric of Brett Huckfield's song still waiting for me to unearth them). I haven't heard such multilayered lyric composition since Bob Dylan when he was at the top of his writing powers...

But it's the way the lyrics and melody weave seamlessly together that give the song its devastating impact. I can't tell whether the phenomenal melody is driving the outstanding lyrics or vice versa.

Musicianship wise, HERE AGAIN is a first class effort - with what I call 'proper' instruments (as opposed to samplers and drum loops etc) being very much in evidence; Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Bass, I'm sure I'm certain I hear a Keyboard or Piano in there somewhere too, plus Percussion and Drums.

The vocal delivery is nothing short of devastatingly good in terms of its emotive, qualities. There is a strong, but beautiful. pitch perfect delivery here -though I get the feeling that (like an illegally tweaked car engine) there's a whole extra reserve of power 'under the hood' waiting to be unleashed. - You get a sense of this vocal reserve potential when listening to HERE AGAIN because while the verses are sung so delicately and transparently clear -there's a sudden rise in vocal power output and soulfulness that you get little explosive bursts of during the chorus and bridge sections, (I'd love to see this guy sing live, in a wound up gig situation -I bet it's spectacular!!).

As well as the dynamic qualities that his vocal possesses; - Brett Huckfield's vocal range on HERE AGAIN is a joy to hear - hopping effortlessly up and down the musical scale as he 'paint's an incredible melody, with genuine, tasteful dexterity!!

I normally only tune in to Global Radio 1 once a week on Sunday's to hear Richard J. Hannah's show, but while Brett Huckfield's HERE AGAIN was 'record of the week' I made the station online listening page one of my Internet Explorer 'favourites'!! Took me back to my Radio Caroline pirate radio listening days of listening, hoping just to hear a specific track again :-)

A week or two later, I made a point of catching Richard J. Hannah's interview with Brett Huckfield to find out what he was like. Too often these days, you hear a song that's good but then find out later it's been written by someone else or the producer did all the work...

I'm always cautious because back in my serious guitar playing years, I played on some recordings in a proper studio for a few bands here and there; it was a real eye opener -being in the control room, talking to producers and engineers -seeing how everything's done first hand...

Prior to that I was a little naive and thought that all artistes controlled or were at least responsible for their own 'sound', but after my time spend in studios I was a lot more jaded and cynical.

I learned how important a producer can be in shaping not just the final sound (mix) but also the final song as well!!! Sometimes it's the producers who really take control of a poorly written and arranged track and almost single handed rewrite and re-arrange everything (with minimal help from the artist) until a previously poor song sounds quite good (the process is known, rather unkindly, as 'turd polishing' by those in the music industry!!).

A LITTLE DIVERSION INTO SOME STUDIO 'SECRETS'
(HOW TO TELL THE TALENTED FROM THE NOT SO TALENTED!!).

Examples of strong producer led artistes are - U2, who (and there's filmed footage of this that I've seen broadcast) will play their latest song ideas to their producer - who will then split the bits up and say 'that's your verse, and this bit is your chorus' and so on... U2 to their credit have never hidden the fact that they rely on a producer to help them, so please don't think running them down -I'm not; they're a very inventive and successful band -but they're not always great writers).

Another band who quite literally owe their success to a producer (and metal fans are not going to like this -lol!)are Metallica. There's some great footage of the band talking about the producer of the Black Album (which shot them to stardom) and an interview with the producer too... Apparently the producer not only had to arrange the songs for the band, he even had to pull then up on playing out of time -lol!!

Another bit of studio trickery I found out about (and this usually involves the latest, low talent manufactured pop sensation types) involves something called 'Ghost Singing' where the actual so called star -has such a weak rubbish voice that the producer brings in some proper session singers to sing along and thicken out the vocal, so what you're actually hearing on the recording is the stars voice floating on a big cushion of proper singers voices!

A common variation to 'ghost singing' is to use the multi-track recorder in a studio - which is capable of recording dozens and dozens of different takes of the vocal. (The process is called 'double tracking' -but in fact usually involves many, many takes of the same singers vocal running at the same time) 'Double-tracking' a weak singer's voice gives the illusion that the singer has a far bigger and better voice than they really have.

