About 10 years ago, whilst wasting my time doing
a degree, I was veging in front of the box when a programme came
on called "40 years of peace". I remember it proclaimed
how wonderful it had been that since WWII there had indeed been
40 years of "peace". It seemed that since "our
boys won the war" everything has been fine and dandy. I phoned
the BBC, and asked the producer if he could tell me which planet
he was talking about. Many times more people have been killed
since "the war" than during it. He couldn't answer the
question! Sometimes, as a songwriter, songs just happen to you.
This was one of those occasions. 10 years later I am sent a C.D.
by a chap called Lee Saunders for a review. It
seems to me that Lee has been through exactly
the same experience.
Lets' get the superlatives out the way first.
Leaving aside the big budget record company backed offerings we
get all the time at Venue, this is the best presented,
best written, best recorded, most musical, most thought provoking,
best organized, and most promising C.D. I have ever seen or heard
from an unsigned artist! Why?..........
Lee is a Artist. He has
that very rare gift of being able to paint with sound. He cares
very, very deeply about the finished product, both visually, and
aurally. He is not a 'Rock Star', there are no 'smouldering hunk'
pictures of him anywhere on the C.D.. Indeed, Lee
is listed half way down the artists credits. Lee
is like the Wizard of Oz, coaxing, cajoling, leading, organizing,
and making things happen. Everyone playing on the C.D. gives a
stunning performance. Artists include: Adolf Hitler
and Winston Churchill by the way!
This is an epic piece, 8 months in the recording
and 16 tracks long. The theme is a bitter/sweet treatise of the
political, personal, and actual subject of war. In the end, it
is a reworking of the play and film 'Oh what a lovely
war'. There are no direct comparisons except that in
both cases one is left with a distinct feeling of having been
well and truly shafted by the powers that be.
So - What's it like? Well, it's like the
Pink Floyd. It's big, there are no obvious singles, and
millions of people over the world will buy it. I want to see this
work done live in the grand scale of the Floyd.
It would be one of those events that those lucky enough to be
there will boast about for the rest of their lives.
I have got to know Lee a little
on the phone since hearing this. He is modest, caring, inspirational,
unselfish and bursting with even more ideas. This is the beginning
of something massive on a world-wide scale. If you are an A and
R chap, or you know one, you have been warned - don't miss this
chance! Robert John Godfrey (The Enid) once told
me that truly good music was capable of bypassing the intellect
and feeding directly into the listeners emotions. He was almost
right. Lee Saunders' C.D. does all this, but
at the same time engages the intellect in a very subtle yet powerful
way.
BUY THIS C.D. then you can be the one
in the pub in 5 years time that says "Lee Saunders,
yeah, I bought "A Promise of Peace"
way back before he had a deal" - instant one upmanship!
Reviewed by Kinsby.
