The Poet & The Fisherman

 
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Ross Mullins & The Snaps
The Poet & The Fisherman

[ Red Shaver / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 23 September 2016

"17 years in the making - it's got to be a joke. 1985 to 1988 three albums as Last Man Down, 1991 to 1998 two albums as Ross Mullins and the Snaps. And apart from a New Zealand poetry tribute album in 2001 not a word. That's by anyone's reckoning a pretty serious writer's block. Oh I have excuses - plenty of them and some of them compelling ones but I have never stopped writing, grafting away in deepest Devonport and what you have before you is the best of what is salvageable from the intervening years...I have had my moments with other songs and albums but let's talk about the new collection. I have been hard to pigeon-hole in the past and have had my records filed in stores under Pop, Rock, Jazz, Folk and even Classical. Sometimes described as jazzy, laid-back melodies with a distinctly New Zealand flavour - that might be getting warm.

The new songs are a mixture of semi-autobiographical songs (Koromiko Road, The Visit, The Age of No Excuses and Waterfront Lovers) and satirical songs with hapless Kiwi protagonists (The Lucky Country, She took me to the Wreckers, Over a Beer and Happy Ending). And then there is the title song which is loosely based around an apocryphal (love that word!) literary story about the poet R. A. K. Mason who tossed copies of his self-financed book of poems The Beggar into Auckland Harbour in 1928. It's a bit like my song Stranger at the Ranchslider based on the death of James K. Baxter in suburban Glenfield in 1972. Can't seem to leave these poets in peace.
Anyway hope you enjoy the music - there is some very tasty playing from the band: Nigel Gavin (guitar), Peter Koopman (bass and backing vocals), Jason Orme (drums and percussion), Markus Fritsch (tenor saxophone) and Jim Langabeer (alto saxophone). There's also some very classy vocal contributions from the amazing Caitlin Smith and there is the kind of top production you would expect from award winning engineer Olly Harmer at The Lab. And hopefully 12 new songs to add to the "oeuvre" of Ross Mullins." - Ross Mullins, August 2016

Tracks:

1. The Age Of No Excuses 5:35
2. She Took Me To The Wreckers 3:01
3. The Visit 3:17
4. Koromiko Road 4:49
5. The Lucky Country 3:22
6. A Thousand Eyes 6:21
7. Happy Ending 3:35
8. Waterfront Lovers 3:24
9. Family Bible 3:22
10. Over A Beer 4:29
11. The Poet And The Fisherman 5:13
12. Little Ray of Sunshine 4:21 (for Trelise)