 | | Reviews | | |  STEVE ASHLEY
Speedy Return
Market Square MSMCD118
Originally released in 1975, this album followed up the previous year's lauded debut Stroll On with similar reflections on the ordinary that would do credit to Ray Davies or John Betjeman and ideas that seem plucked from the English air.
A story-teller and a folk artist in the true sense, Ashley is a singer-songwriter who discovered folk and blues at a tender age, learned his craft in the '60s, hit his stride in the '70s whilst in the original touring line-up of the Albion Country Band, and trod a bit of CND heavy water through the '80s. Retiring in 1992 from active musical duty until recently, the convincing Everyday Lives appeared in 2001.
On Speedy, his creative juices were in spate with an inspired collection of lyrical vignettes that veered away from dreamy, seasonal elegies to present a more thorough yet downbeat reflection on the way we do the things we do. There's a whole gallery of battered lives here. The themes are more social, shaping songs that leap out of the rut and head every which way. With a stellar supporting cast that includes Pegg, Mattacks and the tasteful frets of Richard Byers, Steve simultaneously tugs at the heart ("I hope we make good enemies, for we surely made good friends") whilst dispensing a wordly-wise wisdom ("the natural time is over, and the good time has come to an end") on Good Enemies. Elsewhere the partytime atmosphere of Duke Of Cambridge disguises a detached yet compassionate view of a dissipated early doors lifestyle and is a mini-movie just waiting to be made!
Sounding fresher than ever and lovingly wrapped in Robert Kirby's warm, beguiling orchestration, this observant, incisive album's return is a welcome one. A gem.
Clive Pownceby - November 2003
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 Steve's music in all its variations is always a necessary and a very healthy reminder of the real people that populate this world. So different from the veneer or smear of life protrayed in the media and elsewhere, Steve's lyrics describe the world which we occupy in ways that are easily recognisable and understandable to us. Steve is able to redress the balance with some honest reality. Reissuing the album shows how timeless and precise are Steve's observations/reflections on life.
John Evans, Milton Keynes
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Folk & Acoustic
