OCEANS 5

For me, one of the more illuminating aspects of this "supergroup" release is learning that ROD STEWART/SUTHERLAND BROTHERS essentially ripped off the "Mingulay Boatsong" for one of his many mega hits, "Sailing". The meter and most of the melody of his arrangement is more than influenced by that 200 year old shanty.

I don't mean to diminish this enthusiastic release by implying that I'm otherwise unimpressed, but this is really singer songwriter folk with full rock backing and massed oft repeated choruses. Apart from Colin Tench's guitar style, at times, and the presence of a vocal member of AUSTRALIAN PINK FLOYD, I don't really get the FLOYD comparisons, but agree that fans of certain aspects of STRAWBS and JETHRO TULL might enjoy what's on offer here. The strummed acoustic guitar style, Andy John Bradford's vocal inflections, and the general song structures put me in mind of STRAWBS circa "Bursting at the Seams", but without its dark Goth side and, paradoxically, without its chart ready hits. The over busyness of some of the arrangements bring to mind TULL, but more the arty "War Child" style than "Heavy Horses". Other occasional points of comparison could be MOTT THE HOOPLE (on "Six Thousand Friends",Bradford goes "All the Young Dudes" on us) and RUNRIG, particularly their nautical proclivities. All to say that this is an enjoyable listen but far from challenging even in comparison to the less complex works of the aforementioned.

Probably the best tracks here are the Boat song itself and the heartfelt "5 O'Clock Line", but neither really awaken stirrings deep inside, and, while nothing is ghastly, the social commentary of "6 Thousand Friends" is a bit more simplistic and direct than even most folk singers might advise. So, "Return to Mingulay" is rounded up to 3 stars because admirers of the fusion of folk music and anthemic pop, or of Old Spice aftershave, might be rendered weak-kneed by its oceanicity.

Good day to you all. I'm Andy John Bradford and I've written some nice little folk ditties, or perhaps sea chanteys if you like, that you can enjoy singing along to at your local tavern while downing a pint or two with the local lads.

I was just down by the shore for a couple of minutes trying to get the right feel for the album. The wind was a-blowing and the waves were crashing in. The gulls were in the sky calling out. But a storm started blowing in and the thunder was a-rumbling so I thought it'd be best fer me to head indoors. Now I'm going ta play for you an old traditional number and I'm just going ta be a-strumming away like this here, and you can all sing along if ya know the words. "Hail you own, boys / An' let her go boys / Sailing home to Mingulay".

Now I've got me a few friends along ta help out with the music and on electric guitar and some acoustic as well I've got Mr. Colin Tench, whom some of you may know from Corvus Stone or perhaps Bunchakeze or Minstrel's Ghost. He's got a good feel for the music and plays some fine guitar, maybe going a little toward the Pink Floyd sound here at the end of the song.

Now here's another fine guitarist but I've asked him to come in on bass. Mr. Stef Flaming of the band Murky Red. And well, now we're going ta need a drummer you say, and for that we've got Mr. Victor Tassone from Unified Past. Oh, yes, the keyboards are being handled by Mr. Marco Chiappini whom you can hear on Minstrel's Ghost and Mr. Tench's band project CTP.

And now yer surely thinking that this is not looking like it's going ta sound like any folk band singing sea chanteys and true enough, it's starting to look like a prog band now. Speaking of prog, I'm liking the Pink Floyd sound a bit lately and so we should get a kind of Great Gig in the Sky singer in here for a song, maybe "6000 Friends". How about Ms. Lorelei McBroom from Australian Pink Floyd to do that bit there? Ah, now we've got some very fine music going on.

Just one more thing, some piano and orchestration would be a nice touch to make this album of folk ditties sound really more like a prog rock album. An' so here's Mr. Andres Guazzelli from Argentina. Maybe you've heard his piece "Wish You Could Hear" which features Mr. Tench on guitar as well.

So, I'm hopin' ya like the songs now. At the heart, it's me singing and strumming away. But my musical friends have gone and turned this into an album with a strong seventies rock vibe and really made the music come alive. I never knew it could sound so good.

So step inside and an take off yer coat. The storms a-coming in but it's cozy and warm in here. Grab a pint and sit back and hear the band play. And once ya know the words, feel free ta sing along with us!

