Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a shiver of meaningful cool that comes from listening to an artist to whom you understand observes more than just the casual and the surface noise of life, the ones who are prepared to delve deeper, seek further clarification, open wounds and watch the blood flow, for they are the ones who open the listeners’ minds and cause them to think, to pay attention, to leave a mark on the abused heart that is indelibly stamped.

A man who has left his own mark on Liverpool, who has long been one of modern muses and consciousness’, returns with a new album that seems to dedicate itself to all, weaving itself into the drama, the reveal, the passion, and the regret with those twin discerning emotions that comes from all who have taken in the waters of the Mersey, unabating passion and anger, and in No Names that sensation, that reaction is displayed with the ferocity of spirit that Ian Prowse inhabits every day.

Across songs such Keynote Speech, The Cleaner, Born In A Merry Hour, Black Messiah, the excellent When Bobby Was Alive, and Stand Your Ground, Ian Prowse, along with guests and loved ones, Elvis Costello, Steve Wickham, Damien Dempsey, and Rosalita Prowse, the sense of keen observation is a must, you don’t, after all, involve heroes and your own kin on something less than already devastatingly focused and lyrically sharp to commit to the world.

From the appearance and elegance of the sax utilised with sincerity and the guitar tingling the flesh, the timing, the melody, and the openness of conversation, of the undaunted familiarity, No Names is an album unafraid to damn, to embrace, to hold and to bring out the best in those that listen, and whilst the artist has always been one to write exceptional songs, to never be afraid to speak his mind, this album in particular is perhaps amongst the finest of emotions, of poetic beauty.

An absolute pleasure to hear the continuing story of Ian Prowse, fearless and expressively profound in equal measure.

Ian D. Hall