WITCHWOOD – Handful of Stars [Reissue]

In the time-honoured tradition of rock music eating its own tail, along comes Witchwood with a collection of tunes that could have been mined from the same ore as early Jethro Tull. The reason this fails to matter is that the music is warm, atmospheric and funky, with just enough personality to make enjoying it easy.

Short-form opener “Presentation Under A Willow” demonstrates some lyrical interplay between guitar and flute, before giving way to the first epic, “Like A Giant in A Cage”. This track perfectly distills the Witchwood sound, its groovy blues-based licks and busy flutes transporting you to a moonlit glade on midsummer’s eve. Once the joyously thick Hammond organ makes an appearance, the song gathers fresh momentum before building to a memorable climax.

“A Grave Is The River” boasts a similar feel, but cunningly combines it with heavy riffs and a lovely guitar solo.

As befits a band rooted in traditional songwriting as much as blues-rock, the change of pace on “Mother” is as welcome as it is dramatic. After a gentle acoustic beginning that thumbs through the folk guitarists’ fakebook, the music slowly launches into its own windswept bubble. It’s a song that reveals itself in layers and has it own “wandering minstrel” vibe. There’s also a welcome echo of Wishbone Ash that fuses neatly with the faintly mystical chanting that rounds out the piece.

If the band can expect any criticism, the vague sense of familiarity (those in the know, for example, will appreciate the Strawbs-referencing band name), that hangs over the entire collection might persuade more jaundiced listeners to get their kicks elsewhere. Given the strength of the material on offer, that would be a pity. For although “Flaming Telepaths” sounds like an aggregation of previously released songs, there’s a tasteful edge to the other material that’s never buried beneath the dead weight of retro-pretensions or fussy production.

The ultimate impression may be of a band content to follow their predecessors, but the craft that’s gone into writing these songs should persuade rock fans of most stripes to jump on board.