| The Underfall Yard | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 15 December 2009 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, new prog | |||
| Length | 60:38 | |||
| Label | English Electric | |||
| Big Big Train chronology | ||||
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The Underfall Yard is the sixth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train, and their first to feature vocalist and multi-instrumentalist David Longdon. It was released on 15 December 2009, by English Electric Recordings. [1]
The Underfall Yard consists of an opening instrumental track and 5 songs. The album has an elegiac atmosphere, with a number of the songs exploring historical themes in an almost nostalgic manner.
The opening instrumental track, "Evening Star", sets out some of the instrumental motifs which recur in the title track.
Two of the songs, "Master James of St. George" and "Victorian Brickwork", are about Spawton's father, who died shortly before the album was released.
"Last Train" is a song about a Mr Delia who was the last station master at Hurn station, which was an isolated station on a rural branch line on the border of Dorset and Hampshire. The station closed in 1935. The song tells the story of Mr Delia's final day as the last train departs.
"Winchester Diver" is about diver William Walker who, in the early 1900s, worked under the flooded foundations of Winchester Cathedral to save it from collapse. Diving in 20 feet of water and in appalling conditions, Walker shored up the foundations. The song explores the contrast between the dreadful working conditions he endured and life in the cathedral above him, which carried on as normal.
The 23 minute title track, "The Underfall Yard", is a song about Isambard Kingdom Brunel and the great Victorian engineers. The Underfall Yard itself is located in Bristol and is an engineering solution, partly developed by Brunel, to maintain water and silt levels in the city's harbour. The song explores Enlightenment themes, contrasting the rationalism of the Victorian era to a coming 'age of unreason'. The Underfall Yard was initially inspired by Richard Fortey's The Hidden Landscape. In the book, Fortey describes a journey along Brunel's Great Western line, where, as the author travelled west, the rocks are found to be older.
The album was remixed and reissued as a double CD and three-LP set in April 2021 and features new studio re-recordings of "Victorian Brickwork" and "The Underfall Yard", along with a new brass arranged prelude to the title track and the brand new song "Brew and Burgh". [2]
All tracks are written by Gregory Spawton
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Evening Star" | 4:53 |
| 2. | "Master James of St. George" | 6:19 |
| 3. | "Victorian Brickwork" | 12:33 |
| 4. | "Last Train" | 6:28 |
| 5. | "Winchester Diver" | 7:31 |
| 6. | "The Underfall Yard" | 22:54 |
Bonus tracks on 2021 reissue
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Songs From The Shoreline"
| 18:57 (12:32) (6:25) |
| 2. | "Prelude To The Underfall Yard" | 2:23 |
| 3. | "The Underfall Yard" (2020 Studio Version) | 22:50 |
| 4. | "Brew And Burgh" | 4:31 |
Per 2021 edition liner notes [3]
Big Big Train are an English progressive rock band formed in Bournemouth in 1990. The current line-up includes band founder Gregory Spawton, along with Nick D'Virgilio and Rikard Sjöblom. Until 2009, the band were active as a predominantly studio project led by Spawton and co-founder Andy Poole, who departed the band in 2018, with changing line-ups and guest musicians. They have released fourteen studio albums and six EPs.
Goodbye To The Age of Steam is the debut studio album by the English progressive rock band, Big Big Train. It was released in 1994, by Giant Electric Pea. On the official BBT website, Spawton has revealed that "much of the album was about how people lose their way in their lives; about the tightrope we all walk every day. The album title wasn't linked to this, but it conveyed a feeling of pathos which fitted the mood of the songs."
English Boy Wonders is the second studio album by the English progressive rock band, Big Big Train. It was released in 1997 by Giant Electric Pea.
English Electric Part One is the seventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 3 September 2012, by English Electric Recordings and GEP.
English Electric Part Two is the eighth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 4 March 2013, by English Electric Recordings and GEP.
