   Coming Home
to Stay
(2007)
Coming
Home
to Stay comprises 12 songs,
with hooks, harmonicas, harmonies, hush and heaviness aplenty,
delivered with James' characteristic passion and aplomb. More unusual
tracks include the lyrically and musically palindromic
Bounty of Id, (also a mini-saga)
of just under 2 minutes and the epic 12-minute Long Way Out.
Click the album cover pic, right, for a close-up. Click here for reviews
"Powerful performances, distinctive songwriting, a
prog-rock
sensibility pared down to the acoustic... and
the perfect production. Brilliant!"
"Definitely
in the same musical super-league as the great Nick Harper
(and not many in that league)"
The first 100 CD copies
of Coming
Home to Stay, with 8-page lyric booklets, were individually numbered,
signed and dated as at the
day of being
hand-made by James himself. The CD, in a smart natural card sleeve, is
still available for £5 at James' gigs, or see opposite for other
ways
of getting it.
The
album is
available for mp3 download from Soundclick
for just $5 - secure payment with Paypal.
Sooner
or Later |
Sep
03 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2007
|
Listen |
Read |
Still
Lights up the Rain |
Jul
05 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2007
|
Listen |
Read |
Better
Never than too Late |
Jun
02 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2005
|
Listen |
Read |
Cast
Down from the Skies |
Feb
04 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2006
|
Listen |
Read |
You're
not the Only One |
Apr
06 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2006
|
Listen |
Read |
Beyond
Revelation |
Nov
02 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2006
|
Listen |
Read |
The
Bounty of Id |
Jan
99 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2006
|
Listen |
Read |
Coming
Home to Stay |
Jan
02 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2007
|
Listen |
Read |
Way
Down South |
Nov
03 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2007
|
Listen |
NEW |
Saturday
Road Ahead |
Jun
90 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2007
|
Listen |
Read |
Long
Way Out |
Nov
02 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2005
|
Listen |
Read |
Eternity
|
Oct
01 |
Coming
Home to Stay |
2006
|
Listen |
Read |
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Way Down
South
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"Fast-paced bluesy folk-rock song from the heart - a gutsy, gruff and
plaintive vocal, with a pleasant vulnerability if you listen for it,
alongside urgent acoustic and blues electric riffs. We're reminded of
early Fleetwood Mac, Cat Stevens, Richard Thompson, Doobies and Al
Stewart, just to give you an idea... but James Hollingsworth has a
blissfully original sound."
- Lemonrock,
who chose Way Down South to be their Song
of the Week, 19 November 2007.
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Coming Home
to Stay
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‘Coming Home to Stay’ is a collection of songs written over a
sixteen-year period, during which the world has undeniably seen some
phenomenal changes. Therefore, something that immediately caught my
attention was the fact that the tracklisting was in no kind of
chronological order whatsoever. Would this mean that the CD lacked
cohesion? Would this even matter? I began to think not as soon as
Hollingsworth’s impassioned vocals reached over and pulled my tired
eyelids open. Opening track Sooner or Later’s assertion that “Looking
around the world it’s hard to see how things will ever get better” is
hard to disagree with when given the thought that this music inspires.
It’s rare nowadays for it to be irrefutably true that a vocalist
genuinely means every word he sings. This much doesn’t so much confirm
itself to be true as leap out from behind a nearby rock and slap you
about the face with a frozen kipper. Hollingsworth’s guitar playing is
also gloriously uncalculated and astonishingly heartfelt, sometimes
giving little concern to structure. If it wasn’t for the excellent
production I’d believe that these tracks were recorded on a portable
tape in a mountain forest in a single afternoon.
A partial first viewing of The Doors film last night made me appreciate
music in its purest form again overnight after recent forays deep into
digital territory. This CD brought to mind The Doors, Bob Dylan,
Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake and just about every revered artist from that
era who stood out through stamping their personality on every song in a
way that is impossible by any means except as a natural default. James
Hollingsworth’s songs couldn’t be described as the sound of the future,
they could have been written any time in the last thirty-plus years or
any moment in the rest of time and will still stand alone on their own
merits. Singer-songwriters are largely ridiculed nowadays, or are
lumped together in one monochrome net by scornful scenesters but great
art, to my mind, can largely be defined as personal expression that
comes straight from the soul of its creator. This is exactly what is on
offer here.
Highlights include ‘Beyond Revelation’ with guitar playing so starkly
emotive it feels like it would fall apart if you reached out and
prodded it, overlayered with singing that cracks and flutters
alternately to almost dizzying effect. ‘Way Down South’ is a
flamenco-tinged canter that wouldn’t sound out of place on a
psychedelic arthouse film set in the Nevada desert. A piano appears on
‘Saturday Road Ahead’ and I imagined myself standing at the top of a
cliff in a tiny village in Iceland in November with aurora borealis
bringing the sky to life.
