Following the universal acclaim of his Top 5 2024 album, In This City They Call You Love, and the success of the award-winning musical featuring his songs, Standing At The Sky’s Edge, today Parlophone/Rhino announce details of special anniversary editions of Richard Hawley’s revered 2005 album Coles Corner.
Coles Corner was Hawley’s third studio album and his first for Mute Records. After five years of garnering praise for his songwriting talents and heart-melting baritone voice, and steadily building a solid fanbase through his outstanding live performances, hard work paid off on an album regarded by many as his best.
Recorded in Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios, and co-produced with his long-time bassist Colin Elliot, and Mike Timm, Coles Corner featured fellow musicians Shez Sheridan (guitars), Jon Trier (keyboards), Jonny Wood (upright bass) and Andy Cook (drums). They conjured up an exquisite album inspired by Hawley’s love of vintage ‘40s and ‘50s sounds, chamber pop, country, blues, and rock ‘n roll, on a set of intimate love songs full of nostalgia, regret, sadness and a bittersweet atmosphere, on a collection that would cement Hawley’s abiding love and passion for his hometown of Sheffield.
Nowhere is this exemplified more than on the album’s title track. ‘Coles Corner’, named after a former department store in the city which was a popular meeting place for couples, immortalises the legendary landmark on a song that swells the heart with its sweeping strings and swooning chorus, on a universal paean to the loneliness of the city at night.
Other beautiful balladry exists in songs such as ‘Born Under a Bad Sign’ and ‘Darlin’ Wait For Me’, while Hawley’s love of country and early rock’n’roll can be heard in ‘Hotel Room’, ‘I Sleep Alone’, and the driving ‘Just Like The Rain’.
The album’s most epic song and, to this day, a fan favourite live, is ‘The Ocean’. Written on a family holiday in the shadow of Cornwall’s Minack Theatre (with a video later filmed at the same location), the song features one of Richard’s best vocals; all yearning and urgency as it builds to its visceral crescendo.
Coles Corner is a cornerstone in the catalogue of one of the past two decades’ most creative and outstanding UK singer-songwriters.
Tracklistings:
Vinyl:
1. Coles Corner
2. Just Like The Rain
3. Hotel Room
4. Darlin’ Wait For Me
5. The Ocean
6. Born Under a Bad Sign
7. I Sleep Alone
8. Tonight
9. (Wading Through) The Waters of My Time
10. Who’s Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?
11. Last Orders
CD2: Single Versions, B-Sides and Acoustic Versions:
The Ocean – Single Version
Just Like The Rain – Single Version
Born Under a Bad Sign – Single Version
Hotel Room – Single Version
Long Black Veil
Room With a View
I’m Absolutely Hank Marvin
Dark Road
Kelham Island
Some Candy Talking
Young and Beautiful
I’m Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
Can You Hear The Rain Love?
Coles Corner – Acoustic Version
Hotel Room – Acoustic Version
Darlin’ Wait For Me – Acoustic Version
I Sleep Alone – ( Live at Sheffield City Hall)
A Bird Never Flew On One Wing
To further celebrate the 20th anniversary, Hawley and his band will be joined by a string section at a series of special shows where, for the first time, they will perform the album in full, beginning with a show on 5 July at the Museum Gardens in York.
The following shows will take place throughout September and October, in:
Portmeirion Village, Wales
Blackpool
Margate
Boston, Lincs.
Weston-Super-Mare
Worthing
Full details to be announced in the coming days – please check Richard Hawley’s socials and www.richardhawley.co.uk for more information.
Be the first to comment