Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In the darkest moments we all need to be held. It is the basic principle of humanity, to feel compassion, to understand that it is not a weakness to show concern for another or even basic kindness to one who has done you wrong in thought or deed. To be able to do so is to show strength and it doesn’t manifest itself enough in what has become at times an intolerant and growing steadily selfish society.
To be held, even through the multitude of wires and strange beast like tentacles that inhabit any stereo system, is a plus and in Mike Grogan’s 2013 album, Make Me Strong, that kindness is forthcoming in the shape of some terrific tracks and the sense of consideration that flows throughout each number.
Make Me Strong doesn’t just exhibit the virtues of compassion, it seeps into the veins, it pours the music and delicate arrangements with fine precision over piercing, well observed lyrics and offers in the dead of night or in the storm filled morning where hope may be lost, the chance of musical redemption and a kind of salvation without having to trade-in your soul.
The album is littered with great simple songs, modestly played, plainly spoken but with the intensity of a well polished sermon given by a kindly priest. Songs filled with such dramatic imagery such as Nelson’s Blood, The Devil’s Kite, the intensity and affection-blurring Shackled In Love and The White Flowing River conjure up in the mind, tales of great heroism, of fortitude and personal burdens. It is as dramatic as it expressive, eloquent as affirming.
That affirmation comes to a head in the songs Black Dog and John Pounds. One of those great British folk heroes who, as a son of the south coast town of Portsmouth, started free education for the poor of his parish over 200 years ago offers hope, whilst Black Dog resonates across the human condition, the debilitating sense of depression so keenly felt by millions tempers the album into something tangible and real.
Whilst recorded in 2013, Make Me Strong is a smashing album to get hold of, pathos and wit, compassion and hope, all presented in a simple set of songs and offered with sincerity.
Ian D. Hall