Roger Chapman, Peaceology. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is always a school of thought that suggests to take what is essentially a classic album, something that has been painstakingly upheld as a pinnacle of a musician’s life work and re-master it is somehow akin to robbing the memory of what went before, for both the artist and for the audience. It sits there like a re-make of a much loved film or a different interpretation of a favourite play in some people’s eyes and thoughts as having somehow desecrated the past.

Art should never stand still, and whilst some re-imaginings are painfully awful, a film lover only has to point out the lack of love and heart in Tim Burton’s version of Planet of The Apes to have heads nodding sagely in agreement, others will point out that re-mastering adds something new to the opinion and for Roger Chapman and Peaceology, the added bonus of three new tracks thrown in for good measure is enough to have many salivating at the prospect of revisiting his 2007 album, One More Time For Peace in a grander and more musically imposing form than first thought.

The former front-man of Family and Streetwalkers has only further enhanced his input into the world of music with Peaceology. The album is as luxurious as can be wished for, a majestic trundle through the mind of one of the great voices of his era.

It is easy to understand why some detractors would decry the morphing of an already outstanding album, for them the magic has already been set and played to the point of knowing each note in the precise order. However like our own lives, music is fluid, ever changing and to keep a piece of work in a binding straight jacket for all time shows no sense of adventure.

Even if the re-master is of the quality in which peace is not shown, it surely can only make you hanker for your version of the truth even more. Music is meant to be fluid, arresting, to make you sit down and grab your guts and take it for a long lingering ride through a wilderness in which a sort of peace is found on the other side. Roger Chapman attains that splendour with charm and guile and the album, with songs such as Oh Brother, Take Me Now, the brilliant Hell Of A Lullaby, One More Time For Peace and the stunning Jerusalem, in its self a cover of fluidity and agility and one that stirs many emotions,  

Ian D. Hall