SWEET SOLACE by Huw Parsons and Friends

released September 7, 2018

1. NEW SHIP IN CARDIFF BAY: Words and Voice – Huw. Guitars, Bass and Percussion – David Cooper Orton.
Written and recorded in May 2018 to celebrate Sting's musical 'The Last Ship' coming to The Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay. I sent the recording to the man himself and he tells me it reduced him to tears. Hopefully, they were tears of joy and not despair.

2. OLD EDWARD: Words and Voice – Huw.
In the corner of Hereford Cathedral Close there's a fabulous bronze sculpture of Edward Elgar and his beloved 'Sunbeam' bicycle. Some years ago the cathedral used a photograph of this statue in the snow as a Christmas card, and this was the starting point for the poem. At the time I wrote it I'd been listening to Sting's song 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and somehow it seemed fitting to use the same structure of the song for my poem. If you count the syllables in the lines of both pieces you'll see what I mean.

3. WINTER JOURNEY: Words and Voice – Huw. Guitars, Electronic Effects, Bass and Percussion – David Cooper Orton.
Here's a piece that David and I finally finished in July 2018, after a few unsatisfactory attempts at recording it. It's one of our most ambitious to date, with David playing all the many instruments in something that gathers pace throughout, an idea inspired by 'Led Zeppelin's' song 'Stairway to Heaven.'

4. NEXT TIME AROUND: Words and Voice – Huw.
This poem was written after a chance conversation I had with Mary Tollhurst at an open-mic. I really do love swifts and when I started writing the poem I began with the couplet, “....for these are birds I really admire – lighting the sky with flickering black fire.” I mention this because I feel they are such good lines. It's a pity they didn't make it into the final piece!

5. SHIRLEY’S MOON: Words and Voice -Huw. Guitar and Bass - David Cooper Orton.
Here’s our tribute to Shirley Bassey, that Cardiff diva who hit the big time. I mention Butetown and Splott in this piece, as both are places where Shirley lived as a girl. They are a far cry from her present sumptuous home in Monte Carlo, but the moon's the same wherever you see it.

6. LOVE IS: Words and Voice – Huw.
'Love is the west front heavily sainted - Love is the way her porcelain's painted.' How I wish I could write couplets like this all the time.

7. THE LAND OF ALBION: Words and Voice – Huw. Electronic Effects - David Cooper Orton.
Here's a simple poem written on a lovely May morning to celebrate the beauty of the countryside.