Did you catch the Yellow Submarine? To some, the story behind this album may not be new, but it's worth telling again. Ever since he was a young boy, Andy John Bradford, singer/songwriter, wanted to record his own version of the sea shanty Mingulay Boat Song. At some point, he assembled a five piece band, and just did it. With a twist: what started as a single song turned into a complete album. An album that I've been playing on and off for a few months now, and that contains some tunes that keep returning to my mind - making me play it again.

It's hard to explain what makes this album so special and addictive. First of all, Andy John Bradford is not exactly a progressive rock god (or cod, according to some), and those who know him might expect a folky album. Nothing is farther from the truth. Yes, the album does contain two traditionals and one song based on a 20th century English poem, but this is by no means a folk album. By adding the melodic style of electric guitar playing of Colin Tench, and the keyboard layers put underneath by Marco Chiappini, to the acoustic guitar and vocals of Andy himself changes it all into relaxed and quite easily accessible progressive folk rock style. No rock without a rhythm section of course, so Vic Tassone and Stef Flaming are on board to keep everything in marching order.

That starts with the opening track, Mingulay Boatsong, which is actually split in three. The first part is a take on drunken sailor, then a traditional first part of the original song by Andy followed by the full blown Oceans5 version of that shanty. From here on, the vocals and electric guitar play a well executed of challenge-response game, where the guitar takes up gradually more space. The song never looses it's folk roots though, except when the keyboards and guitar build a noisy interleave near the end, probably marking the rough landing of the rowing boats on Mingulay beach. Rowing boats, released from the blue and yellow ship on the cover, a piece of painstaking handy work by Sonia Mota.

After we arrive on Mingulay, we meet with the Whitby Smugglers, the second traditinal on the album. This one starts with acoustic guitar, with a few electric surprise chords underneath. Eric XaosLord and Brett Lloyd add an additional set of guitars (rhythm and southern rock guitar respectively) to this one, making it into a sort of southern folk rock track - pumped forward by Stef Flamings bass. At some point one of the guitars actually tries to play bag pipe here. Colin Tench has some fun on this one - can you spot the Yellow Submarine? - before the closing note is left to Chiappini's organ

After this, two tracks follow that are rooted lyrically in folk tradition, describing modern everyday situations, written by Bradford himself. The first, Empty Hands, is a slightly heavier track than the first two, about a homeless woman selling the Big Issue, and being ignored by everyone but the singer. The 5 o'clock line is similar, in that it describes the story of a man taking the same train every day and meeting his beloved there, traveling alone later, when after she dies. He too gets ignored by the selfish people around him, which is perfectly expressed by the melancholic guitar and keyboard playing. The guitar expresses the hidden anger inside the singer, as well as the troubled mind of the man he sings about, as the song builds up a slightly rockier structure near the end. The closing statement here is for Stef Flamings bass, and a bunch of ducks that ended up in the recording for reasons unclear to all but him.

Invictus - The Captain of my soul, is build up in a well though out manner. The versus are based on a poem by William Ernest Henley, with choruses added by Andy John Bradford. The track starts with acoustic guitar and them some drums/percussion that make it into a song that could've been played at the harbour side (replace drums by barrels and you're there). The keyboards support the vocals further, as folk violins almost. Only halfway, in a very subtle way, the electric guitar joins in, but the power of the song remains with the percussion. Different from the other tracks, a little gem.

Sails off the bay starts with a Spanish guitar intro, and as the lyrics tell the thoughts and dreams of a man, or a boy, wanting to go sailing, the electric guitars of Colin Tench and Stef Flaming gradually help building it up into a powerful folk rock track. That guitar work continues into Dancing with the Rhythm of the Shore, which starts as a mix of folk guitar with an 80s pop rhythm underneath. That ends quickly, as the vocals get layered in a surprising way, and the verses appear to contain unexpected stops - mimicking the waves breaking on the shore perhaps? A track that is not catchy, and that can either make you return to try and grasp it, or skip it if you get annoyed by it (I choose the former). It is the only track that has a real rock ending, with rolling drums and everything, and a single bass note at the end.

With that, we come to what may have been intended to be the best track on the album. And even if not, it succeeded in becoming that. For 6000 friends, the band is extended with Andres Guazzelli, who took care of orchestration, making everything sound perfectly integrated musically (he's an expert on film music, and it shows), and Lorelei McBroom (the high vocal from The Great Gig In the Sky) on guest vocals. Again a song that tells of modern frustrations: a man with a 6000 online friends and a woman attending every party she can with her friends, both finding out that none of their friend are real, and there is no real love in their lives. Especially the way Lorelei sings the second verse, the story of the woman, can make ones eyes water - either because of the lyrics, or the wonderful voice.

