Friday 16 December 2016

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 351 - Frank Turner

Last Minutes and Lost Evenings - Frank Turner
Epitaph Records/Xtra Mile Recordings
Released 2nd October 2012
US Release


Tracklisting
Links Below are for either Promos or Live Versions of the songs represented on the Compilation.


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"It's OK thinking me and all my friends are just wasters" 
- (from Reasons To Be An Idiot - Frank Turner)

As I'm preparing this (Thursday night) I have a bunch of friends (affectionately called Wasters would you believe? We were that before Frank used the term in his song as it is reference to a long running forum/group that we are a part of!) who are in Nottingham for the 2,000 show by the man Frank Turner. Some have not traveled far to the show (though Simon has come up from Wales) but one of my friends Kim has flown all the way from California to see Frank and hang out for a night with some fellow Wasters! She seems to take special delight in sending me pictures on Facebook of Cali hipsters with their man buns and also photos of salads! - I am hoping that she doesn't think that I am part of hipster nation! Not that this particular titbit of information actually has any bearing upon the subject of today's post. 

The Compilation above was a US release that was bundled together with the DVD of Turner's 2012 Wembley show. It was aimed at new fans mainly and offered a nice overview of what had previously been issued. Frank Turner himself chose the tracks, so if you don't like it, take it up with him not me!

Since 2005 after his hardcore band Million Dead split Frank Turner has spent about half of the past 11 years on the road playing shows! Inbetween that he has released 6 Studio Albums Sleep is For The Week 2007, Love Ire and Song 2008, Poetry of the Deed 2009, England Keep My Bones 2011, Tape Deck Heart 2013 and Postive Songs For Negative People 2015), a bunch of compilations, a live album, a dozen singles, half a dozen EP's, a good bunch of promo videos and a few video albums, some split singles and a collaboration album with Jon Snodgrass (Buddies), and has appeared on around eight various albums guesting alongside other groups.

Now, I only really started to listen to Frank after Poetry of the Deed came out and so had missed the first two albums, but it was Love Ire and Song that made a huge impression on me more so than Sleep Is For The Week or Poetry of the Deed (I know, all you crazy hardcore Frank fans can pummel me later!). Since then there's been a number of songs of Turner's that I've really enjoyed.

With his fourth album, England Keep My Bones there were a few real gems on it. I Still Believe had been released on an EP (Rock & Roll) and then a couple of really wonderful tracks I Am Disappeared and Peggy Sang The Blues were also standout tracks for me. 

Tape Deck Heart followed and that was a very different album to England. It was also one of his most successful chartwise as it peaked at #2 in the UK (#52 in the US). The focus here was on relationship breakdowns, failure, change etc. Personally I was not too fussed with Turner's over use of the F-Word  on a couple of the songs on the album (and on a few of his earlier ones) as I feel that you can communcate frustration, anger etc without slipping into using profanities, but maybe that's just me. As someone who used to swear a lot and having sought to actually refine the way I speak to others and conciously not use bad language it irks me a little if I hear too much swearing that more often than not seems unecessary. The songs that really jumped off the record for me were Recovery, The Way I Tend To Be, Polaroid Picture (which is one of my absolute favourite Frank Turner songs), We Shall Not Overcome and Undeveloped Film.

His sixth studio album that came out in 2015, Postive Songs For Negative People, showed a couple of sides to Turner's delivery: a senisitve side (The Angel of Islington, Song For Josh) and one where he seems to strain too much (Out of Breath, Josephine). The standout songs though were the ones that appeared prior to the album's release - Get Better and The Next Storm (which in my book is one of his finest to date). Glorious You is another favourite.

Just prior to posting this morning I was trying to find out how last night went in Nottingham but there's maybe some sore heads among my Waster friends and it's possible they are still asleep somewhere!

Two thousand shows though is a nice number, I'm pretty sure he's got a lot left in the tank! 

I forgot to mention that amid all of this that he also has another hardcore side project called Möngöl Hörde who released an album and toured as well in 2014. That's not for the faint of heart by the way!


Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!

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