Love Ire And Song - Frank Turner

Having heard Frank Turner's "The First Three Years", an album which reflected on his first few years work as a solo artist after leaving Million Dead, there was no way I couldn't listen to more of his music. After all, the genre he works in, mainly folk based but with frequent rock twists, was one I enjoy listening to and my first experience with his work proved that he was very adept within that field. Compilations like that can be a bit patchy due to their nature, so it seemed only fair I judge him not only on that, but also on his studio work. Fortunately, the version of "The First Three Years" I picked up also came packaged with his ...  Read the complete review

Having started to make a name for himself with his 2007 debut album Sleep Is For The Week, Frank Turner returned in 2008 with his second album. It was an album that could have gone down two routes, either reinforce the sound the former Million Dead singer had already created or try something different. It's with great relieve that Turner decided to stick with the punk folk sound he had already started to pioneer in this country and the end result is this superb album Love, Ire and Song. It would have been easy for Turner to return to his purely punk rock routes but with this album he started to bring his new blend of punk and folk more into the mainstream. ...  Read the complete review

So, as a Frank Turner fan from his previous album, come 2008 I greatly awaited his second, and most recent release - 'Love, Ire and Song'. I had heard a couple of the tracks, such as 'Photosynthesis' when I saw him live for the second time, at the Park in Peterborough late 2007, and had great expectations, which weren't to be let down. In a run up for the album release, he asked for loads of people to stick stickers around which said "Frank Turner is coming back, Look Busy" which since I was in London around that time, I put a few around on the underground, and one neatly placed on Marble Arch. In return for this Frank sent round a pre-album freebie, which ...  Read the complete review

Frank Turner, simply put, was an angry man once. He was your typical anarcho-punk, at least in spirit. Suddenly, two solo albums down the line and he's become a folk hero of the underground, with a six-string in hand and stories galore. I think, as a long-time Frank fan, I can safely say that I was shocked by this album. It lacks the grit, it lacks the anger, but what it has in buckets is maturity. I've yet to come across an artist who can go three albums without maturing too fast, but Frank did at the right pace. He took the folky sounds of his previous works, and added his own angsty, romantic spin to the lyrics and created something. I wouldn't ...  Read the complete review

And there I was thinking what to write my latest helping of review stew on...and having written a review on his first album it would be stupid not to review his latest album. Ipso facto, here it is!! For those who haven't seen my review on his debut album "Sleep is for the Week", (hint hint!) the man is Frank Turner, former lead singer of punk band Million Dead, and the album is "Love, Ire & Song" - his second solo album, released back in March this year on Xtra Mile Records. His first helping of folk-rock tracks about lost loves and drunken evenings was a fantastic record. Showing a song-writing side that many people knew he ...  Read the complete review