After that, it is almost impossible to not listen to closing track Fly Away, which starts with acoustic guitar and piano, which only after 4 minutes are joined by the rest of the band, building into a slow, electric folk rock song. The guitar leads, but never too overpowering and leaves room near the end for the keyboards to put down an almost symphonic ending.

I love progressive rock, but I also love good lyrics, and music that expresses emotions other then fun. This album gives me just that - and that is why I keep playing it. I hope the descriptions above have given the reader some insight into this wonderful album, as well as into the mind of this humble reviewer and music lover.

Multinational band OCEANS 5 revolves around the creative impulses of UK artist Andy John Bradford, who had been working with a specific concept for The Mingulay Boatsong for some time when he hooked up with fellow musicians online in 2011. This initial collaboration eventually led to a few more song ideas, then the formation of a band, and finally the recording and release of the album "Return to Mingulay" through the US label Melodic Revolution Records in 2013.

"Return to Mingulay" isn't an album that comes across as one with a strict progressive rock interested audience in mind. It will most likely be an advantage to have a certain interest in bands like Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd to be able to enjoy this production of course, but just as important will be to have a taste for compositions with a a core foundation placed well inside the singer/songwriter universe. Those who find that combination to be intriguing should be the ideal audience for this band, and I suspect many who recognize themselves in that description will cherish this album.

If anyone would have told me before that I would love a sea shanty inspired folk prog album, I probably would have told them that they must have been smoking their socks. With that said, this album has indeed emotionally grabbed me.

Oceans 5 Return to Mingulay The Mingulay Boat Song - a famous Scottish a sea shanty which is almost 100 years old, this band managed to dismantle the whole song and turned into an epic prog folk song, beautiful and touching. If I best could describe it in short, I would say as Amazing Grace turned Prog with crescendos reminiscent of Floyd Welcome to the Machine however in a more romantic weird kind of version. I personally love the lead and response between the vocals and guitar, the guitars emphasise the vocals even more. This song lifts you up and carries you away. The guitars even sound like bagpipes at the beginning (right at the start) of the song.

Whitby Smugglers Song I hear Popeye tune here hahaha this is such a likable track, I cannot stop bouncing, I would call this a trigger happy track, drums going tum te ti tum tack almost constantly while guitar whistles away and the vocalists singing along while my head keeps bouncing from side to side, highlights here are the guitar and drum solos and bass guitar every now and then having his say. Again the Vocals and Guitar play lead and respond while the drums make you bounce happily.

Empty Hands Ah this is more a upbeat rock track, so many guitar layers inc. whistling like sounds, with the distinctive feel as above vocals and guitar do play lead and response however here the guitar in contrast to the rest plays quite sensitive tunes added with rhythmic spot on farting notes. An upbeat song with clever guitar tapping, whistling and levels that seem to lift you up and continuing to lift you a little further up and even more up.

Invictus Captain of My Soul This is such great rhythmic song. This reminds me very much of Johnny Clegg and also of Paul Simon with Graceland album. I really enjoy the constant drum clicking/galloping sound and again the guitar stands out here.

Sails of the Bay Ah the acoustic guitar is brought out here added to the electric guitar, it feels a cross between Bon Jovi ' Blaze of Glory with added naughty Al DiMeola guitar tapping. And it builds up into a most stunning crescendo that keeps going up a level and another plus yet another one. Dancing with the Rhythm of the Shores Hahaha this is a happy track! The start somehow reminded me of Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners,

6000friends 6000 Friends starts with great guitars whistling and when vocals start both vocals and guitar play lead and response, I love the pauses here. I tend to focus more on instrumentals than lyrics, however this song is quite simplified and I personally can relate to the lyrics about having so many friends on social network yet at home feeling alone. Lorelei McBroom vocals (from Pink Floyd and Great Gig in the Sky performance) seals this song.

Fly away This is one of my ultimate favourite songs of the album. I will not go into more details as I too have had enough of my briefing and opinion. Stunning, great build up (crescendo) I would describe it with having the most sensitive touches and great build ups.. Anyway, I sincerely think this album as diverse it may seem, it certainly is deserving of 5 stars, I cannot fault this, I have enjoyed replaying it constantly yet nothing makes me feel bored nor annoyed, quite the contrary, I listen to every single note on this album and each time love it more, giving me the most wonderful feeling listening to this bouncy, dreamy bedlam prog while some none prog yet this mix is the best of all, makes me feel so happy, really warm happy bubbly feeling from within. This album also seems to be a big favourite among my party guests, prog and none prog friends.

