Coles Corner

More like Richard Yawn-ley... am I right???

What a beautiful pop record I had no idea the lead singer was the bassist from Pulp. This album just oozes a nighttime listening experience. The orchestral arrangements and guitars bring this cathartic experience dealing with relationships and breakups. I love the lyrics extremely relatable with some great songs as well. Extremely consistent album I love it. Easy 9/10 for me

All I had to do was look at the cover to know it was some British thing I've never heard of. This could be an exciting prospect except that it turned out to be some kind of thoroughly bland nostalgia act. Wait, can you even call it a nostalgia act when the person making the music wasn't alive during the time period they are emulating? He sounds very reverent to his inspirations and all, but he also sounds utterly boring. Not only that, but the clean modern production kind of neuters the aesthetic. And his voice just simply isn't capable of pulling off what he's trying to achieve. I'm five songs in and I really don't want to finish this...

I was very surprised by this album. I’d never heard of Richard Hawley before. He sounds like someone who would perform in the Roadhouse on Twin Peaks. I also get some slight Elvis Costello vibes, especially his album with Burt Bacharach. Loved it.

Wow, I was not expecting this. Sounds much older than it is, love it

What a cozy and snug album. I want to curl up with some hot cocoa and watch the rain while this is spinning.

The worst type of music. As bland as unsalted cardboard.

It's...fine I guess? I think if it had been either a little more or a little less twee I'd have liked it a lot more, but it's not played straight enough to be good or broad enough to be fun.

Feels like a bland redo of those golden voice type of american singers in 2005. Why is this even on the list? It's not bad, it doesn't hurt my ears, but is boring as hell. Two songs really stand out though: Coles Corner and The Ocean are pretty good.

I really like the style and vibes from this album. Love the voice and liked all the songs.

Bizarrely anachronistic.

unexpected. this is like "music to die slowly to".. music for an old folks home. i feel like i'm getting older listening to it. some pat boone 50's thing going on here. pretty boring... born under a bad sign has some morrissey potential in it, but otherwise forgettable.

Corny. Boring. If I could give it 0 stars I would.

I love this album. Richard Hawley is a weird one - a Big Name in British music, who will always garner critical praise and find top-notch collaborators. But as a popular act, he'll never cut through. That's probably because he's ploughing quite a lonely furrow as Britpop's own Roy Orbison / Johnny Cash revanchist. I'm glad somebody's doing it, as this is gorgeous, lovingly crafted and thick with atmosphere. Hawley shepherds the ghosts of the past with grace and charm, yet there's enough of the man himself here to prevent this being a glorified tribute act.

not really familiar with this genre, but sounds like Arctic Monkeys got something from this (I do know they both come from sheffield and have worked together in the past)

Hawley kind of effortlessly blends elements of country, 40s-50s rock, and other bits into this album. But it doesn't feel very special or impactful for me. I'm enjoying the songs, but I'm questioning why it was included on the list? It's hard to motivate myself to listen to this one, hence the 1/5

Bruised romanticism and classic songwriting. An absolute delight.

He didn't do himself any favors by placing the title track, which is generic blue-eyed soul, as the opener. I was ready to hate this album after the first couple of songs, but the sound matured as the album went on. A strange experience. Best track: Wading Through (The Waters of My Time)

I think I could've died without hearing this.

hmm, what? Sorry, just fell asleep for a bit there. Yeah, cool record collection, bro.

I swear to god if I have to listen to one more album of a British guy trying to be a 50’s crooner

Your grandparents would slow dance to this in their kitchen in 1957. It's utterly beautiful, and there isn't a single thing I would change. I just wish I could be able to listen to this again for the first time.

