Frankly, It's Great! (The First Three Years - Frank Turner)

Member Name: IainWear

Product:	The First Three Years - Frank Turner
Date:	03/04/09 (152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Musically and lyrically entertaining

Disadvantages: The nature of the collection does provide a couple of patchy moments

When Frank Turner left Million Dead, he expressed a desire to keep playing songs and to keep touring, but didn't want to be part of a band any longer. Three years later - hence the title - after a couple of EPs and a couple of studio albums, we have this collection. "The First Three Years" contains the tracks from both the EPs as well as collecting together material he recorded with other artists early in his solo career and a few other random tracks.

The album begins with the title track from his second EP, "The Real Damage". It's an interesting song that rather worryingly proves to be an accurate reflection of far too many nights in my own life recently and it's such a vivid story of life that most people would find something in the lyrics that they can identify with. Musically, it's a heavily folk influenced tune with a quite jaunty guitar riff that sits very nicely with a mildly melancholic lyric and it's certainly a decent opener to the album.

In an interesting track selection, the next few tracks are those that made up Turner's debut EP, "Campfire Punkrock". The first of these is "Nashville Tennessee", which sits quite nicely as a follow on from the first track. It's a slower paced song, but still with the heavy folk influence and it's got a nicely paced riff which makes it perfect for walking along the road listening to on an mp3 player, which is exactly how I listen to a lot of my music.

Turner's punk roots surface in the lyric to "Thatcher Fucked the Kids", which is exactly the kind of attitude you'd expect a former punk singer to have. As with the earlier tracks, it's another quite simple song musically speaking, being largely just an acoustic guitar and vocal, although with less of an obvious folk influence, being more of an indie tinged song. Once again, the guitar is a little more upbeat than the lyric and regardless of the political leanings of the listener, it's a decent listen and with the dark subject matter, Turner's slightly flat vocal works very well, especially with the frequent swearing in the lyric.

After the downbeat nature of the previous track, "This Town Ain't Big Enough For the One of Me" comes as a complete change of pace. It's an up-tempo number with a bass line that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a 60s rock and roll song. There is more of a pop-rock influence here than the folk touches in the earlier songs and with the vocals, this could almost be a Jam song, as there does seem to be a hint of "Beat Surrender" about the song. Whilst I've enjoyed the previous tracks, as I quite like the folk sound, this one is a definite favourite of mine.

There's a change of pace back to the folk sound for "Casanova Lament". As the title may suggest, it's quite a gentle song, the closest to being a ballad that the album has provided thus far. Once again, it's a simple song, with just Turner's voice and an acoustic guitar for the much part. Also in keeping with most of the previous tracks, the lyrics are a snapshot of life, which will strike a chord with many.

Every time I hear the opening acoustic guitar chords to "I Really Don't Care What You Did on Your Gap Year", it makes me think of "Mull of Kintyre". The song never really shakes that comparison, having a similar down tempo, down beat folk sound throughout, although it does pick up a little part way through the song. This time, unlike some of the earlier tracks, the lyric fits in with the music, also being a bit down beat. The one down side to this song is that is does get a little dull after a while and it's the longest track on the album, being a touch over five minutes long, so it does outstay its welcome a little.

There's another gentle start to a cover of The Lemonheads' "The Outdoor Type", which continues throughout the song. It's another mid-tempo folk influenced track, which moves along very smoothly. The lyrics are worth a listen, having a touch of humour that I would normally associate with someone like John Otway. Whilst this may not be one of the more interesting songs musically, it's one of the more fun songs here lyrically.

It's much the same again for "You Are My Sunshine", although the guitar here is a little more intricate. It's a version of the traditional song, which comes across here as a gentle, folk influenced song. Once again, it's largely just Turner's vocal and his guitar, but the vocal has a softer edge than is usual for his work. The beauty and simplicity reminds me of Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah", although Buckley is far superior vocally, so it's not nearly as strong as that song.

Next up, Turner switches back to his "Real Damage" EP for the next few tracks. It does seem that the tracks here are being presented chronologically, with only the opening track being out of place. "Sea Legs" appears to be typically Turner, with a slightly downbeat vocal anchoring a largely simple mid-tempo folk song. It's not a bad track, but there's nothing that particularly sticks out in comparison with some of the earlier songs in the album, even if it does liven up and expand a little later on.

"Back to Sleep" runs along much the same folk influenced musical theme, although the tempo is slightly higher and the music is a little more upbeat. As someone who prefers slightly faster and more upbeat tracks, this puts this ahead of the previous track in terms of personal preference, although it's not one of my favourites as it's not offering anything special.

The opening "2-3-4" on "Sunshine State" reminds me of one of the songs from the film "Once". Musically, it's not too different either, being another largely simple folk song, but with a higher tempo to the guitar riff, which almost gives it a Spanish feel. Once again, the melancholic vocal provides a nice touch of contrast with quite a flowing and upbeat guitar sound.

"Heartless Bastard Motherfucker" is probably my favourite track, certainly on this album and possibly quite close to being the favourite Frank Turner song I've heard. It's not just the title that makes it a good song, although it certainly helps. There's more of a pop-rock influence here and it's a jaunty upbeat song, with a slightly bluesy touch to the usual folk sound and with a jazzy sounding piano later on that reminds me a little of the Barenaked Ladies, especially when combined with the fun lyric. The only downside is that at just under three minutes long, it's over too soon. Of course, you can always play a favourite track again and with this one, I generally do.

