Medicine Head - Heartwork (2024) Hi-Res

Like a fine wine or an oak-aged malt liquor, some artists only get better with time and that’s certainly the case with vocalist/guitarist John Fiddler. For over fifty years he’s been steering the good ship Medicine Head through the often murky waters of the music industry and has left a stream of highly regarded albums in his wake. His latest long player under the moniker Medicine Head is Heartwork and it finds him charting a course deep into blues territory to deliver ten tracks that could easily be described as “career defining”.

The first thing that hits you when the opening track comes wafting from the speakers is the album’s rich and luxurious sound. Like a Marshall amplifier that has warmed up nicely with hot valves and a contented hum, ‘Makin’ Up For Lost Love’ has a wonderfully treacly aesthetic, and it’s just as sweet and intoxicating. It is a sound that fits these songs perfectly and their bluesy nature resonates with the listener on some deep, primordial level. Reaching into our psyche and giving our heartstrings a tug, ‘Makin’ Up For Lost Love’ encapsulates the very best of the blues; the guitar lines flow like rivers of silk and make a fine counterpoint to John’s whiskey and Marlboro croak. As do Belinda Campbell’s back vocals which appear on five of these songs (including this opening shot) and they become an integral (though unobtrusive) part of the sound, and act as another instrument, both to foil John’s vocals and add texture.

Reminding me slightly of Tom Petty at his most thoughtful ‘Everybody Has The Blues (Sometimes)’ has a reflective nature, a jilted-lover-standing-in-the-rain type quality that lends itself well to introspection. It’s the type of song (and indeed, album) that’ll fit those contemplative moments as well as small blues clubs. It’s a very intimate, personal album that engages with the listener on a one-to-one basis, that emotional connection is not an easy experience to transfer to a shiny compact disc, but through a kind of musical alchemy, Mr Fiddler does. While the production is lustrous, it is often sparse; there’s plenty of space for the listener to infer their own thoughts and feelings, and it’s this that makes Heartwork a collaborative affair. It also has the benefit of bringing John’s songwriting to the fore, and when the songs are this good, that’s exactly where they should be.

A soothing balm sent to soothe our troubled times, ‘It’s All About The Love’ is a novocaine injection that leaves the listener with a warm, Ready Brek glow. Some music doesn’t bear over analysis and it’s best to sit back, bask in its glory and concede that it’s just a great, great, great, great song. Heartwork is constantly changing gears between slow blues tunes and upbeat, diving numbers and it’s one of the latter that closes the album in the shape of ‘Ridin’ In My Car’, bringing us to our destination, concluding 43-minutes of musical heaven in some style.

Leading with both his heart and head (pun intended) John Fiddler has produced a timeless album that could have been released at any moment in the last fifty years and, subsequently, will sound good for the next fifty.

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John Fiddler and Medicine Head are delighted to reveal that they will release a brand new album ‘Heartwork’ CD through Talking Elephant Records. Featuring ten brand new songs, this is a fresh and vibrant set of blues rock that once more centre the band’s founder John Fiddler and Medicine Head in the core of this wonderful tradition. ‘Heartwork’follows the very well received ‘Warriors of Love’, album which was the first new album in a decade.

Of the album, John Fiddler says: “I am the lucky one who has remained the “Beating Heart” of Medicine Head, and as such, where my Heart leads I follow, through Affairs of the Heart, the State of the Heart, Heartbreak, Heartache, and Straight from the Heart. I navigate with my ‘Soul Compass’ creating HEARTWORK framed in Love Peace and Empathy; though in a previous life, while smiling I would say, ‘I’m a Pacifist, so don’t fuck with me’

Most of the songs I’ve written are love songs, once described by a music critic as ‘skeletal love songs’. Nowadays maybe there’s a little more meat on the bone (or for vegans, a few more leaves on the tree) but either way, the State of the Heart has always featured heavily in the songs I write.”

Medicine Head began life in 1968 when the founding core duo of singer and guitarist John Fiddler and harmonica player Peter Hope-Evans began performing in the Midlands. They quickly came to the attention of John Peel and – at the insistence of John Lennon – the DJ ended up signing the band to his own Dandelion Records. Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend were also early cheerleaders. Peel declared the band’s debut 1968 single ‘His Guiding Hand’ to be one of the classics of all time – and a copy featured in his legendary Record Box.

Medicine Head released three albums via Dandelion Records, with Hope-Evans leaving and returning to the fold during that time. The first album, 1970’s ‘New Bottles, Old Medicine’ featured ‘His Guiding Hand’ and was recorded in a two-hour session and Medicine Head toured with the DJ at many of Peel’s shows. The band followed that with the single ‘(And The) Pictures In The Sky’ and then a second album in 1971, ‘Heavy On The Drum’; produced by the Yardbirds’ Keith Relf. After their 1972 album, ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ [yes, before Pink Floyd), the band signed to Polydor.

Medicine Head then released ‘One & One Is One’, the single charted at No.3 in the charts and the album of the same name garnered them more fans. The following album ‘Thru’ A Five’ gave them more hits with “Rising Sun” and ‘Slip and Slide’. Soon after that the band became a duo again, releasing the fittingly titled album ‘Two Man Band’ in 1976. The following year, Peter Hope-Evans left for the final time, although John Fiddler (with Peter’s blessing), has continued to work, and to release records as Medicine Head – 2011’s ‘Fiddlersophical’ was the last before ‘Warriors of Love’.

As that previous album proved, John Fiddler has retained his voice and his musical freedom: this is an artist and a band with pedigree and a story. ‘Heartwork’ is cut through with experience and integrity, and sits well within that Medicine Head catalogue.