The epic ‘Long Way Out’ is really quite a
voyage – the intro showcases Hollingsworth’s impressive dexterity and
is lent a spooky edge by the faint sound of conversation simmering
underneath, then the song itself sets off on a dusty country road, with
the singer at one point sounding like a blue whale giving its mournful
cry across the ocean. It’s one of those rare pieces of music that if it
went on forever may just draw the listener into its own Bermuda
triangle – see also ‘The End’ by the Doors and ‘Galaxy of Emptiness’ by
Beth Orton to name just two.
I was left wondering if these were simply highlights hand-picked from a
library of yet to be discovered treasures. If so then I suggest we all
take a week off work, head out to the Cornish countryside and hole up
in a house several centuries old for James Hollingsworth appreciation
week. Who’s with me? Well, it was a nice idea while it lasted.
Regardless, this artist deserves bucketloads of your respect. He may
not be a trendsetter but there are very few like him.
- Dave Urwin, Live Music
Scene
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Coming Home
to Stay
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James Hollingsworth is one of my top ten favorite male
singer/songwriters of all time!
His songs are haunting tone-poems that get under your skin and make you
want to go back again and again. Soaring vocals, goose-bumps, a
gorgeous, authoritative, clear voice that stands strong on top
of minimal accompanying instrumentation, a master of inflection, a major
vocal+songwriting talent combination.
Instruments are one or two acoustic guitars, harmonica, an occasional
soulful electric guitar lead without distortion, and piano on one song.
I hear subtle influences in his vocal style coming from Peter Gabriel,
Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Ray LaMontagne, Cat Stevens, and every
now and then, just a touch of Richie Havens and even Joe Cocker
(but not in Cocker's "extreme" mode, if you know what I mean!) James'
note: "Yes, definitely! Except the ones with letter 'M's and
'W's in their names."
These are deep, powerful songs, not your ordinary mainstream
fluff. You will think about them. There is a psycho-spiritual
understanding embedded in them that cannot be pigeonholed as
this-or-that philosophy. You will find many gems of insight in them.
I would like to comment on three of the songs on this CD.
Still Lights Up the Rain-- This song appears to have
strong influential ties, for those who go back far enough, to Jefferson
Starship's first album, Blows Against the Empire (1970); in
particular, to a song on that album called Have You Seen the Stars
Tonight? The modal acoustic tonalities in both songs transport me
back to a very nostalgic, 60's-idealistic time in my life. In this song
(and others) his acoustic work has the feel of Bruce Cockburn and the
Jorma Kaukonen / Paul Kantner combination in acoustic Jefferson
Starship and earlier acoustic Jefferson Airplane songs. [Lyric
excerpt: Watching for the Stars in the City skies / Amber
reflections banish them from our eyes / As we sit here smiling in the
Garden of Eden / Overgrown by the years of neglect / By unnamed others,
a legacy of the past imperfect...] - James' note: "Hmmm...
actually I've never heard that album. Saw Jefferson Starship at Reading
1988, but can't remember any of their songs. Sounds like I should check
out the Airplane instalment of that collective! Oh, sorry, I'm turning
this into an interview..."
Coming Home to Stay (title song)-- almost makes me
cry (in a good way, of course.) A feeling from my past, a letting-go,
an accepting that felt so relieving and so right, a closure of a
chapter in my life. Strong, strident acoustic guitar chords-- he gets
more dynamics out of his acoustic guitar than many are capable of on
electric. [Lyric excerpt: People laughing with their friends /
They laugh the world away / People clinging to their dreams / They let
them slip away / Oh I couldn't hold on til the end / I let it pass me
by / All meaning scattered to the winds / And never free to cry... Oh,
God! He knows the reason / Coming home to stay...]
Saturday Road Ahead-- this song is so
powerful! Same effect on me emotionally. I put my box on "repeat" the
first time I heard it, sang to it six times in a row. [Lyric excerpt:
I see the sky open up before me / I see my road is soon to bend / I
couldn't face, no I couldn't face that again / But I see the time is
coming for a change... I thought I saw myself, I turned as if to say /
you'd better pick up the pieces / before they blow away...]
Mr. Hollingsworth also has a CD titled Long
Way Out. See the lyric sent by him further down in this blog.
- Van
Casey - MUSIC AND SPIRIT (originally posted here).
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to Stay
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JAMES HOLLINGSWORTH of Bristol, UK is talented. That's an obvious
statement and one that few would argue over. It's the degrees of the
talent that might cause a few to squabble. Is he a better singer, than
guitarist? Is he a better poet than musician? Who's his contemporary in
the American scene?? (You know how we love comparisons.) In the end, we
all know it doesn't matter, but we enjoy trying to dissect another's
giftedness as if to 'discover' for ourselves a shortcut to their
greatness. But even if we're successful at pinpointing what it is that
we think makes them special, without their particular DNA, we can only
hope for, at best, a substandard duplication, but hardly a flattering
imitation, of their uniqueness.
James Hollingsworth is UNIQUE and dare I go out on a limb, I don't
think he has an equal, especially when you consider the sub total of
what he does.., and how he does it. Yes, there's the obvious John
Martyn reference that will undoubtedly arise when you listen to him in
passing, but with the exception of them being fellow countrymen, the
comparison is unfair, being more than a few generations apart, there's
something decidedly more spiritual and mystical in James' writings.
