28th May 2015
Kestrel – Take It Away
If only KESTREL were ‘so #moneysupermarket’ and didn’t even know it. If ever a band and their sole album was buried beneath the centre of the musical earth, it’s this one. Great musicianship, catchy songs, Progressive Pop rather than Rock, but in hindsight wrong time and place even with producer John Worth screaming their name from rooftops to all and sundry.
Avoiding rigid tags such as Glam, Metal, Pop, Progressive or Parochial, whilst their homeland popularity in the North East of England secured them their own TV show on the local Tyne Tees TV station (‘The Geordie Scene’) notoriety further afield remained at arms length.
Centred around songwriter/guitarist Dave Black and keyboardist John Cook, KESTREL’s album vanished on release and without a single released to promote it, their future was hazy. When #MickRonson quit The Spiders From Mars, Dave stepped into Mick’s shoes and John went on to form Poke and then English Rose before working in music for television.
Years after the fact Kestrel’s album was excavated and heralded as a trophy by Japanese rock music fans, who currently pay three figure sums for the original Cube album.
Luckily everyone else need look no further than the fabulous expanded and remastered re-issue by Esoteric Recordings / Cherry Red Records.
Oh and about that album cover… take it away Kestrel..