Lakeland Trails
Release Year: 2012
Tracklist
- The Sign
- Feeling’s Gonna Last
- Golden 4. Gerry Giraffe
- I Love You
- Lazin’
- Beautiful Daydream
- 86 Pembroke Road
- Farewell Toledo
- Thankful
- Sun In October
- Lakeland Trails
Click here to listen to the album – http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/petelashley
Beautifully recorded by Sam Parkinson (samesevennotes.co.uk), inspired by the magnificence of Lakeland and named after the fantastic Lakeland Trails running events which take place across the district every year, ‘Lakeland Trails’ is an album to savour. It begins with ‘The Sign’. Delicate solo plucked strings soon lead into the warm tones of Pete’s strummed/picked acoustic and Andy Smith’s subtle cross stick drum rhythm. The bass soon joins in to add even more warmth before finally Pete’s harmonizing vocals complete the whole. ‘The Sign’ is a song of reflection. It hones in on the idea that we are all guilty at times of taking for granted what we’ve got (no matter how precious) and that a good walk by oneself surrounded by the beauty of nature can soon make us realize that deep down, we would never want to lose it.
“I then realized how I love you so, dreams of your deep and burning love – I won’t letgo”
Song number 2 is ‘Feeling’s Gonna Last’. This is definitely a Lakeland Trails inspired running song, full of drive and passion and played with a fast rockabilly acoustic with Andy’s driving drums giving the song even more energy. Pete’s energetic vocals and harmonica round off the exhilaration nicely. The lyrics contain a wee bit of humour by delving into the perils and joys of running in the mountains.
“We got 17 16 15k, 14 13 musclesrain, 12 11 10 I’m done, 9 8k it’s getting fun, 7 6 5 blistered toe, tripped on a lace.. ho ho ho, 4 3 2 we’re nearly there, 1 more k my soul’s to bare……I’m gonna run, I’m gonna run, this old Trail”
Track 3 ‘Golden’ infuses a love of nature with the love created from human companionship.
“Golden the bracken, golden the light, golden the old foxes tail, when you come near you move so free like water that flows down the dale…. if only you’d stay, can we stay here for soon there’ll be union and love…for I hear you coming the guitars are strumming, somewhere from high up above”
‘Gerry Giraffe’ (track 4) is an entertaining funk number about a loveable Giraffe from Sudan (Gerry) who journeys up north to view the spectacular natural light show which is the aurora borealis. Gerry makes lots of new friends on his trip with his winnable smile. In order to view this extarordinary natural phenomena high up in the Arctic Circle, Gerry has to wrap up warm. “He’s got a scarf, a hat and four furry shoes so he can do all his moves and set more new trends…’cause he got the love.. he got the tools to be your friend…GERRY GIRAFFE”
Standouts on this song include Andy Smith’s funky drums and Pete’s dancing bass lines and electricwah wahsolo. Splendid fun!!
The album continues on:
‘I Love You’ pours with emotion, the instrumental ‘Lazin’ gets the feet tapping, the meditative ‘Beautiful Daydream’, (wriitenby Sean Mellor and Pete Lashley) featuring Carl Iredale on bass and 12 string Chapman stick,posessesa real brooding dreamlike quality. ’86 Pembroke Road’ is a delightfullyhumourouslook at the experiences of a group of friends travelling around New Zealand in a campervan. With lyrics by Mike Tripp (a member of Bristol based ukulele supergroup ‘The Rinky Dinks’) and the music a collaboration between Pete & Mike, the song has an energy further enhanced by Aid Todd’s vibrant drumming. ‘Farewell Toledo’ is a reflective instrumental which features Pete turning topianoand delicately fingerpicked acoustic guitar. ‘Thankful’ is another song written by Pete & Sean Mellor. It moves beautifully between a reflective somewhat melancholic verse andhard hittingemotion packed chorus.
‘Sun In October’ is a song (featuring ukulele and acoustic) about the changes in the seasons and hones in on the wonder of a Swallow’s epic migration route in its search for warmer climes. The album then reaches its grand finale with ‘Lakeland Trails’ (written by Pete & his brother Rich Lashley). The song is inspired by the Lakeland Trails (lakelandtrails.org) running events which occur throughout the year in beautiful locations up and down the English Lake District. Pete let’s rip on this one (if you pardon the expression) with euphoric vocals, bass, electric, acoustic and slide guitars accompanied by Andy Smith’s pounding drums racing like a beating heart in full flow – the album ends on a high!