You can hear 'double-tracking' on recordings a mile off - next time you here the latest charts on TV/ radio etc just listen for multiple versions or the same voice singing the same melody (not to be confused with genuine harmony vocals, which are different pitch) -it's easy to spot 'double-tracking' because the starts and the ends of the words that are sung don't all match up properly word . (You'll find the 'double-tracking' or 'ghost singing' trick is used by so many of the supposedly talented pop artistes that it would take me ages to list them all - but just use your ears now you know what to listen for - and you'll soon find out who can and can't sing well :-).

BACK TO 'HERE AGAIN' BY BRETT HUCKFIELD

So getting back to HERE AGAIN - I wanted to catch Brett Huckfield's interview on Global Radio 1 to find out if he was really as good as I hoped he might be...

What I found out restored my faith in music (after people like Simon Cowall had worked so hard to destroy it!!) - The first surprise for me was that Brett Huckfield was a UK singer songwriter - In my minds eye I'd got him down as American, not because of his (brilliant) singing and music, I suppose it's because the 'West-Coast-modern-pop-rock-country-scene-melting- pot' music scene (I don't think that's a technical term :-), is one of the few very vibrant. creative, non corporate ones left in the world at the moment (as far as I'm concerned)...

...so I naturally assumed Brett Huckfield was an American; plus it's such an American sounding name (I'm biased slightly because my first name is Brett as well, so it's nice to see someone making a stand for our first name -I think we've only got Brett Butler, Brett Anderson and Brett Maverick, so the more famous 'Brett's' there are the better!!! Or we'll never catch up with all the famous 'Marks' 'Brians' and 'Johns' of this wold -just kidding :-)

Back to Brett Huckfield's interview; I was so inspired to find out that he not only wrote HERE AGAIN, he produced it too - but more than that (and I was feeling a little bit jealous by this point, that much talent shouldn't be allowed) it turns out he also played every single instruments on the single too.

Though he does apparently have a band for when he plays live (Reminds me a bit of Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame who records and writes everything himself, though I'm not quite such a big fan of Trent's music).

It was such a treat to hear someone so modest for a change too -it made a great change from Richard J. Hannah's Lily Allen interview). I tire quickly of the usual artist interviews where they harp on and brag endlessly about on about how talented they are (more often they just have a talented producer -see my bit about studio recording above if you haven't already read it) and how many celebrity friends they have and so on...

But I enjoyed Richards' interview with Brett Huckfield immensely; and it was so good to find out that Brett really was the 'real 'deal' I bought HERE AGAIN as an MP3 download about 10 seconds after the interview finished, and gifted it to some of my friends - to see if they were as excited about the song as I was.

I don't think I've ever been so popular as that day :-) My inbox was full of 'thank you' replies -and HERE AGAIN got a unanimous thumbs up from everyone I gifted it to.

I make no bones about how much I love HERE AGAIN; this isn't just the best song I've heard in ages , it may be simply the BEST SONG I've ever heard!!

Writing this review was a joy - though I apologise for the length of it!! But in my defence, I really wanted to share my knowledge about studio recording techniques to give music fans a bit of insider knowledge, plus I couldn't shut up about HERE AGAIN if I wanted to... My girlfriend loves it as much as me too (good job -or I'd be packing my suitcase -just kidding, dear!!).

So this Brett has had a lot of fun writing about an artist I share a first name with (we need more famous Brett's - now that Brett Anderson from Suede isn't doing so much anymore, so I'm hoping that President Obama will change his name to Brett soon too!!)

VERDICT
HERE AGAIN by Brett Huckfield renewed my faith in today's music scene, and my life would be poorer for the lack of it! If I could pick just one song from my collection to take away to a desert island; it would be HERE AGAIN!

THanks for reading my review; I hope you found it of some interest and help, and good luck with your bargain hunting!!
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Summary: I Love It, I Love It, I Love It!!!