CHILLI MORNING REVIEWS

Nice review from the June 2013 Acoustic magazine:

Thanks Julian!

And here's one from Sid Smith's Yellow Room:

Maartin Allcock
Chilli Morning
Squiggle Records SQUIGGLECD3

Given that he’s played with the great and the good in the folk world, including stints with Fairport Convention, as well as tinkling the ivories for a time with Jethro Tull, it’s no surprise that Maartin Allcock’s fourth solo album covers quite a lot of musical ground. Allcock focuses his multi-instrumental skills upon a sprightly-paced mix of traditional tunes,  original compositions and a couple of cover versions.

By way of illustrating his diverse tastes those covers include a shimmering rendition of Robin Williamson’s By Weary Well and King Crimson’s Discipline. This musical Gordian Knot is rendered on mandolin, bouzars, 12-string guitars, acoustic bass, and programmed drums. “Quite the hardest piece of music I’ve played” he writes in the accompanying notes. Yet Allcock expertly unpicks Crimson’s phase-shifting complexity and threads it into a well-fitting Celtic-tinged setting.

There’s plenty of muscular organ-driven rocking out to be found alongside such delicate creations. Blodeuwedd’s furious unison picking lines between guitar and Hammond organ is exhilarating stuff with a soaring electric violin solo from Martin Bell, while Mouldiwarp offers much fusion-orientated fun. A collection of such contrasting styles could sound bitty or awkward but Allcock manages to make the whole thing sound effortlessly complementary and coherent.

And here's a nice one from Simon Jones of fRoots magazine:

MAARTIN ALLCOCK
Chilli Morning
Squiggle Records SQUIGGLECD3

Since he retreated to the wilds of the Welsh coast, Maartin Allcock has mostly moved below the radar as producer or session player in various casual alliances. Putting his own motivations on hold apparently back in 2006, Morning finally got his attention when the population was gripped by Olympic fever, Maart not so. Reflecting his sundry motivations and inclinations, the press sheet quotes yer man, “acoustic, folk, folk rock, prog and even King Crimson”. Well it is his album, his label so he can do what he likes.

Fortunately the miscellany makes for a jolly listen. It opens with a slice of Tull-like noodling. By Weary Well – the old Robin Williamson tune – taken at a hell of a lick on twelve-string and various percussion follows and is an example of him flying solo, though various other cuts benefit from an assembly of chums, chief among them Angus Lyon on keyboards, Banbury’s Mick Bennion on bass, Paul Burgess on drums and on fiddle Wonderstuff’s Martin Bell. United put me in mind of France’s Gwendal, in fact other cuts did too, the way guitars rise and fall playing a traddish melody and then things take off in a jazz-rock improvisation. Unplugged and plugged weave around one another. Admitting a soft spot for Deep Purple might be a guilty pleasure best left hidden, though turning Robert Fripp into a roots source works as Mr Allcock plunges deep into various stringed things on Discipline.

The true core is reached however when it’s just him, a rack of acoustic instruments and studio software. Eanach Dhuin Set encompasses just about every mood you could summon from energetic ceilidh to chunky rock’n’reel via up-front jig guitar. Let’s be honest, the man’s an inspirational polyglot. He’s off just now to work on a project mixing trad and modern in Italy with a box of effects and his chum Jerry Cutillo. Restless feet, a head whizzing with ideas and a work ethic means motivation. Chilli Morning, I like the cut of its jib.

Here's one from freelance journalist Rob Beattie:

MAARTIN ALLCOCK
Chilli Morning
Squiggle Records SQUIGGLECD3

The fourth solo album from multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock is a playfully expansive collection of folk and prog rock that echoes not just his years in Fairport Convention but also confirms his affection for both genres. Thus, there are echoes of Jan Akkerman in Blodeuwedd, hints of McDonald & Giles in Isabel (featuring flautist Jerry Cutillo and such a pretty tune) and having covered King Crimson’s Moonchild on 2004’s Serving Suggestion, an altogether tougher assignment in the shape of Discipline - all twitchy stops and starts as if the ground was shifting under your feet - a veritable musical mountain to Moonchild’s molehill. The acoustic balladry is effective and original, particularly the cover of Robin Williamson’s By Weary Well and the traditional song One Night As I Lay On My Bed, where Allcock’s teenage chancer-at-the-window overcomes his young lady’s hesitation with predictable results. A couple of the guitar instrumentals may be a bit unruly for some tastes - particularly United - but there’s real tenderness too, especially in the album’s opener Comme le Soleil (Cutillo again) and Enfants Somnolents which should find a home in every family with small kids, come bedtime. First class.
FOUR STARS