Chris Butler
Album: If Not Now, When?
Label: Feline Classics
Tracks: 14
Website: http://www.facebook.com/chrisbutlermusic

When you're handed an album with song titles such as 'Grandpa still hates the Tories', 'Strike!', and 'Drink up', well you sort of know what you're going to get! Confrontation, agitation, and general mischief.....right? Wrong!!!! What you get here is Derbyshire based singer-songwriter Chris Butler wearing his heart on his sleeve, and sharing his views, his recollections, and his hopes, with, as when playing live, anyone who is willing to listen, and doing so in a manner that, well, just makes you want to listen.....and so you do!

Thirteen tracks, plus a bonus number, make up this collection of songs, all but one, self penned, and self composed and all delivered passionately to the fore! Though Chris has a very strong agenda, and there is no prize for guessing correctly his political leaning, his style is extremely relaxed, bordering on gentle, with just the most delicate of guitar lines to back Chris's vocals....there's no overdubs here, no enhancements.....just man and guitar and a hat full of captivating songs.....stories to raise a smile, stories to uplift, to question and to jab at the conscience of the nation, and it's so called peers!

It's a testament to the songwriting itself within these songs that Chris is as welcome to play at a folk club as he is to play on a punk line up, and testament to the man himself that he us willing to take on all environments......he's a veteran of Punks' biggest annual gathering 'Rebellion' and it's actually an event at one of these Blackpool soirées that gives Chris his 'The Seagull and The Skinhead ' song, a tale of the underdog which never fails to raise a smile , you know what's coming and there's a virtual punch of the air once the incident unfolds...,.Skinhead 0 Seagull 1 !!!

Should you like your protest music delivered with honesty and integrity, yet maybe not so 'in yer face' as many others would have it, then this album, and this gentleman is certainly for you....should you be looking for a comrade to help fight the good fight, but to do it with humility and reasoning then again this is for you.....and should you just hanker for well constructed, well considered musings, then guess what....yep! This is for you too!

James Cosgrove