Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Big Big Train
Label: Burning Shed
Release: 2018
Rating: 4.5/5
»Merchants of Light« is the latest live album from the workaholic English prog revivalists Big Big Train, who’ve been enjoying a real creative and popularity boom in recent years, within the limits of today’s prog scene, of course. We’ve sort of gotten used to Big Big Train putting out at least one new album a year, if not two, which sometimes stirs up mixed feelings, even though the end result has so far been more than satisfying. This year they first ‘teased’ fans with the single »Swan Hunter« (2018), which featured three different live recordings plus three different versions of the song »Swan Hunter«, and then a few weeks later they dropped the current live offering, »Merchants of Light«, which zeroes in on their current, hugely successful era with singer David Longdon, i.e. from 2009 onward, meaning it contains selected pieces from the albums »The Underfall Yard« (2009), both parts of »English Electric« (2012 and 2013), »Folklore« (2016) and »Grimspound« (2017). The album cover, interestingly enough, was designed by Fish’s longtime bassist Steve Vantsis.
»The Merchants of Light« was recorded during a show by the symphonic-prog old hands at Cardogan Hall, with an eight-piece lineup that, besides Langdon on lead vocals and flute, included Greg Spawton on bass, now-former member Andy Poole on keyboards and acoustic guitar, Rachell Hall on strings, Dave Gregory on guitar, Nick D’Virgilio on drums, Rikard Sjoblom on guitar and keyboards, Danny Manners on keyboards, and a backing brass section that stretched their traditionally rich symphonic arrangements even further. It’s precisely because of that, along with minimal improvisation, that hearing individual Big Big Train standards from the past ten years in a modern rendition on »Merchants of Light« feels like a pretty fresh experience. The high point of the whole recording, which includes takes on such epic treats as »Brave Captain«, »A Mead Hall in Winter«, »East Coast Racer« and »Victorian Brickwork«, is the closing performance of the folksy tease »Wassaill«, probably their most beloved standard of the last few years.
Big Big Train were in outstanding form at Cardogan Hall, helped along by an additional brass section, and you can hear it throughout »Merchants of Light«, which is stuffed with a colorful selection of some of their best moments from the past ten years. Longdon, who’s often compared to Peter Gabriel thanks to his similar vocal timbre, really doesn’t have a hard job conjuring up an incredible live atmosphere with backing singers like D’Virgilio, Sjoblom and Hall. The recording’s remarkable arrangement variety, which wafts out of every single »Merchants of Light« performance, boosts that even further. With their pastoral-tinged symphonic prog, at a time when numerous legendary names of the English symphonic prog scene are heading into retirement or had already waved goodbye earlier, Big Big Train are the greatest hope for all the keepers of the old-school prog tradition. So on the one hand it’s only right that they’re so active, but on the other, they really shouldn’t be in too much of a rush with a new studio album going forward.
Lineup
David Longdon – lead and backing vocals, flute, acoustic guitar, mandolin, percussion, strings and brass
Dave Gregory – guitar
Rikard Sjöblom – keyboards, accordion, backing vocals
Danny Manners – keyboards, double bass
Rachel Hall – violin, viola, cello, backing vocals, string arrangements
Greg Spawton – bass guitar, bass pedals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Nick D’Virgilio – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Production
Big Big Train
Track list
1.) Folklore Overture
2.) Folklore
3.) Brave Captain
4.) Last Train
5.) London Plane
6.) Meadowland
7.) A Mead Hall in Winter
8.) Experimental Gentlemen Part Two
9. )Swan Hunter
10.) Judas Unrepentant
11.) The Transit of Venus Across the Sun
12.) East Coast Racer
13.) Telling the Bees
14.) Victorian Brickwork
15.) Drums and Brass
16.) Wassail
