The Temperance Movement / Phil Campbell

‘Saviour’s Song’ is the new release by Glasgow based Phil Campbell. The album is one of many, with almost ten Phil Campbell releases listed in the ‘Music History’ section of his website (www.philcampbellmusic.com) including a collection of Leonhard Cohen covers.

The album opens with a brief Tom Waits-esque vocal passage, which leads in to the gospel infused country rock of ‘W.M.B.L’. An anagram of ‘We Must Be Lovers’, ‘W.M.B.L’ is a beautiful track, laden with vocal takes and arranged with such care. Campbell’s voice shines through, and gives an immediate understanding and explanation to Campbell’s previous success, which includes two appearances on ‘Later with Jools Holland’, support slots with David Gray and Turin Brakes, and two deals with EMI.

As the album progresses, Campbell’s Scottish roots clearly start to become more evident. Despite spending the best part of fifteen years carving a name for himself in the big smoke of London, Campbell recently made the move back to Scotland.

Tracks like ‘Vodka Milk’, ‘Boom Town Rats’ (a rousing track, with some great harmonies)and ‘Nations & Babes’ are fronted by a strong Scottish voice and also contain some well thought out arrangements.
‘Radio Luxembourg’, although a departure from the brashness of ‘Nations & Babes’ and ‘Boom Town Rat’s is a welcomed addition to the track listing, taking on a gentile, laid back vibe, full of well thought out vocal harmonies.

Campbell is clearly a talented individual, having completely self-recorded, produced and mixed the whole album. He is also responsible for every instrumental and vocal part on the album, with the minor exception of ‘Boom Town Rats’ and ‘Shooting Baddies’ which include percussion by Ian Murray, and the latter featuring some fantastic lead guitar work courtesy of Chris McCabe.
One standout track ‘Shooting Baddies’ is a high energy, hard hitting slice of country rock delivered with attitude. Judging from the video for the song,which can be found on YouTube along with plenty of other bits (www.youtube.com/user/philcampbelluk) the album was recorded with fairly basic equipment as well. Campbell states on the back of the album cover that the album was recorded between his house and a couple of studios and mixed entirely at home with nothing but a computer and two speakers.

The album clearly shows a great achievement from a labour of love, and could well provide great inspiration for bedroom artists all over. Campbell rises above many of his peers to deliver a unique breed of country rock infused with gospel and Americana that is sure to appeal to fans of Tom Waits and Ryan Adams and is capable of earning a well respected place in any music collection. - AWAL

Acclaimed Scottish singer-songwriter Phil Campbell makes a long-awaited return home with the release of single Wrecking Ball Nights on June 1, taken from the forthcoming new album Daddy’s Table.

The release is supported by a Scottish tour that over the course of the next few days is taking in dates in Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow, Perth and Edinburgh.

Campbell was born in Milton, Dunbartonshire, to a family of lay preachers and hymn writers, and has thus far had a colourful music career that started at just eighteen years of age.
Phil Campbell returns with new single

First band Wah Wah Jack was signed to a major label back in 1995. London beckoned, however, and Campbell left the band to pursue a solo career. Two years later, and signed to EMI, debut album Fresh New Life was released – but by the end of 1997, after tours with Mike Scott and Reef, he’d been dropped by the label.

Undeterred, new band White Buffalo released two albums and toured Europe during the next four years until Campbell was signed to Edel Records. Joy was created – as was renewed interest from the EMI camp.

The signing was again short-lived as EMI was taken over in 2008 and its roster revamped. After the Garden was still released and 2008 saw Campbell tour with Turin Brakes and David Gray, and make a memorable appearance on Later… With Jools Holland.

It’s a thirteen-year nutshell of a story that omits tumultuous relationships, the birth of Campbell’s son, changing influences, a growing interest in music production and new recording techniques - and some hard-fought battles with drugs and alcohol.

“Coming home was inevitable and I’ve been inspired since returning,” Campbell said. “The new album is very different, it’s more ‘live’ sounding and a blend of my love for American country music and Scottish hymnal melody.

“I went to church every week when I was a boy, and sang in my own accent. Growing up as a musician, I would put on another ‘voice’ when performing. The album is my desire to express my own voice again. I’m really excited about the May tour and performing in front of Scottish audiences.” - STV

What a difference a dose of faith inspired by a newly minted sober lifestyle can make on the overall influence of a record. Plain and simple--Phil Campbell's Daddy's Table is hearbreakingly beautiful. Campbell's vocals sore over lush acoustic guitars as he delivers each line with a haunting theurapeutic relevance. As a listener you feel each line's reverted pain, his despairing hope through loneliness, and the longing to have the ability to truly feel again. The record's first single and opening track 'Wrecking Ball Nights' immediately delves into the issue of the severity of Campbell's past addiction as he sings, "i got just enough to get me through the evening, this is wondrous stuff it really kills the feeling, i got empty plastic bags with crumbled mixtures, i dug dirty trenches with my little fingers." Campbell describes his addiction through the metaphor of a wrecking ball swinging above his head implying that it will only be time before it discontinues; allowing him the opportunity to either continue on the disastrous road he's comfortably been stumbling upon, or the option of stopping his erratic behaviour all together.

There is proof that he has made a decision as the cheerful strum of the guitar initiates a new kind of hope on 'For Boozers & Losers' as he delivers the line, "long live each one of us, churning in our seas, beauty gets locked inside but i will be free." It becomes clear as the record progresses that Campbell's road to freedom run's parallel to his own journey to sobriety, mixed with the added shift of Campbell's new role as a father. He sings a profound lullaby to his son on 'My Wee Soul' telling him to not be afraid of the dark, "you get sleeping and I'll take on the sharks." This track exudes a pure kind of love that is completely stripped of complexities. It is this type of love that can only be truly expressed by someone who has gone to hell and back. Fans will take notice of the grace that has been restored and discovered again through the eyes of his son while listening to this track. As Campbell divulges his endearing devotion to his son, it becomes clear that he is no longer devoid of the feelings he once couldn't bear to endure.

The highest compliment to be paid to Campbell is the comparison to artists like Ray LaMontagne and fellow Scottish folk singer Paolo Nutini in both their deliverance of the harmonica as well as the impeccable hushed vocals that they all deliver with such care. The most apparent resemblance can be alluded to American singer/songwriter Joshua James in Campbell's track "Gone" for they share the same shaking tenor about living in purgatory while vying to listen to God's advice. At the record's conclusion it's as if Campbell has gone full circle as he retreats back to his Scottish roots on "A Wild River Runs" making it clear that Campbell's own personal move away from London and back to his home in Scotland has proved to be one of the integral themes that has shaped not only the entrance to his new life, but has also influenced him deeply as a musician.

This record's relevance comes across as much more than a mere singer/songwriter strumming an acoustic guitar while simultaneously delivering lyrics made up of nothing but heartache and personal woe. The difference lies in the relativity of Daddy's Table, and the fact that the record's core runs much deeper than the reoccurring themes that are often discussed by similar artists. Phil Campbell has transformed his anguish into something tangible enough to not just casually listen to, but a record that truly forces one to feel. - AWAL