A Beach Full of Shells - Dark Publications

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•	Past, Present and Future

Editorial Reviews:

Album Description
For a singer and songwriter whose work is suffused with history and detail, Al Stewart follows no creative timetable. It's been 10 years since his last US CD of new material and almost 30 years since his "Year of the Cat" single and album became unforgettable international hits.

"A Beach Full of Shells," Al's Appleseed debut and first new US release since 1995's "Between the Wars," finds Stewart in timeless form, presenting 13 new songs that span centuries and continents, autobiography and fiction. As he nears the 20-album mark, Stewart remains a distinctively literate and vivid storyteller, time-traveling and teleporting from World War I battlefields to Sixties bedrooms, from ships to airplanes to ice floes, from the specific to the mysterious.

Musical settings that encompass electric folk-rock and acoustic ballads, colorful dabs of classical and Eastern music, and even a touch of Little Richard-style piano pounding, are as varied and imaginative as Al's subject matters. The CD's producer, Laurence Juber has enhanced Al's elegant Scottish drawl, nimble acoustic guitar-work and keyboards with his own Grammy-winning guitar playing, string arrangements and percussion and a flexible rhythm section.

"The Immelman Turn" kicks off the CD in a style reminiscent of Fairport Convention, with spirited violin and barbed electric guitar sweeping us into the tale of a doomed pilot's last flight. Then we fall down the genteel rabbit hole of "Mr. Lear," a tribute to the 19th Century nonsense poet, before landing in the veiled intrigue of "Royal Courtship." Elsewhere and elsewhen, we are taken "Somewhere in England 1915"; into the freezing bleakness of "Out in the Snow"; to visit party girl "Gina in the Kings Road"; to the frenzied rock 'n' roll past of "Class of '58" and a peaceful, nostalgia-filled old age in "Katherine of Oregon." And that's just part of the tour on "A Beach Full of Shells."

Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

A crowning jewel of a great career June 22, 2005
43 out of 47 found this review helpful

I've been a fan of Al Stewart since I heard "Carol" on the radio in 1973 or 1974 or so, and have become very familiar with his work since then. After all these years, I didn't think that I could be surprised by anything he did because I already had such high expectations, but frankly this new recording (released in the UK and the USA on 21 June 2005) has left me amazed. From the very start of the opening cut, his creativity shines in lyrics, tone, instrumentation, and variety. His voice is in the best form in many years. Al seems to have found something from within that is both inspiring and fresh, perhaps a reconnection with his own folk rock roots, that has elevated his music in many ways. Laurence Juber, the acclaimed guitarist and producer, did a superb job bringing this great collection of songs to life. The entire recording is a joy to play, and I think over time it will become viewed by many as Al's finest. I can't help but be reminded of Roy Orbison who had a huge surge in creativity later in his career.

This CD comes with a very attractive lyric and photo booklet.

5 out of 5 stars

You MUST have this album! July 15, 2005
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

Lovely, lyrical songs and music...definitely one of Al's best.

There are no songs to dislike on this album, and many to love. Right now I am humming "Katharine of Oregon", while my son is singing "Rain Barrel" (which I seem to recall as a real historical event, but cannot remember the details).

"Mr. Lear" is also a favorite. My kids and I loved Edward Lear's works, and Stewart deftly captures the wistful playfulness of his works.

The song which contains the title words, "Somewhere in England, 1915", is hauntingly beautiful; it brought tears to my eyes.

But, as I said -- they are all good.

5 out of 5 stars

Al Stewart's "Shell Game" June 26, 2005
10 out of 12 found this review helpful

Al Stewart brings us a delightful new set of music about World War 1 era things right through to the Class of '58 and songs about 1968. Every song is done well. Dave Nachmanoff has some acoustic guitar spots and there are some potential hits here. Personally I enjoyed "Beacon Street" the best, which may be a play on Al's comments during his concert at the Grace Cathedral when he kidded the audience about "Baker Street" insinuating that it was one of his major hits. "Rain Barrel" has some Indian/Far Eastern flair to it and I am sure fans will love the first track "Immelman Turn" concerning flying a Curtiss Jenny. I hope that this album will get the "Air play" that it deserves! Another good album from the master of Historical Folk Music.

4 out of 5 stars

A Welcome Return August 15, 2005
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Quite a few years have passed since Al Stewart's last release so A Beach Full Of Shells marks a welcome and refreshing return to the public ear.
I have been a fan of Stewart's ever since the lyrical wizardry of Past, Present and Future delighted my senses nearly forty years ago. And its all still here: Stewart's rich and unmistakeable voice, the unparalleled scope and depth of his lyrics, and his musical prowess.
The problem (some may say its his delight) with Stewart though is that he sometimes really seems to plumb the depths of the past in order to come up with what he feels is a suitable subject for a song. The Immelman Turn is just such a song. Barnstorming is a very obscure topic and in the course of the song Stewart himself seems at a loss to find much of anything to say about it. But that song and the silly Class of '58 aside, Stewart has turned out his best album since The Last Days of the Century.
My favorites are the whimsical Mr Lear, the tongue-in-cheek take on some of the absurdities of diplomacy in Royal Courtship, the mysterious Rain Barrel, the cozy Katherine of Oregon, the phantasmic Out In The Snow, the dreamy My Egyptian Couch, the rocking Gina In The King's Road, and the imaginitive story of a suicide in Anniversary.
Overall, A Beach Full Of Shells is a fine album that should please even the most discriminating of Stewart's fans.

5 out of 5 stars

"Somewhere in England" is best Al Stewart song ever March 13, 2006
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Like many of the other reviewers here, I have been an Al Stewart fan since the 1970's, and I think this is yet another fine album -- the man is amazing. My reason for writing my own review, however, is that none of the other reviews seem to have captured the importance of "Somewhere in England 1915." It is not really a historical song; it is about the war in Iraq. The key verse is near the end, after he awakens from the dream:

I go out into the yard where the newspaper waits
There's a man on the cover we all know, defying the fates [this would be President Bush]
And he seems very sure of himself as he offers up his opinion
Well everyone feels like this in the beginning.

The song is a dispassionate, dream-like perspective on our current situation, argued by analogy. It also makes the devastating observation, ever so subtly, that we are nowhere near the end of the tragedy here -- no, we are still "at the beginning."

The rest of the album is pretty good too.

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