Herald rating: ***
(Thom/Sony)
Review: Graham Reid
Following the huge success of his first Espresso Guitar album Winch (and marketing mentor Murray Thom) have seen no reason to change a winning formula: an easy-on-the-ear collection of memorably melodic contemporary standards which are professionally executed and augmented by NZSO strings.
This time out Winch and
friends essay Sting's lovely Fields of Gold, Crowded House and Neil Young medleys, and some soundtrack material (Mark Knopfler's Local Hero/Private Investigations, the theme to Braveheart).
Hendrix's ethereal Little Wing and, in an intelligent move for royalties, another Winch original which blends in seamlessly.
As before, high-quality background music which can reward genuine attention — but haven't we come a long way when Neil Young's Hey Hey My My ("rock'n'roll will never die") is the soundtrack to dinner-table discussions about what to do with the air points?