Many thanks and friendly regards, Kati

I'm a fan of most kinds of music and listen to a lot daily. There are a couple of tests I use when listening to an album. 1: can I listen to it more than once?, 2: Can I listen to it all the way through in the car? The answer to both these questions is an enthusiastic YES. This album is brilliant with a fresh and hugely entertaining look at a couple of old traditionals "The Mingulay Boat Song, and the Whitby Smugglers Song" Andy John Bradford, a man from Yorkshire and popular singer/songwriter in the folk scene and songwriters scene of Yorkshire and now in Ireland where he now live, is the main songwriter of this album bringing a blend of folk, rock and mesmerizing stories coupled with an intoxicating vocal. Colin Tench "The co- collaborator on the arrangements of many of the tracks adds his own twist with his beautiful guitar melodies and layers which brings a lift and an atmosphere similar to the likes of Gilmore. Marcos quirky keys are touching at times, bringing real depth and emotion to the music. The rest of the band add depth and bring their own interpretation of what they hear. As a result you can tell these musicians from different parts of the globe, and different styles, are fully in tune with the music they are playing and upon listening, one finds yourself imagining the imagery laid down on each track. From the very first note to the very last track, one is taken on a ride which for me will be a part of my life for a long time to come.

Hurry up and get a tour going, I'd love to see you live gents!!

This is a MUST HAVE ALBUM. Even if you are not a fan of the folk scene, you should enjoy this wonderful Album. BUY IT!!! Nuff said.

The cover design is very wonderful (by Sonia Mota, known in PA too), but a little minus for the band in the clouds, which is a bit out of place artistically. So, as is said before, Oceans 5 is a recording project gathered around British singer-songwriter Andy John Bradford. I didn't know him or any of the artists and their groups in advance, and I decided to take this music free of expectations or background research. Whether this is progressive rock is open to debate, to say the least. Anyway, it's not a secret that the attention gained in PA is due to the warm and friendly PR activities. Hey, progarchives is even mentioned in the leaflet! :) The spirit of friendship between musical collaborators, and also towards the supporters and the audience, is very underlined in the leaflet's writings.

The music is uplifting and easy-going too. Even the standout song '6000 Friends (With No-One to Love)' avoids sadness that the lyrics could have steered it into. It features Lorelei - A.K.A. Durga? - McBroom who was one of the three ladies on Pink Floyd concerts a couple of decades ago. The vocal part in this song has been written with 'The Great Gig in the Sky' in mind. Pink Floyd associations don't end there: especially the electric guitar of Colin Tench, who also co-composed, mixed and produced this album, has a very strong Gilmour-flavour.

The very first seconds are interesting and nostalgic. "What shall we do to the drunken sailor" is a song I know already from my childhood. The 3-part mini-epic 'The Mingulay Boatsong' (an obvious highlight!) is full of gorgeous melodies reaching singalong grandiosity and some superb musicianship on guitars and keyboards. The next song is too much country-flavoured southern rock to impress me, and also 'Empty Hands' is quite an average middle-of-the-road tune but again Colin Tench and company lift it up with shiny instrumental moments.

Sorry to say but to my ears Bradford himself as a sniffly vocalist is the weak link. Funnily he sounds older than he probably is, and his songwriting is somehow limited too: the melodies are often more or less similar and the songs rely heavily on choruses. I presume it's especially Colin Tench who has turned this work from "no interest for a prog listener at all" into something more spicy and delicious. The playing and production are really excellent, but the songs themselves are basically... hmm, pretty average folk/country-flavoured AOR stuff, to be honest. In one word: nice.

Now, I am a proghead and a metalhead, but to be honest my tastes are actually way more diverse and complex than that, so while the only framed record on my study wall is a 60 year old jazz album, I also listen to and enjoy folk music. Not just folk rock you understand, but good old fashioned folk, and have been known to attend folk clubs (and not just for the real ale). So, when I was presented with this album I was somewhat intrigued as the two main protagonists are from quite different areas as while Andy John Bradford (vocals, 12 string) is a folkie, guitarist Colin Tench is a proghead with a tendency to pull off wonderful runs and plenty of riffs. So what are they doing together?

