Not all albums are aimed at chart success. Not all albums are destined for future cult adoration. Some albums are just a guy and a guitar and some friends making the kind of music that even your Auntie Flo – the Auntie Flo that does not even know what rehab is – might listen to whilst drinking a nice cup of tea. “Somewhere Not Here” by Tony Randle is such an album.
All that is here - including a cover of a Taylor Swift song, of all things – is easy on the ear and assembled with both due diligence and good taste. Needless to say, it is the guitars of Tony Randle that makes the most positive impression although the stalwart support for his voice provided by Alice Williams is also worthy of mention. Sentimentality pervades the lyrics as you might expect and, again unsurprisingly, the pace on this album never threatens to exceed a canter.
Making an album that your Auntie Flo might listen to might seems like a curious musical choice in these turbulent times yet Tony Randle has done just that. “Somewhere Not Here” has clearly been designed to avoid any kind of contentiousness and can, on those criteria, be regarded as completely successful. A job well done, as they say.