Reviews
Rupert Wates Album: Father To The Man
Label: Bite
Tracks: 12
Website: https://rupertwatesmusic.com/
The theme of parental love has seen enough songs produced over the years to almost define its own genre. Amongst the many that have been recorded, my favourites have come from Cat Stevens, Bread, Mike & The Mechanics, Suzy Bogguss and Howard Jones. There is immense skill in writing songs about loved ones to make them meaningful and heartfelt without being over sentimental and very few songwriters achieve the right balance.
Rupert Wates is a supreme musician and consummate songwriter and his latest album, "Father To The Man" shows what can be achieved on this tricky subject of familial love when the song is in the hands of a skilful and sensitive lyricist.
The album is divided into two parts and written from the father to the child as the title identifies. The first part is sung to the child, Gabriel, as he is now and the second to the man he will become. The opening track "(Like a) Songbird In The Spring" is a stunningly beautiful piece of music and sets the scene for what is to follow. The guitar playing throughout is quite superb and is wonderfully balanced with Rupert's gentle and, at times, soulful voice. The love and emotion of the father really shining through!
Gabriel is probably too young to fully understand the love that has gone into developing and producing this album, but in time he will and will realise what an amazing tribute he has been delivered. "Change The World" is both a prediction and a warning of what is to come and is the story that all parents should hand down to their children.
This is such a beautiful album that it is almost impossible to listen to the lyrics without shedding a tear or two. Recorded in Nashville by Dave Sinko and mastered by David Glasser, the end result again demonstrates what stunning mental images and pictures a true maestro can produce without a brush. Rupert Wates is one such artist.
For the guitarists out there, all but one of the songs on the album have been written in DADGAD tuning. Rupert chose this tuning not only because of its chiming sound but also due to the fact that it includes the word DAD. That rather sums it all up!
Rory M Stanbridge
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