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Music: Paul Handyside

This is a second solo album from the singer-songwriter once with Hurrah!, the 80s indie band.

Paul Handyside

Wayward Son
(Malady Music)

4 Stars

This is a second solo album from the singer-songwriter once with Hurrah!, the 80s indie band.

Each tune here is pared to the bone and is as lean as a racing whippet.

There are lucid observations on songs such as When The Good Times Roll Again, written from the viewpoint of a soldier who refuses to fight any more for whom "a blindfold and last cigarette and a bullet await at first light," or He Loves Her Now about a man who has loved and thrown it all away.

Particularly moving is Man Overboard about the fate of fishermen who "cast out our nets to cast off our debts."

Handyside is "an articulate craftsman who cares more about quality than the latest fashion and each tune is a delightful labour of love," was my view of Handyside's debut album.

Not a lot I can add except that the same and more applies here. Well worth seeking out.

Richard Hilton

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