Sam Fender. People Watching.
If you think Sam Fender is lightweight, listen to Remember My Name – a sublimely touching and majestic ballad tackling dementia and loss.
Fender wrote the song from the perspective of his grandad who cared for his grandma when that cruel unforgiving monster possessed her.
Warmth, care, memories and hope seep through. ‘I’m not sure of what awaits,’ Sam sings. ‘Wasn’t a fan of Saint Peter and his gates/But, by God, I pray, that I’ll see you in some way.’
Strings and brass enhance the poignancy.
David Johns from I, Daniel Blake, stars aptly and beautifully in the video, partly shot at the ground of North Shields FC.
Tyne-and-Wear-raised Sam, 30, has been dubbed a Geordie Springsteen. He certainly shares Bruce’s innate decency, passion, and his ability to tell relatable stories.
The driving title track is about coming home and realising he’s lost the invincibility of youth. Musically the verses feel close to Don Henley’s The Boys Of Summer. Lyrically it couldn’t be more different.
He’s channelling melancholy. Confronted by factory closures, and ‘somebody’s darling on the street’, Fender laments his hometown’s sad decline.
He recalls visiting his late friend, Byker Grove actress Annie Orwin, in a palliative care home, ‘understaffed and overruled by callous hands, the poor nurse was working round the clock’.
It’s sweepingly catchy heartland rock with the courage to tell the truth.
This is Sam Fender’s third album. It was produced in Los Angeles by The War On Drugs guitarist Adam Granduciel but hasn’t lost a shred of authenticity.
The eleven solid empathic tracks include the chugging melodic soft-rock of Nostalgia’s Lie and the smart, enveloping Wild Long Lie.
Sam’s a genuine star, mining his roots and rising above them without ever forgetting what made him who he is.
Mitch Ryder. With Love.
The veteran rocker, best known for his 1967 US hit Devil With A Blue Dress On with the Detroit Wheels, returns with ten rasping shots of rock’n’roll-infused blue-collar soul. Highs include sprightly addiction confessional One Monkey and the upbeat R’n’B-soaked closer Just The Way It Is. Michigan-born Ryder is 79 but he’s still got it.