Release Date: Sept 08, 2009 (USA)
Label: Epitaph
Rating: 4/5

Frank Turner’s third solo full length was released here in the USA this week. If you aren’t familiar with Frank Turner, I predict you will be soon. A once punk rocker who took a new direction as a singer/songwriter, he now has 3 solid records under his belt and we don’t expect him to disappear anytime soon. This particular album is the first with a full backing band. it’s a bit of a departure in that sense, but for much f the record it works. We hear the same cutting lyrics that we’ve become accustomed to from Turner, with his songs sometimes reading like journal entries.

I was apprehensive when I heard the new album would have a full band backing. I was worried that we’d lose some of the intimacy that his voice and solo guitar brings, but the trade off is a fuller, bigger sound. The production doesn’t always emphasize Turner’s vocals and as a result they get lost in some of the tracts. I do find a few times that the layering of the instruments detracts from the melody and I’m not a huge fan of the addition of electric guitar as it tends to overpower. With all that said, Poetry Of The Deed is fantastic.

I’m a fan of Turner’s music. I’m drawn to his lyrics, his folk guitar, and his voice. I find that the acoustic versions of some of the songs (available on itunes) draw me in more than the full band album versions. I guess it’s that quality we get with a singer strumming his guitar and singing that we lose when they are amidst a full band. I felt his second album, Love, Ire & Song was utter brilliance and had very high hopes for Poetry Of The Deed. While there are flashes of brilliance, particularly in Faithful Son, The Road, and Live Fast Die Old, it hasn’t knocked Love, Ire & Song off it’s pedestal yet.

The brand new official video for the single, Take Back The City is a fast paced, headache inducing visual spectacle of a video. Again, featuring frontman Gary Lightbody without much of the other members of the band. The single is slotted to be released October 13th.

Watch Video

Release Date: March 31, 2008 (UK)
Label: Xtra Mile
Rating: *****

I have a certain fondness for Mr. Turner. He comes across as an artist who’s passionate about his beliefs, his friends, and having a good time. And while he has offered up songs with some political protest edge to them in his previous release, he’s doesn’t come across as a protest singer. Above all, he seems like a down to earth guy who struggles with the same things we all struggle with, and isn’t afraid to be honest about that in his music.

His debut album, Sleep Is For The Week was one of my top 20 records of 2007, and to my great excitement Love, Ire & Song is even better in almost every way. While Sleep Is For The Week was a wonderful collection of songs, it was just that, a collection of songs that didn’t always hold together as a whole cohesive unit. That’s not the case with Love, Ire & Song which is a whole cohesive album filled with music that feels it belongs together. The new album is fuller in sound and lyrics. He’s added fuller instrumentation, strings, piano, organ, and more, and has used them in a deliberate way. It works.

Love, Ire & Song is more diverse than his debut album, with tracks ranging from the beautiful piano ballad ‘Jet Lag’, to the sing-along ‘Photosynthesis’ and the rocker ‘Imperfect Tense’. The opener, ‘I Knew Prufrock Before he Got Famous’ gets the album off to an upbeat start, and contains one of my favorite lyrics, one which sums up the album“ife is about love, last minutes and lost evenings, about fire in our bellies and about furtive little feelings”. The highlight on this album is ‘Long Live The Queen’ which tells the story of losing a close friend. It’s upbeat and defiant and filled with the fighting spirit of Turner’s friend Lex, who the album is dedicated to. This upbeat song is moving and personal without being depressing, and is Turner’s finest moment. It is truly a stunner.

The album is intelligent, moving, and fun. It’s destined to stay in my top 10 for the year. Turner is currently touring UK and I have hopes we’ll get him over here in the states in the near future. He finished a short tour in California recently but I have hopes we’ll get a more geographically diverse US tour sometime soon so everybody can have a chance to experience Frank Turner, live and in color. Unfortunately, for those in the USA, this record is not yet available. You can, however, buy a digital download from Banquet Records for a reasonable price.

Frank Turner official site
Frank Tuner Myspace