MUSIC REVIEWS
BY DIANE TREMARCO
Diane Tremarco has been involved with
music since the age of 14. A successful
career as a musician led to her owning
and running the Buz Magazine for eight
years. Each month she shares the latest
music news alongside recommendations
and reviews in Wirral Life.
Please send your EPK to:
[email protected]
ONE TO WATCH
Oisin is a singer/songwriter from Liverpool,
influenced mainly by old music and grew up
listening to Americana and Soul music.
He has supported a few well-established local
musicians such as Paul Dunbar & Xander
and The Peace Pirates and appeared on Jenny
Summers show on BBC Radio Merseyside.
His voice is soft but powerful, silky smooth
but rough as you like, and I for one, could
listen to him all day.
Catch him at Prohibition Studio’s on Saturday
28th March or check him out on Facebook:
oisinhassanmusic/
64 wirrallife.com
THE STORY OF IAN PROWSE
Ian Prowse for me, is the Springsteen of
Merseyside, writing poetic and socially
conscious lyrics. Like his hero, Prowse is a
passionate musician who puts his heart and
soul into every performance.
Unless you are a devoted lover of music,
you have probably never had the pleasure of
hearing him but do yourself a favour and buy
the Story of Ian Prowse. This album looks
back to the very start when he had a school
band called Joseph Groome Towers (named
after a high-rise block of flats in Ellesmere
Port). In 1989, Prowse formed Pele and they
were signed to Polydor. Three albums and
one single produced hits abroad including
a number one in South Africa but only
managed top 40 in the UK singles charts.
Despite nine tours working with The Pogues
amongst others, the band split in 1996. I
think everyone I knew had a Pele T-shirt;
they were a pretty big deal for those of us
raised in Ellesmere Port.
above the hairdressers. I’d recently read the
wonderfully hokum tale of wealthy merchant
William James McKenzie and that spooky
pyramid on Rodney Street, and I asked
myself, why is Liverpool at the centre of so
many things, why is it so different, why have I
always been hopelessly in love with it?”
As this magazine goes to print, Prowse will
be on a UK tour with Elvis Costello and The
Imposters. Their friendship goes back a long
way and Costello even invited Amsterdam to
play live with him on the Jonathan Ross Show.
That led to Prowse opening for Costello at the
Kings Arena in Liverpool on his world tour.
Another record deal, this time for Prowse’
new band Amsterdam followed in 2004. One
album and three singles produced a number
32 chart hit for ‘Journey’ but the album of
the same name featured a song that became
a hit in a very different way. Does This Train
Stop on Merseyside? was a great favourite of
the late, great DJ John Peel. His wife said that
John couldn’t listen to it without shedding
a tear - great praise indeed. The song was
recorded on Listen, a Christy Moore album,
that reached No1 in the Irish charts and
stayed there for 5 weeks! Ian Prowse has pretty much done everything
in his musical career except get the
recognition he deserves. He has remained
dedicated to his craft and even promotes local
singer/songwriters/musicians through his
Monday Night Club at the Cavern, Liverpool.
It could be that the best is yet to come, I for
one certainly hope so.
Prowse said, “Does This Train Stop in
Merseyside? was written quickly, one dreary
afternoon in my old Little Sutton flat By the way, I absolutely love the artwork on
the CD!
Do I have a favourite? Well, yes, but I am
not sure which above all others… Does This
Train, no… Dessie Warren, no… Name and
Number… no, wait… Does This Train.