Coles Corner is a pretty incredible song to start off the album. The Ocean is giving off huge War on Drugs vibes with the strings and whatever effect that is on the repeating guitar. Not really sure how to describe it but that song was very very good. This whole album was so good. The different guitar tones and speeds that were used throughout the album really kept things fresh. It would switch between rock, folk, and country-esque genres which I liked all of. The 2 songs after tonight were a bit slow to wind things down, but ending on Last Orders with the somber piano and whatever that ghostly sounding instrument were was perfect. I would really like to see this man perform live with a whole band of the different amount of instruments that were used in this album. This Richard Hawley fella sure is instrumentally talented. Reading through the wiki for this album he played vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar, baritone guitar, Spanish guitar, Hawaiian lap steel, hammer dulcimer, enchanted lyre, Omnichord, piano, drums, steel drum, vibraphone, baby glockenspiel

This whole album felt like a cigarette with a cup of coffee. 5 stars

What if Mark Lanegan was from Sheffield and not Ellensburg?

A little too slow/ballady for my tastes. 2/5

I'm sure somebody thinks this is well-written, well-performed music. To me, it's awfully boring.

English rock artist with a 1940's flair, almost smooth crooner meets rockabilly. Strange to see this type of album from the middle of the 2000's. That being said...needed on this list?

Pleasant enough to listen to in the background but if you heard one song from it you've heard it all. This Aussie gives it two Caramello Koalas out of five.

This whole album reminded me of a few different buskers I encountered lifetimes ago at Granville Skytrain station in Vancouver as I came and went from the downtown core - not particularly horrid, but off-kilter in so many ways. The Skytrain station buskers were made more interesting, however, by the perpetual smell of piss and commuters. I have very little interest in ever revisiting this.

I just want to know how much of Richard Hawley's own funds went to recording and publishing this album? I've listened to it three times today and the repetition has not helped it any. Though it may have been innovative 40 years earlier in 2005 this music has nothing to offer. Even worse -- though #metoo came many years later -- by the time this album was recorded lines like "you belong to me, you belong to me" should have been a distant and unfortunate memory. Born Under a Bad Sign makes me wonder if Hawley is just trolling the blues-influenced British rockers who came before (waaaay before) him. The album's silver lining is some nice slide guitar on tracks like Darlin' Wait for Me. Unfortunately, the lining gilds a piece of dry toast.

Not for me, sounds like Michael Bublé mixed with Jarvis Cocker. Easy listening for the 2000's

Tooooooooooo sloooooooooow

Yuck

His melodies and orchestration are just beautiful - enjoy!

It is a beautiful album. Reminds me of christmas' gone by. beautiful love songs about places the singer misses and remonises about. Nice and slow could imagine slow dancing too it with a significant other. Richard has a great voice and i have learnt that he has played and is friends with frontman of pulp, Jarvis Cocker, that alone adds one extra rating. So many styles in this accoustic album got some country, some singer songwriter but all of it is great and as Alex Turner said when this lost an award 'someone call 999, Richard Halway has been robbed'. 10/10 enjoyed it all the way through it enticed me i could not stop listening.

I was riding on a train, sitting backwards, looking out the window as the sun set slowly in the distance. Nearly brought to tears by the sheer beauty, simplicity, honesty, and artistry of it all. This is a precious gem of a record.

Hey mate, can you pass me the sick bucket...bleuhh..... On the surface, this is horrible schmaltzy MOR record with a cabaret style crooner wooing middle aged ladies. But as I listened more, I realised Hawley actually has a lovely, warm understated voice that is totally sincere. The combination of bittersweet songs and that achingly sad voice showcases emotional music of depth. It's melancholic, but there always that lingering feeling of hope hiding somewhere in the shadows. This is beautiful, sad, warm, moving music.

Coles Corner is a record that is designed to be listened at dusk. It’s a record that is designed for lonely evenings. The kind where there is a vast longing to be filled but you find yourself having no capacity to properly fill it. Listening to the record is like checking into a heartbreak hotel and not quite intending to check out.

I honestly think Richard Hawley is on par with Elvis. No shit. I rate him that highly. A peerless working class songwriter with a voice of velvet. Coles Corner is his masterpiece. Hawley achieves the rare feat of writing songs that actually suit his voice. There's a rhythm in the vocal delivery that matches the music. Plus he's cool as fuck. Which always helps.

