Liam Davison

Liam Davison, guitarist with British prog folk band Mostly Autumn, has released a solo album called "A Treasure Of Well Set Jewels". It goes on general release 21st March 2011, but is already available direct from the distributor Wymer Records: http://www.wymeruk.co.uk/Store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1330.

Edited by progrockfreak - March 18 2011 at 06:56

I have ordered the CD.

Still waiting for the CD - Wymer's website was apparently hit by a hack last week, and is still not completely fixed. Some recent reviews of the album suggest it will be well worth the wait though.

Thanks for the links. Nice interview and promising reviews.

Wymer UK wrote: Dear Liam Davison fans, Thank you for your interest in A Treasure Of Well-Set Jewels.  With regards to MP3 files, we have not made digital versions of the tracks available commercially and would appreciate that you do not post mp3 files of these tracks on the Internet.  Not only will it deprive the artist of royalties but it also breaches copyright. Regards Wymer Records

Wymer UK wrote: A Treasure Of Well-Set Jewels is available from Amazon UK.  In the example of MA's latest album, given that legally purchasing as a download from Amazon costs £6.32 and the CD only costs £3.67 more, it's even more baffling that fans would not want the full package.

I guess the debate this thread has now turned into has been thrashed out many times before, and no doubt it will be repeated many times yet to come.  My own take on the matter is that there is nothing to beat relaxing in your living room with a CD playing in full hi-fidelity on your home music system, BUT it is also very desirable to have your favourite music in mp3 format, (slight loss of quality notwithstanding) to enable you to take it with you to other rooms, or away from the home altogether. CDs are expensive (Wymer UK themselves charge £12.99 GBP plus £1.89 postage for this particular one), and Liam Davison as a solo artist is a totally unknown quantity. Despite his involvement with M.A., most people are going to be reluctant to punt almost £15 on someone whose solo offerings MAY turn out to be a huge disappointment.  I therefore feel that it is a huge disservice to an artist if their record label does not provide even the most rudimentary & brief edited clips of the songs from their debut album somewhere on their website, so that the public can get at least a FEEL of what to expect to hear if they buy it!! This omission HAS to deprive the artist of many potential sales! There is every likelihood that if the album DOES become successful, someone somewhere will upload it in full to a filesharing or torrent site, and if this remains the only way of getting a preview of the music, then some people will go ahead and download it, quite probably then deciding that the downloaded MP3s are perfectly good enough for their needs. I ordered my copy of the CD (from Amazon UK - the saving is simply too great to ignore) solely on the strength of what I already know of Liam's capabilities after following him in M.A. for many years, but If I hadn't got this prior knowledge, and I was faced with the situation we have here where NO MP3 samples are available anywhere - I would NOT have risked the outlay...at least not until I had heard them digitally somewhere. There are several good weekly prog music podcasts where the work of  new artists is aired (legally & with permission, as far as I can tell) in the form of selected full tracks from a  debut release - The Dividing Line Broadcast Network, & Epic Prog - The Lurker (on www.progrock.com) to name but a couple. This is where I listen to many of my "samples" before buying a CD, but as yet even these have not featured anything from poor Liam's debut offering!

Edited by progrockfreak - April 03 2011 at 22:41

Liam left M.A. in 2007 for about a year to work on this very personal project, which I don't suppose went down too well at the time with Bryan Josh. It has taken another 3 years to actually get the album on sale. He seems to have left the whole of the CD distribution arrangements to Wymer UK  (though copies have been sent on to other more well-known outlets eg Amazon, 101CD, HMV, etc. who undercut Wymer's price in most cases). There are supposed to be only 1000 copies in total of the first production run, so whether any will find their way onto the merchandise table at M.A. gigs remains to be seen. I will be surprised if M.A. actually perform any of Liam's material either - and he won't be going on tour himself with his own band to perform it, as far as I can tell. I think this album was a "one off" that Liam simply wanted to get out of his system. He's probably not that bothered whether it sells well or not - it was just something he needed to do. I think that with the right promotion it COULD be a surprisingly GOOD seller - the reviews seem very positive indeed. My copy is now in the post - I'll add more after I've listened (at last!!) to the music.

Agreed! Nothing is better than to go to a concert and witness a band play live before purchasing their albums etc. - often available at a good price via on-road merchandise. Kormoran have been going for a good while, and have a massive discography, as well as an excellent website - Liam Davison will most likely only ever release this one album, though M.A. themselves have a fair few albums and DVDs under their belt now, and also a very good website. I too hope that the rest of his band will help support and promote Liam's work now that it is released - some members certainly contributed during the recording of it.

progrockfreak wrote: I guess the debate this thread has now turned into has been thrashed out many times before, and no doubt it will be repeated many times yet to come.  My own take on the matter is that there is nothing to beat relaxing in your living room with a CD playing in full hi-fidelity on your home music system, BUT it is also very desirable to have your favourite music in mp3 format, (slight loss of quality notwithstanding) to enable you to take it with you to other rooms, or away from the home altogether. CDs are expensive (Wymer UK themselves charge £12.99 GBP plus £1.89 postage for this particular one), and Liam Davison as a solo artist is a totally unknown quantity. Despite his involvement with M.A., most people are going to be reluctant to punt almost £15 on someone whose solo offerings MAY turn out to be a huge disappointment.  I therefore feel that it is a huge disservice to an artist if their record label does not provide even the most rudimentary & brief edited clips of the songs from their debut album somewhere on their website, so that the public can get at least a FEEL of what to expect to hear if they buy it!! This omission HAS to deprive the artist of many potential sales! There is every likelihood that if the album DOES become successful, someone somewhere will upload it in full to a filesharing or torrent site, and if this remains the only way of getting a preview of the music, then some people will go ahead and download it, quite probably then deciding that the downloaded MP3s are perfectly good enough for their needs. I ordered my copy of the CD (from Amazon UK - the saving is simply too great to ignore) solely on the strength of what I already know of Liam's capabilities after following him in M.A. for many years, but If I hadn't got this prior knowledge, and I was faced with the situation we have here where NO MP3 samples are available anywhere - I would NOT have risked the outlay...at least not until I had heard them digitally somewhere. There are several good weekly prog music podcasts where the work of  new artists is aired (legally & with permission, as far as I can tell) in the form of selected full tracks from a  debut release - The Dividing Line Broadcast Network, & Epic Prog - The Lurker (on www.progrock.com) to name but a couple. This is where I listen to many of my "samples" before buying a CD, but as yet even these have not featured anything from poor Liam's debut offering!   Piracy is wrong for sure, but so is withholding edited lo-fi demo samples of a new artist's work from the very people who would be interested in purchasing it. Artists who have managed to set up their own personal websites provide such samples as a matter of course - sadly Liam does not, as yet, have this luxury. Guys at Wymer - he's relying on YOU...so please help the guy out!!

I fully agree, good post.