Originally published by L.S. Media. May 17th 2011.
It’s rare to come across an album that is so cool that you listen to it a couple of times just to make sure your ears weren’t playing tricks on you the first time round. Conceived by Miles Hunt of the Wonderstuff, Shared 2, is as it sounds, a collaboration between some of the U.K’s best musicians and although you may not have heard of some of the artists, when you hear the album it will encourage you to go and seek out these guys and hear them in their natural setting.
Taking the best of modern acoustic songs is never an easy task; however the assembled creative and eclectic musicians that are on this offering give performances that would grace any of their individual albums.
The album boasts the likes of Dan Donnelly, Liverpool’s own Ian Prowse, Damien Dempsey and of course Miles Hunt and his band mate Erica Nockalls amongst them, each in their own particular way adding a flavour and an unforgettable vibe to an eclectic and quite superb piece of recording.
One of the pure and incredible tracks is the artist Jim Bob who delivers a monologue over the lightest of guitar notes about a girl called Janie, it’s almost Film Noire in its outlook and perfectly brilliant.
For fans of Amsterdam’s front man there are two splendid tracks, one called Understanding Sadness which is as ever delivered with a melancholic anger and rooted in frustration and a thoughtful consideration and the other being an ode to the deeply missed soul singer, the Marvellous Marvin Gaye. It’s this type of song and the power that Ian emits when he sings lyrics of impressive quality that he reinforces his position as one of Liverpool’s finest musicians.
Every artist on the album gives a polished performance and amongst them stands the very impressive Smoke Feathers with the song Tropical Rain and Dan Donnelly’s What Might’ve Been.
Shared 2 should be a must for all those who crave acoustic music and in this brave format, Miles Hunt deserves much credit for delivering beyond its boundaries. Truly exceptional!
4 stars
Ian D. Hall