Album Review: Star Botherers - "Tales Of Layton Rakes"

 

Hailing from Nottinghamshire, the Star Botherers are another folk-punk to go along with the likes of Ferocious Dog and Skinny Lister in the field with Tales Of Layton Rakes being their second album. They're certainly closer soundwise to Ferocious Dog with a down to earth working class take on the genre which provides a nice contrast to some of the more posh-boy bands who've muddied these waters in the last decade or so.

There's a very angry political invective buried in these songs under a seemingly innocuous gentle folk-punk backing with the self-explanatory Spoons and Blackpool taking potshots at pub violence, Let It Stand being a righteous polemic against Thatcherism and its legacy and Just Around The Corner and Another Lidl Song being laments about how easy it is to get caught in the poverty cycle when you least expect it. Elsewhere, 13 Years In Oregon and A Sailor's Grave are Ferocious Dog style tales of historical injustice.

No Scarlet Rebels style fudging of things here then - this is more akin to a poppier Levellers with the likes of Silence Is Acceptance and Kyle & Norton (a look at how different standards apply to celebrities and working class people on the telly). Although they do find time to slip in the odd bit of humour in the likes of Oddly Excluded, He's Got Dreads and Swearing In Songs.

Overall, Tales Of Layton Rakes can be safely filed next to Ferocious Dog's The Hope and the Levellers' Peace as a good example of fiery heart-on-sleeve folk punk that shows that this genre still has plenty of fuel left in it when it's done right. Good stuff.

Bandcamp Link

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)

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