Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

A Golden Thread once pulled would often suggest a loom industriously working to create perhaps the fabled fleece that Greek antiquity held in admiration and coveted appreciation.

It seems as though Pete Morton has been on his own journey, an expedition that has seen the superb lyric writer step back into the shadows and become of sorts an observer of humanity, and in the four years since A Golden Thread was released, there has been an explosion of human activity, of partial societal immobility and a tension that has not been felt bubbling under the skin for a couple of generations. Pete Morton has obviously watched it all unfold, and in his own indomitable style has returned from the shadows and turned on the light for the listener to witness the picture of Fair Freedom that we so deserve.

It is perhaps to the knowledge of our destruction of the British waterways, our life blood as a combined nation, and the highlighted wreckage of beauty that Pete Morton sets his sights upon. The sheer insanity that has come from the persuasive aspect of social media, and the onlookers view of the slaughter and the thought of the two-state system that has currently the world’s attention in the Middle East; these subjects, as well as wonderfully humorous and compelling takes, are the reason for the return of such a captivating talent.

Fair Freedom is built on a foundation of calm observance, very much acknowledging the kind of style and temperament that Cat Stevens himself would honour, but in Mr. Morton’s own gentle stance, and as tracks such as the opener of The Rivers of the Isle, The Genuine You, Birdsong and Green, Newtons Parakeet, the excellent The Ghost of a Sailor, and Die For Love all combine to mark the welcome comeback of a special artist.

A golden thread pulled can lead to a freedom unseen by others, but one that you know yourself to be just, ethical, fair.

Ian D. Hall