Wassail is the third official studio EP by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 1 June 2015 by English Electric Recordings and Burning Shed. It contains three new songs and a live bonus track that originally appeared on The Underfall Yard. The title track also appears on the band's next full-length studio album, Folklore, released the following year, while the other two new songs are included only on the double-LP vinyl release of that album.
Far Skies Deep Time is the first official studio EP by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released in 2010 by English Electric Recordings, and re-released in 2011 with "Kingmaker" replacing "Master of Time" as the first track. It contains five tracks, including a 17-minute epic about the last voyage of Belgian singer Jacques Brel.
Make Some Noise is the second official studio EP by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It was released on 23 September 2013 by English Electric Recordings and Burning Shed. It contains four new tracks from the compilation album English Electric: Full Power, plus a selection of tracks from English Electric Part One and English Electric Part Two, two of which are edited versions.
Folklore is the ninth studio album by English progressive rock band Big Big Train. Released on 27 May 2016, it was recorded at English Electric Studios, produced by Big Big Train, and mixed and mastered at Aubitt Studios by Rob Aubrey. It is the first studio album to feature Rachel Hall and then-Beardfish lead vocalist Rikard Sjöblom as official members.
David Longdon was a British singer and multi-instrumentalist, who was best known as the lead vocalist and co-songwriter of the progressive rock band Big Big Train. Besides singing, Longdon played flute, keyboards, acoustic and electric 6 & 12 string guitars, bass, mandolin, lute, banjo, accordion, percussion, dulcimer, psaltry, vibraphone, theremin and glockenspiel.
English Electric: Full Power is a compilation album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It presents tracks from their seventh and eighth studio albums, English Electric Part One and English Electric Part Two, along with four new pieces as a self-contained double CD album. The album was issued in a book-style digipack, including a 96-page booklet.
Grimspound is the tenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. Released on 28 April 2017, it was recorded at English Electric Studios, produced by Big Big Train, and mixed and mastered at Aubitt Studios by Rob Aubrey.
The Second Brightest Star is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It contains a mix of new songs along with re-worked material from the band's previous two albums, Folklore and Grimspound. It is the band's last album to feature co-founder Andy Poole who departed the band in January 2018.
Merchants of Light is the second live offering by Big Big Train and is based on the autumn 2017 Concerts at Cadogan Hall, London. It was recorded across three dates 29, 30 September and 1 October 2017, then first released on 27 July 2018.
Grand Tour is the twelfth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train. It contains all new songs unlike the previous, The Second Brightest Star. Thematically it broadens the lyrical landscape for the group into the European world, previously having a largely domestic British focus. It moves from English folklore and landscape, to the 17th and 18th century habit of well-to-do Europeans going on the 'Grand Tour' to experience a wider circle of art and science. It is the last studio album to feature band members Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall, and Danny Manners who left in 2020, and first without co-founder Andy Poole, who had departed in January 2018.
Common Ground is the thirteenth studio album by the English progressive rock band Big Big Train, released on 30 July 2021. With the departure of Dave Gregory, Rachel Hall, and Danny Manners in 2020, Common Ground is the first album release with the core four-piece lineup of Greg Spawton, David Longdon, Nick D'Virgilio, and Rikard Sjöblom. Joining the core line-up on the album are session musicians Carly Bryant, Dave Foster, and Aidan O'Rourke. Upon release it entered the UK music charts at number 31.
Welcome to the Planet is the fourteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Big Big Train, released 28 January 2022. It was their first album since the death of lead singer David Longdon and first to feature new violinist Clare Lindley, as well as former session contributors Dave Foster and Carly Bryant as full members. It is also the last to feature Bryant who departed the band in January 2023.
Ingenious Devices is the fifteenth studio album by English progressive rock band Big Big Train, released on 30 June, 2023. It includes four studio tracks that were recorded in 2019 and one live track that was recorded in September 2022. Three tracks are re-recordings, except for the vocals of the late David Longdon.
Gregory Spawton is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and only continuous member of English progressive rock band Big Big Train.