Once in a while, you get to listen to an album of an artist you haven't had on your radar, but which, upon listening ticks all the right boxes for you. This is a perfect example and a pleasant surprise. The songs are positively old-fashioned and romantic, and Hawley delivers them with a soothing baritone voice and fitting arrangements. I really liked this and will explore this artist further. 4.5/5

holy shit, beautiful album I am obsessed with the diversity these tracks have It’s like Nick Cave meets Johnny Cash and that last song sounded like Hans Zimmer or something overall beautiful album - 10/10

Excellent voice with quite instrumental music. Chill and relax.

Never heard of this guy but I'm a bit blown away. I love the way Hawley puts his songs together. You hear singer-songwriter and have a certain expectation of what that might be, but Coles Corner is so much more than a random singer-songwriter record.

I’m not sure what it was, but this album was awesome. Totally different vibe than what I’m used to.

This guy is somewhere between Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash. Some good melodies and nice harmonies, just well crafted all around

No idea what I was getting into here, but went without a private Spotify session. This album is incredibly pleasant, not my normal jam, not that is a bad thing. Mellow, sweet and thoughtful. Seems like a great album for a Sunday morning.

Excellent.

3.25/5 Had never heard of this artist before. I can see why other reviews said this album is boring, but I liked the easy listening smooth vibes.

Blijkbaar de bassist van Pulp. Zo zie je maar: bassisten hebben wel degelijk talent! In dit geval wel matig talent, maar da's ook al iets. Klinkt als iets waar Alex Turner naar heeft geluisterd voor hij random crooner muziek begon te maken met Arctic Monkeys. 2.9

Another nice enough album that doesn't do a lot for me, other than sounding like 1958 with better production. The instrumental at the end is actually my highlight.

No. 246/1001 Coles Corner 4/5 Just like the Rain 3/5 Hotel Room 3/5 Darlin' Wait For Me 2/5 The Ocean 4/5 Born Under A Bad Sign 4/5 I Sleep Alone 3/5 Tonight 3/5 The Waters of My Time 3/5 Who's Going to Shoe Your Pretty Feet 3/5 Last Orders 2/5 Average: 3,09 Sounds like a modern day Sinatra.

It's beautiful in its own pace, though that can drag on a bit at times. I can see why others say it's boring, but in the right setting, it's really a lovely album. I hope people who found it boring come back to it at a more appropriate time for them.

twas nice! got a bit too slow on the back end but a lovely album nonetheless! fave: the opener was so gorg! least faces? last few songs so sleepy would I listen again? totally if me shleepies

The corner is still remembered by many Sheffielders above 30 years of age as the place to arrange to meet one's date.

I figured being in the home stretch of this list (85 albums to go before 1089) would be a breeze. But really, it’s worse than it’s ever been. The end is in sight and I know there are still at least a dozen albums I really like that haven’t been generated, but the ones I’m not interested in… boy, are they grinding on my nerves. I’m not sure if a lot of people wanted Roy Orbinson-esque throwback rock in 2005, I know I didn’t. 2005, I was probably listening to Sonic Youth’s “Sonic Nurse“ and Stereolab’s “Margerine Eclipse”, both from 2004. Television’s Marquee Moon was probably getting a lot of play and also Can. Speaking of Stereolab, just yesterday, they released new music (a single, “Aerial Troubles”) for the first time in 15 years and it is fucking awesome. I’ve listened to that track enough times to qualify as an albums worth of music and I’ve gotten so much more enjoyment out of that single played repeatedly than I did at any point during Cole’s Corner. They managed to not only recall the music they made in the past, but also take it forward in a new direction. It works so well. They are easily one of the most overlooked bands of the 90’s, at least when it comes to attention these days and I hope this new record changes that for them. The more time that passes, the more I’m convinced that Stereolab is one of the all time greats and they just proved it again after 15 years out of the spotlight. Sure, maybe my excitement over new Stereolab music, which I’ve been waiting 15 years for, is clouding my judgement of this Richard Hawley record. But at this point, over 1000 records into this project, sometimes I just want some music that I love and new recommendations that fall flat aren’t worth spending much time on. Writing about something I love, on the other hand - even if it is totally unrelated - is more rewarding.

