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Osprey & the Ox4 Allstars step ot for the 10th annual Oxford City Festival for their last show of the year in Oxford with The Kokroahez / The Ivey Chains @ the o2 academy Oxford ..

NIGHTSHIFT
Oxford?s Music Magazine
OSPREY AND THE
OX4 ALLSTARS
?Epic?
(Self released)
Mark ?Osprey? O?Brien wasn?t so much born
in the North East as hewn from its open cast
coastline. That geology is evident in this ample
two CD album, titled with typical sly humour,
?Epic?. Throughout each side there runs the
same craggy rock strata, roughly sculptured then
polished by those other natives of the region,
Chris Rea and Mark Knopfler, proving that,
even though the avuncular boulder of Osprey?s
personality rolled away from the North and
down the island at age fifteen, you can take the
man out of Middlesbrough, but you can?t take
Middlesbrough out of the man.
For us though, this is every bit a love-letter to the
transient, mobius strip that is Cowley Road: the
bars, pubs, venues, and multicultural restaurants
at the heart of the OX4 postcode, sustained in
part by such resident musicians that make up the
Allstars. Osprey?s priceless ability as a guitarist,
soundman, producer and all-round driving force
means his planet-sized gravity can attract the very
best of the local instrumentalists into this album?s
orbit. We count 18 personnel on the sleeve.
CD1 is largely Osprey?s song writing in a
playful mood, with the aforementioned gravelled
rock blues supplemented by some tasty funk
in ?Disco?, dub and magical flute, care of Phil
Freizinger, on ?Me & You?, and ?Karma?, which
has more than a little of the gait of ?The Ballad of
John & Yoko? about it.
It?s CD2 that takes you to the very core of live
Osprey, namely his ensemble blues jams, often
featuring three guitarists and two drummers.
Here they erupt into their most breathtaking
during a trio of stand-out tracks: ?Blues?, ?Riff
Whacker Blue?, and most poignant of all, ?Larry
Reddington?, a twelve-and-a-half-minute,
stonkingly, and yes, epic jam-cum-elegy to one
of their fallen brothers-in-arms, the irreplaceable
drummer Mad Larry, who passed away a year
ago. With the loss of another Allstar brother in
Tony Jezzard, and the recent closing of some
of the old OX4 haunts the pride and defiance in
these collective recordings is palpable.
This gutsy album ends with an introspective,
lonely-shore-at-dusk coda ?Intermission 2?
after the vamping ?Mrs Mills Boogie Woogie?
? adorned with the sound of gulls ? fades out
after only two minutes just as the party is getting
started. The symbolic sense is of time circling
back to how Osprey?s musical life began, a
monumental musical life now set in stone.
Paul Carrera

Description

Oxford’s premier live music & club night venue!

It’s always best to check the age restrictions for each event in advance as they vary from show to show.

A few obvious ones:

No under 8s please (think about it), but feel free to contact us if you’re unsure and avoid disappointment.

8-13 years, you’ll need to attend with an adult (18+).

Some shows that are 14+ but -16 – we’ll translate – that means if you’re between 14 years and 16 years, you’ll need to come with an adult (someone 18+).

Look for these signs, 14+, 16+, 18+, 21+… before you book and remember to carry proof of age if you need it.

190 Cowley Road,

Oxford,

Oxfordshire,

England,

OX4 1UE.

01865 813500