Reviewed by James Lewis

The Spire Cranes are a fledgling three piece headed up by Matt Tildesley, late of the Pink Dandelions and this tape sees Matt taking a more mainstream route. Whilst the PDs are known for folk/rock, the Spire Cranes are less Eden Burning and more Traffic (or "Find Me In These Fields"-era Phil Keaggy). The tape is a three-tracker, including a demo version of the psychedelic ballad "Sollen Stars". The band themselves mention Paul Weller as a reference point and it's probably a fairly good starting point, particularly considering Mr Weller's current renaissance.
However, the boys aren't quite up to "Wildwood" standards yet -at least not on tape. Paul may be getting on but his aforementioned album is tad more sprightly than these boys' offering. But perhaps I'm being a bit mean, the group has only been going for a few months and all in all it's a pretty credible offering. Tony, can you send us their next tape to review - I'm quite looking forward to seeing how they get on.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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