This is fine I guess. I don’t really get what this album is doing on this list. It sounds like a crooner filtered through British popular music, as if Dean Martin also did a stint with Blur. Deep soothing vocals and soaring string sections. It’s not bad by any means, but nothing exceptionally good or innovative or anything that I could ever say somebody must listen to before they die. I give it two stars because one star is reserved for truly unlistenable stuff. I think if the artist wasn’t British this would never have been included on the list.

This really shouldn't work, but it really does.

I’m still getting familiar with Richard Hawley, but after listening to two of his albums now, I think he’s pretty solid when it comes to doing a modern take on vintage pop ballads with that 60s feel. This album is mostly an orchestral-driven singer/songwriter and chamber pop release, but what I really liked were the twangy guitars, especially with the reverb and slapback echo that gave it a nice rockabilly vibe. The slide guitar added some country-western or surf-style flavor too. The production has a vintage tone as well, but it’s still really clean and polished. Overall, this is definitely an album I’ll come back to again—it’s got a great sound and feel to it.

I really enjoyed this offering, mellow and a hint of country.

Omg I thought this album was at least 30 years older than it actually is. The simplistic beauty of old-school crooning mixed with the crisp production of the 2000s made for an excellent listening experience.

Lovely as most of Hawley' solo catalogue. Memories of a past neither he nor you have ever lived in, but wished you had. Super-tasteful mix of British music hall nostalgia, Rock'n Roll era kitsch, 21st century production and songcraft. Add his masterly guitar playing and you have a timeless instant classic.

My expectations were looooow, but boy was I proven wrong. This rocks. You can totally tell this guy’s a seasoned session musician who has had to slide into multiple different contexts throughout his career. He perfectly highlights the instrumentation (which rocks), but the album gels together with his singing. An absolute treat.

This was a pleasant suprise. Heavy 50s crooner vibe that reminds me of Elvis and Roy Orbison. Great production and great songs, just a lovely album.

there’s a bone in my body that loves 50s traditional pop stuff and this hits that bone like a metal pipe

I really loved it! The title track was amazing and his fusion of both traditional jazz styles with country notes was really both pleasing and unexpected. Overall a beautiful album, probably one of my favorites so far. I’d say a 9/10 or 4.5/5

Another artist I never heard of. I was glad to hear this album; I enjoyed it.

Traumhaft schön. Das ganze Album rührt einem zu Tränen. Nostalgie pur, mit so Zutaten wie Zartheit, Schmerz, pure Freude und schönen Erinnerungen garniert.

Just crooney goodness

interesting, nice piano and lyrical work

A surprising 5 stars. Had no expectations but ended up listening to it 3 times today. “Just Like The Rain” slaps!

This album made me feel things, man. His voice sounded like a warm hug on a rainy day.

over the garden wall vibes

Another British guy I've never heard of. This one has been a pleasant surprise. It has a great steady vibe throughout. Definitely evening listening.

It’s a perfect album and one that I listen to every winter so this year, it’s happening earlier than ever. His voice is beautiful and the music so sad. I could listen to this album forever and not get tired of it. I will play it many times over the coming months.

So many wonderful influences. I head Eddy Arnold, Burt Bacharach and the Blue Shadows, among others. Brilliant and unheard of in the States.

Hawley's voice is of an old-time crooner... it sounds like a romcom soundtrack, like Christmas, like your grandma's phonograph after she thought you went to bed and has nipped the gin.

This album was a surprise listen in a good way. Buttery chilled out music throughout. In some ways it was reminiscent of the early Elvis bollards and it reminded me of other artists down the years, in some ways it wasnt/isn't dissimilar to croon. Lovely album 👍

really liked it.. hadn't heard of him before, but loved his voice, and would listen to this again..

