Tuesday 8 November 2011

TUESDAY BLUES! Stephen Fretwell - New York

Stephen Fretwell - New York (2004)

It's Tuesday and it's getting cold, I've scraped frost off the misses car the last few days and I've been back from Holidays for a fortnight and it feels like I haven't been away.....

Stephen Fretwell goes perfectly with this feeling, in particular a song from his debut album 'Magpie', an album that, from the very start makes you feel cold and wintry - it starts with a piano playing a single note which rings like a cold fog engulfing you and if you listen close enough you can hear the seagulls squawking. 

As you can tell this is not going to be an upbeat album or something you'll listen before you go clubbing, but from the start to the end, Stephen Fretwell's debut holds you like a boxing day walk.

The 'singles' from the album are excellent - "Emily" & "Run" (which was featured in the BBC Sitcom Gavin & Stacey) - but my favourite is "New York".  It's a song in which he sings (in his fantastic Northern accent) about giving everything up to move away to the "city that never sleeps".  It makes you want to pack in your job, take a small bag of possessions and head off to a dream life - with the reality being ending up working in a bar, a point captured perfectly in this song.

So enjoy it, smile at his daydream and get the album - (I also recently visited his website I noticed that he'll be playing a tour in December) and join his loyal following of fans that include Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner who managed to convince him to play bass for the The Last Shadow Puppets

"...leaving on a jet-plane, don't know, when I'm back again..."

Stephen Fretwell - New York

Try some more Tuesday Blues here....because Saturday is so far away!

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TUESDAY BLUES! Stephen Fretwell - New York
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Oleh

7 comments

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8 November 2011 at 10:55

Thank you sfw, I really enjoyed that. It made me a bit misty eyed and I wish life was as simple as in the song! I adore his northern accent and I suspect i would enjoy seeing him live. I'm up for it if you are!

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8 November 2011 at 11:45

Aahhh...this song. What a song! This was the song that reminds me of going to NY to propose to my now wife. I made the inevitable playlist of Manhattan themed tunes but this captured/summed up our feeling toward the city we both love.

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sfw
8 November 2011 at 12:07

Not bad at all! I've going to the Cardiff gig! Will be a good xmas present!

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Jon
8 November 2011 at 12:33

Saw him supporting KT Tunstall when she toured her debut album. Really enjoyed his set. Great track!

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8 November 2011 at 13:32

New to me but this is good, we have all felt like that at some time I suppose, but we din't have the bottle, did we?

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Anonymous
8 November 2011 at 20:03

Nice one. Not heard him before. Good tune and good words.

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8 November 2011 at 21:42

Love this song...so many memories of sultry weekends in icy NY. Worth pointing out he is yet another brilliant voice and songwriter from Up North...must be something in the water!

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