It’s been longer than a decade since the world last heard fresh cuts from Mike D’Abo, and while the songs he wrote – such as “Handbags & Gladrags” and “Build Me Up Buttercup” – or performed alongside Manfred Mann – including “Fox On The Run” and “Mighty Quinn” – made the warbler’s voice a constant presence on radio waves, hearing his new music is always a treat. That’s why the just-issued, as a 12-track LP or 16-track CD, album titled “The Journey… So Far” is truly specials.
It would have been special even if there were only recent interpretations of D’Abo classics – and there are some fine revisited evergreens, with the “Broken Rainbows” from his 1974 offering of the same name most remarkable piece – but Mike also delivered quite a few lately-written numbers. As “Ballad Me Up Buttercup” picks up where the aforementioned perennial, which is also here, and “Jesus In My Pocket” adds a spin to his King Herod role, “The Journey… So Far” is something not to miss out on.
The Journey… So Far
1. Broken Rainbows
2. Music Is My Mistress
3. The Journey
4. Handbags & Gladrags
5. Humanity
6. Ballad Me Up Buttercup
7. Sixteen Summers
8. Jesus In My Pocket
9. Golden Girl
10. A Younger Man
11. Build Me Up Buttercup
12. One Father
13. Papa Didn’T Tell Me
14. Rosarita
15. Secret River
16. Handbags & Gladrags (Piano Voice)
