Tellin’ em: Ralph McTell in concert.
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Best known for his iconic 1970s hit, Streets of London, English singer-songwriter Ralph McTell is making a welcome return to Australia for an extensive tour in February-March 2024.
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McTell is a regular visitor to our shores, having already clocked up 14 Australian tours since his first visit back in the mid-1970s.
McTell’s illustrious career spans six decades now, and his shows see him armed simply with his songs, guitar and many stories.
“It is a lovely position to be in, especially when I think of the years when I started where I was trading on about 12 songs, while now I’ve got about 300,” McTell says.
“Because I’m a one-man show, I also talk about the songs and explain a little about them.
“I find myself saying, ‘This is a song from 1968, and this is a song from 1974, and this is a song from 1995’.
“And though it is an incredible catalogue of music that I have, I do try and make a varied set.”
McTell, who has spent his life traversing the world with guitar in hand to share his songs with appreciative audiences, is grateful for the life he’s lived as a musical troubadour.
“It’s taken me a long time to realise that,” he says.
“About a year ago, I was on stage, and I just thought, ‘goodness, Ralph, this is what you’ve done with your life’.
“I’m in my late 70s now, and for the past 55 years, I’ve been doing what I love.
“And my guitar has been my comforter, my stimulus and my muse.”
McTell’s deep passion for the guitar and his observational and thoughtful take on the human condition, which he puts into song, continues to fuel his creativity.
“All my songs used to grow from something that was happening on the guitar,” he says.
“It’s only recently that if I am addressing a social issue or a situation, I will write the words first and then try and add a tune to it.
“So, if the song sounds a bit quirky, it’s because the accompaniment arrived before the song.”
And as for his signature tune, McTell says he never tires of performing it. It is one song that will always be played, night after night.
“I’m proud of that song, and I feel very fortunate, as it changed my life,” he says.
“I think there are many talented musicians, singers and writers out there that have never managed to get one song like that.
This week, American rapper Jack Harlow is at No.1 with his latest single, Lovin On Me, on the Australian ARIA Top 50 chart and the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, alongside the UK Top 100 chart.
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Album review
Live at the Royal Albert Hall — Bryan Adams
In May 2022, Canadian rocker Bryan Adams headlined three nights at London’s historic Royal Albert Hall, performing one of his classic albums in its entirety per evening; 1983’s Cuts Like A Knife, 1987’s Into The Fire and 1991’s Waking up the Neighbours. The shows were recorded and all three nights appear here, all 35 songs in total, spread over three CDs.
For Adams, recreating all the albums’ tracks in the live environment — and in the order they appeared on the original albums — was a mammoth undertaking. Still, Adams pulled it off magnificently and with ease.
In fact, these live re-creations are as close to perfection as possible to the original studio recordings. They show the depth of Adams and his band’s masterful musicianship. The songs have lost none of their charm, and these live versions actually bring a freshness to all of them. It affirms the strength of Adams’ songs and how they have stood the test of time.
It’s hard to pinpoint any highlights, as there are many, such as the rousing Cuts Like a Knife, which never fails to deliver. But hearing the audience join in towards the climax of the highly emotive (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, is euphoric. And with an accompanying 32-page photo book loaded with images taken from the performances, it’s the closest thing to actually having been there in the audience on the nights. Five stars.
The album is out Friday, December 8.
Fun facts
Did you know that the song with the longest title in the English language has 97 words?
It’s by American folk singer-songwriter Christine Lavin.
The song appears on her 1994 album, Future Fossils, and the full title is: Regretting What I Said to You When You Called Me 11:00 On a Friday Morning to Tell Me that at 1:00 Friday Afternoon You’re Gonna Leave Your Office, Go Downstairs, Hail a Cab to Go Out to the Airport to Catch a Plane to Go Skiing in the Alps for Two Weeks, Not that I Wanted to Go With You, I Wasn’t Able to Leave Town, I’m Not a Very Good Skier, I Couldn’t Expect You to Pay My Way, But After Going Out With You for Three Years I DON’T Like Surprises!!
Subtitled: A Musical Apology.
Live at the Royal Albert Hall: Another Bryan Adams masterpiece.
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