Where were you when you first became hooked on Richard Hawley? I was in a mate of a mate’s flat in New Cross in 2003. Lowedges, Hawley’s second album, had just been released. In particular, ‘Motorcycle Song’ captivated and confused me: how could this have been written by the guitarist from the obscenely underrated Longpigs? And then, in 2005, Coles Corner arrived in the world, sweeping through all the angular post-punk and landfill indie. Of his ten albums (so far), it’s probably his best, and the re-issue has no less than 18 extra tracks, including ten B-sides.
‘Coles Corner’ is the corner of Fargate and Church Street in Hawley’s beloved Sheffield. Outside what used to be the Cole Brothers department store, people would meet for their first date. The album’s title track begins with strings so woozily beautiful, they could instantly calm a riot. “I’m going downtown where there’s music / I’m going where voices fill the air / Maybe there’s someone waiting for me / With a smile and a flower in her hair,” sings Hawley on the majestic chorus. If you’re not imagining yourself as the main character in a 50s film while listening to his irresistible baritone, you might need to get a brain scan.
‘Just Like The Rain’ will cure you of your hitherto indifference to skiffle, but just as your toes have got used to tapping, ‘Hotel Room’ starts and the light in the ballroom is muted. You’ll swear that you’ve heard it before, and the way that Hawley sings “here in my arms” will make you cry (or maybe that’s just me as I write this review). It seems no coincidence that Hawley’s upcoming tour will take him to places like Blackpool, Margate, and Weston-Super-Mare: landmarks of faded glamour. Songs like ‘Hotel Room’ will make you desperate to dance at the end of the pier underneath the stars.
You may as well keep your loved one close for the next song, ‘Darlin’ Wait For Me’ – a ‘slow number’ to sway to while you luxuriate in lyrics as lovely as “Darlin’ wait for me, darlin’ please wait / Till evening light, by your starlit gate.” The word ‘epic’ has been somewhat abused in recent years. My daughter had a packet of Haribo a few weeks ago, which was allegedly ‘epic’. Let’s reclaim the word and use it to describe ‘The Ocean’, which, like the eponymous body of water, seems impossibly vast and magnificent. In contrast, ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ is as deep as a puddle, with Hawley appearing to mock himself: “Sleeping late in the afternoon / Playing your guitar.”
The first few seconds of ‘I Sleep Alone’ sound like INXS practising in a well – a false dawn, as the song is embedded in Johnny Cash territory. ‘Tonight’ is the sound of a lovesick and depressed man walking aimlessly in the rain – a silhouette in a Hopper painting, a rebel without applause. On ‘(Wading Through) The Waters of My Time’, Hawley skirts the edge of parody, though the Hawaiian guitar will reel you in. ‘Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?’ is a Woody Guthrie cover, except that Hawley slows it right down and may as well sing it acapella, so faint is the guitar and so prominent are his incredible vocals. There are no vocals on ‘Last Orders’, which is all ambient piano and angels calling out to each other on the moors.
B-side highlights include the grand sweep of ‘Room with a View’, an instrumental called ‘I’m Absolutely Hank Marvin’ (which rather appropriately features Hank Marvin), a cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Some Candy Talking’, and ‘Can You Hear The Rain, Love?’ from Hawley’s debut album Late Night Final, which conveys the lonely gloom of the aforementioned ‘Tonight’.
At the 2006 Mercury Music Prize ceremony, award winner and fellow steel man Alex Turner graciously and amusingly implored the crowd to “call 999 – Richard Hawley’s been robbed!” The biggest band in the UK at the time giving very public credit where it was due, albeit with a little bit of local bias. But Coles Corner really does deserve all the prizes, and while it mines sounds of the 40s/50s/60s, it is completely and brilliantly timeless.
Coles Corner is out now via Parlophone/Rhino
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Review by Neil Laurenson
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