Why this singer/songwriter isn’t as popular as David Gray or Damien Rice is beyond me. Having had the pleasure of him and the band he was part of ‘Easyword’ come along and do a ’session’ way back in 1992 and then learning he had gone solo. This is Ford’s third album after hid 2005 debut I SINCERELY APOLOGISE FOR ALL THE TROUBLE I’VE CAUSED, and 2007’s SONGS FOR THE ROAD.

Now usually I’m looking for progression in an act’s music but with Ford I have a real problem - all three are brilliant. Add to this that Ford is the consumate live performer, and you have one very special artist.

LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL opens in explosive style with ‘Panic’, a song that builds from slow contemplation, albeit with some hair-raising instrumental moments, to angry, spine tingling folk-rock anthem within 90 seconds. I promise you that you won’t hear another song as good as this in 2010, unless of course Ford delivers another album. ‘Making Up For Lost Time’ is a bittersweet love song firmly in the country-rock arena. It contains a characteristically powerful Ford melody with assertive vocals and instrumentals, and a typically strong set of lyrics. But there’s also a load of pop sensability and magnetic hooks for it to be a single release candidate.

‘Waiting For The Storm’ repeats the style but at a slower pace and in quiter mode. It’s a beauty, and another potential single. ‘Surfin’ Guantanamo Bay’ is a retro rock style protest song with a strong rhythmic foundation and brilliant guitar passages. ‘To Hell With The World’ is a stripped down beauty with piano providing a subtle backdrop to Ford’s distinctive, expressive and reflective vocal. If this one doesn’t move you, nothing will.

‘Stephen’ is a narrative about a young man whose life was cut short during the Northern Ireland troubles, It features a gentle banjo strum, a wandering vocal, and wonderful lyrics (”A piece of land’s only a piece of land, and you will not come home tonight”).

There’s a vitriolic song about Margaret Thatcher (‘She’s Not The One For Me’), and another major album highight in the cautionary tale ‘Hurricane.’ All thirteen songs here hit the bullseye while offering a strong diversity in pace, mood and sound. It’s a very fine album and potentially the best of 2010.

5/5

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