| The Ghost of Love | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Robb Johnson and the Irregulars | ||||
| Released | 30 November 2009 | |||
| Recorded | 2009 | |||
| Genre | Folk-rock | |||
| Length | tbc | |||
| Label | Irregular Records | |||
| Producer | tbc | |||
| Robb Johnson chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Ghost of Love is an album released in November 2009 by English folk-rock singer Robb Johnson and his band The Irregulars. The album takes the form of a song cycle based on a woman called Mary and the events that occur in her life at Christmas over various years.
A number of the songs had appeared sporadically on earlier albums by Johnson, dating back to Overnight in 1991, although the recordings presented on the album are all new. The songs were inspired by Johnson's memories of living in the London borough of Hounslow, where he was a resident for around fifty years, ranging from childhood memories of watching Brentford F.C. with his father to more modern incidents. One song, "Father Christmas Down Hounslow High Street" was inspired by a Christmas parade to which he took his own children, which featured Noddy and some "camp pirates". [1] The storyline of the album centres on Mary, from nearby Feltham, her children, and her on-off boyfriend Gary, a carpenter. Johnson based the character of Mary on a girl he had taught while working as a schoolteacher, who had a child at a young age. [1] Johnson and the band also toured in support of the album, combining the concert with a children's songs workshop. [2]
Writing in The Guardian , Robin Denselow called the album "bleak but unexpectedly poignant" and "thoughtful [and] well-observed" and said it offered proof that Johnson was "an English original". [3]
Johnson plays guitar on the album and sings, accompanied by John Forrester on bass guitar, Charlie Waygood on drums, Naomy Browton on cello, Tim Walker on brass, and Roger Watson on melodeon. Johnson's two young sons, Hari and Arvin, provided background vocals for the track "Poundshop Christmas". [1]
Natacha Atlas is an Egyptian-Belgian singer known for her fusion of Arabic and Western music, particularly hip-hop. She once termed her music "cha'abi moderne". Her music has been influenced by many styles including Maghrebain, hip hop, drum and bass and reggae.
Feltham is a large town in West London, England, 13 miles (21 km) from Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it became part of the London Borough of Hounslow in 1965. The parliamentary constituency of Feltham and Heston has been held by Labour Party MPs since 1992. In 2011, the population of the combined census area of Feltham, Bedfont and Hanworth was 63,368.
Steven Curtis Chapman is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist.
Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer-songwriter from Penistone, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Sometimes called the "Barnsley Nightingale", she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is one of the best known contemporary English folk singers. In 2001 The Guardian described her as "a superstar of the British acoustic scene." In 2007 the BBC website described her as "The first lady of young folkies". She is one of the few folk singers to have been nominated for the Mercury Prize.
Patricia Jean Griffin is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is a vocalist and plays guitar and piano. She is known for her stripped-down songwriting style in the folk music genre. Her songs have been covered by numerous musicians, including Emmylou Harris, Ellis Paul, Kelly Clarkson, Rory Block, Dave Hause, Sugarland and The Chicks.
Rachid Taha was an Algerian singer and activist based in France described as "sonically adventurous". His music was influenced by many different styles including rock, electronic, punk and raï.
Barb Jungr is an English singer, songwriter and theatre writer, who has recorded versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Sting, Elvis Presley, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen.
Robb Jenner Johnson is a British musician and songwriter, who has been called "one of the last genuinely political songwriters", and is known for his mix of political satire and wit. He has his own record label, Irregular Records, and has released more than 40 albums since 1985, either solo or in several collaborations.
Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, known by the stage name Poly Styrene, was an English musician, singer-songwriter, and frontwoman for the punk rock band X-Ray Spex.
Kathryn Williams is an English singer-songwriter who to date has released 14 studio albums, written and arranged for a multitude of artists, and was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize.
Roy Bailey, was an English socialist folk singer. Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represented "the very soul of folk's working class ideals... a triumphal homage to the grass roots folk scene as a radical alternative to the mainstream music industry."
The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush, Paul Simmonds, Philip "Swill" Odgers, Jon Odgers and Shanne Bradley.
The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake.
Bonjour is the eighth studio album by French–Algerian singer Rachid Taha. It was released by Wrasse Records on 26 October 2009.
Megson are an English folk duo composed of husband and wife Stu Hanna and Debbie Hanna. The duo have released nine albums and one EP on their own label, edj. Their live performances feature Stu playing a guitar or mandolin and Debbie sometimes playing accordion or tin whistle as backing to their vocal harmonies.
Reg Meuross is an English singer and songwriter based in Somerset.
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other five albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. In 2019 their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack.
Grace Petrie is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist from Leicester, England. She was hailed in The Guardian as "a powerful new songwriting voice" in 2011.
Saskia Tomkins is a British musician and actress, living since 2007 in Ontario, Canada. She plays the violin, viola, cello and Nyckelharpa. She performs and records in several genres, including traditional, modern, jazz and classical music.
Blick Bassy is a Cameroonian singer-songwriter. His song Kiki from the album Ako featured as the theme song for the worldwide launch of the iPhone 6 in 2015.