Apparently Andy wanted to record a version of the 200 years old "Road To Mangulay", and had so much fun with Colin that they decided to make it a project and bring in some others to join in the hilarity. But, in fact this is no laughing matter, as what we have here is an album that in many ways defies normal description, but that's not going to stop me from trying.

At the heart of this album is Andy, and if you just listen to his guitar and vocals and block out everything else you will find music and vocals that could have come straight from the mighty Show of Hands, minus the fiddle. In fact, that one band kept coming to mind as I listened to this, and I kept thinking of the lyrics to "Roots" from 'Witness', "A minister said his vision of hell, is three folk singers in a pub near Wells". Well, I wonder what he would have thought of this as this is folk Jim, but not as we know it. So, firstly they brought together a band to give this a much fuller sound, and then decided to let Colin have his way. There are times when he is hardly playing, just the odd touch here and there, and others where he is right in your face and the combination of folk, prog and classic rock come crashing together into something that very special indeed.

If I had to pick just one prog band as a reference then it would be Floyd, especially with some of the Gilmour style noodlings, and they convinced Lorelei McBroom to add some of her very special vocals to "6000 Friends". But, that is just one standout track among many, and if like me you have eclectic tastes, or if you just enjoy great music whatever the style then take it from me this is immediate, accessible, and above all an incredible piece of work. For more details visit www.bunchakeze.com/Oceans5.php - you won't regret it.

Colin Tench asked me to hear his most recently project he was working on. I really didn´t know anything about this group, neither was I aware of the work of singer/songwriter Andy john Bradford. However, I was quite pleased with what I heard: a kind of mix of folk, country, rock, prog and pop, all lead by Bradford´s laid back vocals and his 12 string acoustic guitar. On all the tracks he is backed by a very good group of musicians that includes, of course, Colin Tench on guitar, Marco Chiappini (keyboards), Stef Flaming (bass) and Victor Tassone (drums), plus Andres Guazzelli on piano and orchestrations. The results are quite charming, melodic and convincing, specially if you like folk rock. So the likes of Neil Young, early Al Stewart, Fairport Convention and the like comes to mind (a feeling quite enhanced by the use of 70´s vintage keyboards timbres). Still, the music here is quite original.

I´m sure a lot of people on ProgArchives will not like Oceans 5 music: they will probably say it is too melodic, too straight ahead folksy and/or too predicable. Granted, there is very little prog in here: the songs are short, rarely going beyond the five minute mark, and as all the folk based stuff is, the importance given to the narrative is paramount. so there is not much space for long solos or tempo changes and complicated arrangements. However, with excellent musicans like that, those spaces are very well used every time they do show, with Tench and Chiappini filling in with tasteful and skilled guitar and keyboards lines, while the rhythm section gives a strong base to pump up the songs to new heights.

There are no real highlight on this CD: all the songs are all very good and the tracklist is quite harmonic. But if you asked me what my favorites songs on this album is I´ll probably cite the slightly different Dancing With The Rhythm Of The Shore and the beautiful, plaintive Sails Off The Bay (VERY nice Gilmour-like solo here, Colin!), two very strong tunes where the musicians show what they can do inside a simple, but efficient, song structure. The production is simply perfect, with all the voices and instruments very well balanced (again the feeling of a modern version of a 70´s very organic recording comes to mind).

So, if you like folk rock, or anything very melodic and tasteful, this is surely an album to get. I was tempted to rate this album 3 stars since there is hardly ony "real" prog in it (as for symphonic prog or RIO fans are concerned). Personally I´d give 4,5 stars. So a 4 star rating is maybe a little high for this site, but still I recommend this CD to any prog lover who, like me, thinks that great melodies and some simplicity are not an insult to prog.

An album of nice Southern (or perhaps Country) Folk Rock in the vein of THE BAND, THE OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS, or THE NITTY GRITTY DIRT BAND, perhaps even The Atlanta Rhythm Section, Guy Manning or the Dixie Dregs, with some exceptional electric guitar soloing from the exquisitely talented Colin Tench, no more, no less. But, is this really prog? I think not. While I could recommend this music to standard rock music lovers, this is not something I would recommend to the PA crowd of progressive rock music lovers.

Favorite songs: "Sails Off The Bay" and "6000 Friends."

3 stars: Good, but non-essential.