COMING HOME TO STAY is a journeyman's CD in that the songs represent
many different stages of growth and musicianship as they span from 2001
to the present day.
But the journey isn't necessarily his to travel
along, but you're invited in a most intimate way to participate, from
the opening lines of the first tune, Sooner or Later (2003) where he
offers you the opportunity of common introspection:
When you look around the World
It's hard to imagine how things are gonna get better
Without feeling like an idealistic fool...
I don't wish to divulge my point of view on the remaining 11 tunes as
what I truly feel and learned about myself as I listened is quite
personal and I suspect you'll feel the same, if you give the full CD a
full and complete listen. I can only implore you to take the journey
with James through his poignant songbook in this latest release and
then let him know personally how he's touched your soul, as he
undoubtedly will. Musically, lyrically and vocally, it's stunning and
thought-provoking and just sits well in your spirit as you listen...
- `EDEN of Albuquerque
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Home to Stay
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James has really established himself now as a prolific song writing
machine. He continues to come up with clever lyrics and haunting
melodies. From the recording process through the production to the art
work, is no less than pro quality.
This CD contains twelve tracks featuring James's superb vocal
performance and excellent guitar playing. It's hard to choose a
favourite or least favourite track because they are all good.
At the end of the day of course it comes down to personal choice. The
tracks I liked best were 'WAY DOWN SOUTH' and 'STILL LIGHTS UP THE
RAIN'. I have no reason for that choice other than they were the most
pleasing to my musical ear. My least favourite selection is 'THE BOUNTY
OF ID' which to me had questionable harmonies (read James' comment on this
below)
and 'BEYOND REVELATION'
which I found a bit dreary, but again that does not mean they are
better or worse than any other track on the CD.
Whilst listening to the album for the second time, I started to change
the arrangement of a couple of tracks in my head and it got me
wondering what another artist or band would make of them. As much as I
love James's voice I felt that 'YOUR NOT THE ONLY ONE' and 'WAY DOWN
SOUTH' are crying out for a bigger production. Maybe the JEBO full band
treatment.
There are lots of influences filtering through this collection from the
likes of 'Donovan' 'Cat Stevens' or whatever his name is now, 'Ralph
McTell', 'Leonard Cohen' etc. (I use the older names because I am old),
but that can only be a good thing and I think you will love this CD
from what must be one of the best song writers in the country.
We should be able to add him to our Famous Bristol Musicians Section
soon!
- Bristol Rocks.
James comment on
the 'questionable harmonies' in his song The Bounty of Id - "this
part of the song is supposed to sound strange. It's during the middle,
the turning point section of this palindromic piece. The
discordant voices were actually specifically chosen to match the
diminished chords that back them. They may not be to everyone's taste,
but they're over within a few seconds... peace."
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Home to Stay
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James Hollingsworth is a man steeped in the troubadour tradition. It
feels like just the man, his guitar and the open road. Ok a little bit
of gob iron (harmonica) as well. The timer on my music player tells me
this is
exactly one hour long. What it doesn't tell me is the words and phrases
that James squeezes into that hour. 12 minute plus epics feel as at
home as two minute blitzes. It's an album that feels as much a gallery
as it does a songboard. Hollingsworth paints canvas with his songs,
there is something almost visual about them. It's easy to slip into
character for the songs.
- FATEA
Records
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Home to Stay
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One thing you have to say about James Hollingsworth; he's nothing if
not sincere. His opening song, "Sooner or Later," says that when we
look around, we see everything's going to hell and ...
it's hard to imagine how things will get better
without feeling like an idealistic fool
who's gone and traded dreams
for what's before his eyes
who sooner or later, has to get wise.
So maybe it's hard to feel optimistic, but that's only because we
aren't wise and, according to Hollingsworth, we're on the road to
wisdom. Other songs proceed down this same path. "Still Lights Up the
Rain" has the speaker declare that he and his love are sitting in the
Garden of Eden, which is, by the way, "overgrown by years of neglect"
but ...
as I raise my eyes to Heaven
to take in the air and breathe in the sight
forgiveness shows the brightness
in a very different light
'Cause it still lights up the rain.
Hollingsworth loves the big statement. In "You're Not the Only One," he
remembers the "opening words of love" that came when God looked down
from above, but left the speaker on his own, only to be blessed and
told by God that he is not the only one. Hollingsworth also loves
ballads; most of his songs are slowly paced and very, very earnest.
I'm emphasizing the lyrics because, frankly, that's about the best
thing James Hollingsworth has to offer. If you respond to the
single-minded sincerity and earnestness of his music, you'll probably
like this CD. Me? Well, I found myself longing for Hollingsworth to
relax, maybe laugh a little.
- Michael
Scott Cain at Rambles.net
James notes: "looking at his other
reviews, I think I got
off quite lightly there!"
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Coming
Home to Stay
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"It is great!" - Moon
Suk (Multi-Media artist, Soprano, ZDF-Morgenmagazin...)
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CD's with
ink-stamped sleeves
are also available at James' gigs for £5.
|
Or Buy CD
direct from James using secure online
billing with Paypal for £7 (+ postage).
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