ALBUM REVIEW: Wally - Montpellier
TRYING to rekindle old sparks can be a dangerous business but Wally's first album in 36 years is better than even their most diehard fans might have expected.
Recorded fairly quickly at Soundworks Studio in Leeds with various members of the band jetting in and out, Montpellier's mix of updated versions of unreleased demos and a handful of new tracks captures all their old strengths while adding some surprisingly fresh ideas.
It's a delight to be able to say that the album is book-ended by four of the best tracks the band has ever recorded - the majestic Sailor and Sister Moon at the beginning and the moving She Said and Giving at the end.
Asides from Sister Moon, a sharp and classy rocker, the other three are founded on Wally's stunning mastery of the slow build-up, the rise and fall of a song, plus lead singer Roy Webber's calm, soul-sweet vocals.
Still combining melodic prog rock with country pop-balladry, these mini epics (all four clock in at the six-minute mark or more) also feature Wally's traditional rich palette of sounds - keyboards, piano, fiddle, mandolin the echo-ing sound effect of seagulls, thunderclaps, chitter-chatter and more.
But there's also a ringing modern guitar sound from new member Will Jackson blended to glorious effect at different moments with pedal steel from fellow newcomer Frank Mizen and lap steel from old hand Paul Middleton.
With the further addition of ballsy harmonies from Kate and Jerry the result on the best tracks is a powerful, heady brew which still sounds like Wally while conjuring up flavours of U2, Primal Scream, Simple Minds, Coldplay - Granddaddy, even.
The other difference between then and now is a slight lessening of the folk element and an increase in a blues-rock feel.
The latter features heavily in the album's central section where the quality level slips just a tad on a stomping new rocker from Jackson-Webber, Thrill Is Gone; a bold stab by Middleton at psychedelic blues-reggae called Surfing and Webber's more tasteful rock ballad In The Night.
Even here, however, the band's instrumental skill and ambitious song structures lift this potential lull and the guitar solos on both The Thrill Is Gone and In The Night sting and snarl like musicians half their age.
This miracle of an album finally turns the corner with Human, an amazingly deeply-felt blues-rocker with a powerhouse vocal turn from Middleton and wonderfully atmospheric fiddle from original member Pete Sage.
The end is then looming and the last two tracks are one glorious farewell, the passionate She Said and the gorgeous Giving - the best track Wally have ever done, perhaps.
As the latter's stirring instrumental climax goes on and on like Snow Patrol without the misery or Sigur Ros without the Icelandic mysticism, you realise the greatest thing about Wally is their soul and spirit.
Older but wiser, they know there can never really be an ending to anything important and that the meaning is always there waiting to be rediscovered.
Graham Chalmers
Montpellier by Wally is on sale at both Rock Steady Music and The Blues Bar in Harrogate and www.wallymusic.co.uk
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