The Men They Couldn’t Hang - Cock-A-Hoop (2018)

The 10th Studio Album in a 35 year career sees this Classic British Band finesse their ribald recipe of roots randomness into a carnival of colour, sound and surrealism. Recorded with producer Jim Knight at the old home studio of the legendary Kirsty MacColl in leafy Ealing, this collections of ballads, rants and shanties mixes folk and pop, rock and reel, rhythm and roll, blues and soul and gives it a damn good shaking. The Men They Couldn't Hang have long mixed poignant political epics with potent frenzy, once being compared to a 'riot in a fairground'. Those qualities are not only present but super charged in the melodic blizzards of Pone and Sirens ; knuckleduster vocals, jet powered harmonies and martial mandolins all present. Ballads like Four Winds Blow and Three Ships Sailing continue the knack for widescreen mythology, evocations of past and future, while The Amazing Carrier Bag goes through the looking glass and down the rabbit hole with a Kinksian take on the surreal whimsy of Brexit and the punk rock autobiographical anthem Right Time, Right Place, Right Song puts it all into perspective with Cheshire Cat peek into the secret of The Men They Couldn't Hang enduring success and longevity. In short this new album finds the Peter Pan vitality of TMTCH fighting fit and full of vim. It sounds like a big party; a ceilidh on mescalin, a wild, weird and wandering voyage of discovery, gone over the borders and out to the sea. And still the band plays on. The Men They Couldn't Hang promote Cock A Hoop via a full National Tour in the Autumn. Tour Dates : 14th September Windsor Watermans Arms (Phil 'Swill' Odgers solo), 12th October Leicester 02, 13th Liverpool 02 Academy, 2nd Derby Flowerpot, 3rd Preston Guildhall, 16th Bristol Thunderbolt, 17th Lewes Constitutional Club, 23rd Birmingham 02 Academy, 24th Norwich Waterfront, 1st December British Folk Weekender (Skegness), 7th Newcastle, The Cluny, 8th Glasgow King Tuts Wah Wah Hut, 14th /15th London Borderline.