Next up is a cover of the Bad Brains song "Pay to Cum". It's got a much harder and harsher sound than many of the album so far, especially in the vocals. It's a higher tempo song and whilst the music still has folk touches, they're combined with a darker, more punk influenced tone which extends to the vocal as well. It's not a bad track, but anything that was trying to follow "Heartless..." was always going to be judged a little more harshly and this isn't a favourite of mine.

The tempo drops for the cover of Black Flag's "Fix Me", but the mood remains largely the same. Once again, there's a dark musical and lyrical tone and the punk touches remain present. There is a lot of emotion to the song, but it's mostly melancholic, so it's a tough one to listen to. Turner does upbeat so well, as proved earlier on the album, that these darker moments don't seem to fit in quite so well.

Coming right up to date, we next get a few tracks from the recording sessions from Turner's most recent "Love, Ire and Song" album. The first of these, "Hold Your Tongue" returns to the sound we're perhaps more used to, as it's quite a gentle acoustic ballad with a slight folk touch. It does liven up and get a little darker later on, but for the most part, this is another track where the mood of the vocals doesn't always match the beautiful simplicity of the music, but the combination works well, as this seems to be a speciality of Turner's.

"Front Crawl" is a lovely folk song. Again, it's a very simple track, a little more upbeat in terms of vocal and the musical accompaniment. It's just a straight forward mid-tempo folk track, which flows beautifully all the way through.

The closing track from "Love, Ire and Song" was a lovely piano based pop ballad called "Jet Lag". "Jet Lag (Rock)" is an alternative version of that track. It's tough to say which one is better, as they are very different, although as more of a rock fan, I would certainly say I prefer this one. It's a soft-rock song, with folk undertones that reminds me very much of Mundy. As a big fan of Mundy, I was always going to be a big fan of this song. It loses out slightly in the race to be my favourite track on this album, but it's certainly one of my favourites.

The next few tracks are subtitled "Truck Session" on the album, with no further explanation. Judging from the production on the first of these, I can only think they were possibly live sessions in a recording truck. That doesn't make them bad songs, though, and "Photosynthesis" is one I like very much. It's an upbeat song with a raw, almost punk influenced vocal, but with an upbeat and up-tempo folk song with the odd country twang coming in a little later on in the song. The album version on "Love, Ire and Song" was a lot cleaner in terms of production, but I actually prefer this version as the raw feel to it somehow makes it sound more emotional and honest and fits the vocal a bit better.

The same raw feel works well again on "Worse Things Happen at Sea". It's another straight forward folk song, with a mid-tempo guitar and a rough vocal. It's not as good as the previous track, but it's a decent enough song and the variation between the upbeat guitar line and the melancholic lyrical content is again to the fore and again working very well.

The version of "Imperfect Tense" here offers the reverse contrast to "Jet Lag". The album version from "Love, Ire and Song" was a rock sounding track, but here it is a slower tempo acoustic folk song. The toned down music allows for a bit more passion to come through in the vocal and whilst I prefer the album version, this is still a very good version and offers something different, in a good way.

The album finishes with an interesting trio of cover versions, starting with the Postal Service's "District Sleeps Alone Tonight". This is a beautifully downbeat song, very simple but so emotionally sung you can't help but love it. Once again, the feeling is of a Jeff Buckley track, although without being quite as good vocally.

"Smiling at Strangers on Trains" was originally a Million Dead song, so Turner is used to singing it. Again here, though, it's a gentle mid-tempo folk song and whilst I'm not sure what the original may have sounded like, I can't see how it would have been any better than this. The emotion added to the vocals really makes this song, as with "District..." before it and it's bringing the album to a great close.

If there was one thing I would not have expected, it's a cover version of Abba's "Dancing Queen". It's an interesting version, so completely different in sound to the original that it's tough to compare the two. This is an acoustic version with a slight folk hint and Turner's harsher and slightly flat vocal removes this so far from the original that I can't help but enjoy it. This reminds me of Less Than Jake's "Greased" album in attitude, if not in sound. It's an unexpected, but very entertaining end to what is a very good album.

"The First Three Years" is available for £6.95 to download at Play.com and at 23 tracks and 79 minutes in length, you get decent value for your money. However, there is also a version packaged as a double CD set with Turner's second album "Love, Ire and Song", which can be had for £8.95 from Play.com or £8.98 from Amazon. Personally, I would recommend getting this version, as "Love, Ire and Song" is another great album and so you're getting even better value that way and you get a better introduction to Turner's usual sound from the studio album than from this collection, even though this collection is definitely worth a listen.

If you like your music slightly folky with a bit of a rock influence here and there, Frank Turner is someone worth looking out for. He combines the folk sound of Mundy or The Frames with some of the punk attitude of his former band and some of the humour of John Otway and the emotion of Jeff Buckley on some songs. The combination makes for a wonderful listening experience and if you like any of the bands mentioned above, you'll find a lot to like in Frank Turner's music generally and in "The First Three Years" in particular.

Summary: A collection of Frank Turner's work over the last three years