I'm a sucker for a rich baritone. Beautiful.

Leuk dit. Melancholiek, bluesy, warm, niet bang af en toe een blikje violen open te trekken, maar met een prettig rauwe stem waardoor het niet zoetsappig wordt. Een beetje in het hoekje van mensen als Gordon Haskell en de door sommigen verguisde Elvis Costello, en dat is een heel prettig hoekje om in te zitten.

Maybe it's because I'm a sad bitch tonight but I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

Some very pleasant smooth, old-school crooning reminiscent of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and kd lang. A nice surprise.

I really enjoyed this. It was a nice change of pace.

I think when I hit my 40s or 50s I'll listen back to this and have a different appreciation. I liked it now but I get sense that this is an album that grows with the listener.

When you start this project, your mind inevitably wanders to what you may add to the list. If it wasn't already here, this would be a strong contender for me. Richard Hawley is magic. He takes the raw ingredients of old school rockabilly, country and rnb and filters it through a more modern lense. He has a beautiful voice, lyrics that make a grown man feel and lush orchestration. An easy 5 stars for a defining album.

This is an utterly gorgeous record The title track and The Ocean in particular are wonderful but there’s not a dud track on here.

I had no idea who Richard Hawley is, but after some googling I found that he was in Pulp. I do quite like Pulp, so I’m hopeful for this album today. Let’s listen! Songs I already knew: none Favourites: Just Like The Rain, Born Under A Bad Sign This wasn’t anything at all like I was expecting from a member of Pulp, but I did very much enjoy it. It’s much more folky than I imagined, and is fantastically composed. The vocals together with the instrumentation made my chair feel more comfortable as I sank into it, enjoying the richness of the music. Singer songwriter music just tends to hit different a lot of the time. This is pretty great.

Album makes me feel alive

I loved this at first listen. Not anything I'd usually listen to but so we'll done, amazing album.

I'm loving the chamber pop and transitions into more pared down numbers. A work of beauty.

Never heard of this guy before, but this was really good. “The Ocean” is utterly fantastic.

Although Coles Corner is perfect, their Knowledges is even better. Since I think his Knowledges won't be on the list, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. In Barcelona, after his concert at the Sala Apolo, on the street behind, he gave me a pick ☺️

So much of this album sounds like what falling in love feels like. Sweeping and moving, gentle comfort. What a pleasant surprise this morning. Such a warm tone to his voice.

Fantastic. Deserves so much more acclaim and recognition. He goes deeply and powerfully old-fashioned right out to the gate and closes with something haunting and beautiful to remember by. Goes rich and heavy on the emotion but avoids sentimentality – no easy trick, that. "The Ocean" is one of the best songs of the 21st century. Don't sleep on True Love's Gutter, which nearly blew a hole in the top of one's head first time one heard it and which easily merits inclusion on this list.

I like this in the same way I like Neil young, Leonard cohen, and Tom Petty. Not that he’s better than them, but he’s not the same either. I felt like his style and voice were different and unique enough in that context. He has a voice that stands out and he has enjoyable lyrics that make me think about getting older and past decisions in a way that isn’t trite. I enjoyed it but listened again to see if it was a 4 or a 5 for me and I think the whole package being what it is, nothing really smacking me as that bad, I’m going to go with a 5 — I liked all of it!

every song was so perfectly my vibe

Sounds exactly like Johnny Cash

Soothing cinematic opening, warm strains, evoking a dark, softly lit and red carpeted jazz lounge. Not a jarring moment - well produced, after a gentle country moment, it returns to full stylistic form, before a fine exit. On the 2nd listen its like a male analog of Petula Clark, with Karen Carpenter perhaps. I am surpised I didnt find it corny. It is relaxing. I am not sure how this made it onto the list, but it is very listenable. And not at all challenging. If the role of Art is to uplift, provoke, soothe, entertain and educate , this ticks one box nicely. Why havent I heard of Mr Hawley?

FAV OF ALL TIMES 💜