Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Darwin received a fair amount of disgruntlement for his startling discoveries and observations when he undertook his voyage upon H.M.S. Beagle and pondered the meaning of life across time and found that survival depended on being the most adaptable.
Even long after his death he is misquoted, sometimes by the oppressor and the bully, often by the religiously inclined; if only he had written and presented a paper titled Survival Of The Friendliest, then perhaps much of the toxic humanity we have collectively endured since the day the great man first noticed the differences in the finches as they flew in circles around The Galapagos Islands, might well have been avoided.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility”, such is the point of acceptance, of not only smiling at someone when they pass by, but of sharing the joy far and wide, even if the world has turned your own life upside down.
It is fair to say that being friendly, having consideration, and perhaps even spreading joy, is a lost art, we are too consumed by fear, by our perception of fate, and even greedy for the chance to knock someone down, to see the advantage of being friendly; namely that of giving people that one basic human need, hope.
December 1st seems to not herald the start of winter, but for Beans On Toast, the indefatigable Jay McAllister, it is the opportunity to remind the public that hope lays not in snuffing out someone else’s candle, but by holding a barrier against the draft that threatens their flame, and in time honoured tradition, the new album released is once more to be found full of surprise, of folk beauty, of the observant in motion, and yet it also has the approachable edge to which previous albums have only touched upon, but arguably not quite brought itself to fully embracing.
The album relies heavily, and absolutely on its position of charm and well-disposed affability, and with Sarah Telman, Rosie Bristow, Adriano Rossetti-Bonell and Graham Godfrey all leaving their incredible mark on the songs, and as tracks such as the opener A Beautiful Place, Blow Volcano Blow, the excellent Not Everyone Thinks We’re Doomed, Humans, the elegant and forgiving Let’s Get Married Again, and the album closer of Love Yourself, the survival of the species is magnified by an artist’s willingness to promote what others may think is impossible, that we must never fail to be kind.
Survival Of The Friendliest has a case to argue for being the most endearing albums of 2021, it certainly is one of the most fitting, appropriate, and relevant recordings of the year, and in a smile, in a friendly acknowledgement of another’s right to have hope, it is a moment of pure bliss.
Beans On Toast releases Survival Of The Friendliest on December 1st via Bot Music.
Ian D. Hall