Joe Stilgoe - New Songs For Old Souls (2015) [Hi-Res]

The term that comes to mind here is quality product.Joe Stilgoe is a songwriter of uncommon originality,a pretty amazing pianist and a singer who doesn't need mannerisms to make an impression. Add to this a couple of dozen of the best musicians around,plus an appearance by the sublime Liane Carroll, and you have an album that you just can't stop playing. Well I couldn't,anyway.There's a touch of 1950s about the orchestrations,an occasional hint of early 60s in the rhythm, but the lyrics have a cool knowingness that is spot-on today. -- The Observer - Dave Gelly

His piano-playing ole in the Old Vic's production of High Society should raise his profile no end.Longtime jazz lovers will need no reminding of Stilgoe's talents as a very British version of Harry Connick Jr. While he may hanker after the musical values of yesteryear Louis Prima, Nat King Cle and Gen Kelly all get a namecheck on Two-Tones the pick of the songs, most of them originals, have a modern, funky sheen. A sprinkling of big-band arrangements supplies demure high kicks, too.

Music should be fun and the new album from pianist and singer/songwriter Joe Stilgoe is just that. His own compositions (comprising 10 of the 12 songs) are quirky and interesting and there's a nostalgic charm to big band numbers such as Nobody Cares Like Me and Pocket Song. Tom Farmer (bass), Ben Reynolds (drums) and Billy Adamson (guitar) add fine support and there is a sweet duet with Liane Carroll on a cover of Brian Wilson's I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. The Telegraph. -- The Sunday Times

In the hands of a lesser artist, New Songs for Old Souls could well have ended up being a brilliantly executed exercise in nostalgia. But Joe Stilgoe looks back to the Great American Songbook with such feeling, energy and, yes, love that it's impossible not to be swept along by the album's welcoming embrace. Produced, recorded and mixed by James McMillan, a trio of songs arranged for big band, 'Nobody Cares Like Me', 'Pocket Song' and 'Gold On Silver', are all standouts. Stilgoe has recorded 'Gold On Silver' before (Songs On Film), but with the dramatic heft of its blazing, Gil Evans-like introduction, you hear its big, yearning melody entirely anew. Songs such as Nothing's Changed', 'Roll' and 'How To Fall In Love' (complete with Louis Prima-type shouts from the band), highlight Stilgoe's ability to pen melodies that you think you've known forever. There's also a superb duet with the incomparable Liane Carroll on Brian Wilson and Tony Asher's 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times'. Stripped of its familiar psychedelic textures, the song's communicative power goes straight to the heart. -- Peter Quinn