Omschrijving

Pop, folk.

The title for Ron Sexsmith’s 18th album is based on jokes his drummer, Don Kerr, made as they were passing Hanover Terrace on their way to a gig in London, although Sexsmith has admitted that in the current times people are suffering from a “collective hangover“. The album was recorded with his long-term collaborator, Martin Terefe, at his studio in London, the first time he’d worked in the city since 2007. There was, according to Sexsmith, a spontaneous approach to recording the album, which is evident in many of the tracks.

The 14 track record kicks off with ‘Don’t Lose Sight‘ which is based on Sexsmith’s observations on love and advice not to lose sight of the big picture as he sings “Hearts get broken, So many times, Like a puzzle there’s always one piece you can’t find“. It’s a song which acknowledges the need for perseverance and quiet resilience in relationships. ‘Cigarette and Cocktail‘ harks back to a different time, with an air of nostalgia about it, describing an age when people were nonchalant about smoking and drinking. It conjures up retro-images of people at a party in the 1970s.

‘Damn Well Please‘ is a song that Sexsmith has been playing live for some time. It was originally intended for a musical that he’d been writing based on “Deer Life”, a fairy tale book he wrote and illustrated in 2017. It deals with defiance, self-assertion, and not worrying about what you say. Another one of the older songs is ‘Camelot Towers‘, which was originally demoed in 1997. It covers the housing crisis, albeit in a slightly scathing way. It was inspired by low-income apartments, which are given grandiose names but don’t provide fit-for-purpose accommodation, and in which, at one point in time, his son was living in.

Sexsmith says that ‘Easy for You to Say’ was his take on Dylan’s ‘Positively Fourth Street’. It concerns the puritanical climate of the past few years. The instrumentation is beautifully baroque. Sexsmith has explained that the song touches on how people have become quick to judge, sometimes creating a kind of normative rigidity. ‘It’s Been a While’ starts off with an elegant, folky guitar riff, before it develops into an excellent pop song. It canter’s along as Sexsmith ponders on the passing of time, “dappling” his hair in grey. At the end of the take, you can hear Sexsmith say “That should be good enough,” and he’s certainly right; it’s a song that Elvis Costello would have killed for to have on one of his recent albums.

‘House of Love‘ has a beautiful horn arrangement and a wonderful, soulful feel to it. ‘Rose Town‘ features some sparkling, chiming guitars. Sexsmith has said that it “deals with regrets and of arriving finally at a place of happiness and not wanting to screw it up”. ‘Outside Looking In‘ concerns friendships and the notion that “some friends should come with an expiry date“. It deals with Sexsmith’s “feeling of hurt” in shedding friends.

One of the closing tracks is ‘Burgoyne Woods’, which was inspired by his childhood home in St Catharines. It’s another wonderful, earthy piece of folk-pop with some great lyrical imagery. This really is a superb album filled with fantastic tunes and great lyrics, which adds another wonderful set of songs to Sexsmith’s rich and varied back catalogue.
Uitgebreide review: https://klofmag.com/2025/09/ron-sexsmith-hangover-terrace/

Tracks:
01. Don't Lose Sight
02. Cigarette and Cocktail
03. Damn Well Please
04. Easy for You to Say
05. Camelot Towers
06. It's Been a While
07. House of Love
08. Rose Town
09. Please Don't Tell Me Why
10. Outside Looking In
11. Angel on My Shoulder
12. When Will the Morning Come
13. Burgoyne Woods
14. Must Be Something Wrong with Her

Staat er compleet op, 10% pars mee gepost. Met zeer veel dank aan de originele poster. Laat af en toe eens weten wat je van het album vindt. Altijd leuk, de mening van anderen. Oh ja, MP3 doe ik niet aan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNcDKMYeEDQ