Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The tracing of roots and original conception can be one fraught with enclosure, of stepping back into a time in which the ideas may have been free-flowing, but they weren’t as adjustable, as patiently unpicked and stitched together with solemnity and duty of care.
We bear witness to the birth of a child with awe because we understand it will grow, become to relish in its own thoughts and loves, yet we look back to the ultimate expression of the creation of our Universe and we perhaps fear it, the Origins are too big to contemplate, the mood not one of awe but shock, powerful and explosive. It is in the sound of the beginnings that we marvel and wonder with an expression of just how do we react when the day comes when the boiling pot is ready to be enjoyed?
There is magic in the finished article that feeds our imagination, that allows us to breathe in the reflection of our understanding of ourselves, we sense greatness but for the vast majority of the time we are struck dumb and blind by the beauty of the final result. Dan Reed Network’s Origins is perhaps a different matter entirely, the magic of the performance laid down during the recording period was witnessed by a few who might otherwise had not have had the chance to be in the secretive confines of the recording process. By opening up their hearts to the outsider, the word would have spread like a bush fire, like an uncontainable wave of water across oceans, that Origins is a source, a basis of life itself.
We perhaps imagine life under the microscope as being tiny, unaccountable, if it cannot be envisaged with the naked eye then perhaps it holds little consequence for us in our world of light and towering stars. However, as songs such as Ritual, Forgot To Make Her Mine, Shameless, One Last Time and Rainbow Child attest, from the smallest change and humble beginnings, Gods of clay are removed from their perch and replaced with honour those who deserve our attention, the origin of greatness is not in its final delivery, but in the knowledge that those who see the process start, will beat the drum louder for others to hear.
A delightfully cool album, once again Dan Reed Network show their colours are welcome to adaption and urging revolution in presentation and style, a beginning but never an ending.
Dan Reed Network’s Origins is released on November 23rd.
Dan Reed Network will be performing at The Chester Live Rooms on Saturday 17th November.
Ian D. Hall