The Path is the tenth studio album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands, released in April 2003. The album was conceived as an "instrumental journey" around the South West Coast Path, a 630-mile coastline path opened in 1978 in the duo's native West Country, and a celebration of the coastline's "sights and sounds". It is the band's only completely instrumental album, with each of its songs named after and inspired by different locations on the path. It was a project between Show Of Hands and The South West Coast Path Team, as part of the latter's celebrations for the silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the path. As such the album is endorsed by various organisations who own different parts of the path, namely The Countryside Agency, The National Trust and English Heritage Commission,.and the music is ambient instrumentals inspired by different locations around the coastline.

The duo hoped that, with the album, listeners would be inspired to discover or rediscover the "endless fascination" of the coast path. The album was released on 14 April 2003 by the duo's own label Hands on Music, a month before they released their following album Country Life. In July 2012, music from The Path featured in several themed videos on a new interactive official website for the South West Coast Path, which attracts some 400,000 hits a year. One track from the album, "Port Isaac", featured on their compilation album Roots: The Best of Show of Hands (2007).

Background

Show of Hands entered the 2000s by recording an album of cover versions, Covers (2000), which presented a stripped down sound with no overdubs or multitracking. They followed this their second concert at the Royal Albert Hall which was filmed for their VHS concert film The Big Gig (2001), which itself was followed by their ninth studio album, Cold Frontier (2001), which was co-produced between the duo and Mick Dolan, engineer for Steve Winwood. Critical praise greeted both releases, and the duo embarked on The Cold Frontier Tour in November 2001, where they played a great deal of unreleased or "rare" material. The band's live album Cold Cuts (2002), which was drawn from material from the tour, was released to positive reviews. The duo began writing for what they planned to be their next album.

thumb|right|The logo of [[The National Trust, who own some of the path and whose logo features on the album.]]

Meanwhile, The Countryside Agency were looking to celebrate the silver jubilee (25th anniversary) of the South West Coast Path, a National Trail that remains the longest waymarked long-distance footpath (and one of the longest in the UK). It stretches for , running from Minehead in Somerset, along the coasts of Devon and Cornwall, to Poole Harbour in Dorset. It is also one of the more challenging trails as it rises and falls with every river mouth, and its total height climbed has been calculated to be 114,931 ft (35,031 m), almost four times the height of Mount Everest. It has been voted "Britain's Best Walking Route" twice in a row by readers of the Ramblers Walk magazine, and regularly features in lists of the world's best walks.

The South West Coast Path Association formed in 1973, and after being constructed over five years, the path was opened in 1978. To celebrate the silver jubilee of the association in 1998, they set up a fund to raise money for markers at Minehead and South Haven Point, Each of the album's sixteen tracks is named after a specific location on the path's track. As such, the album is seen as a concept album. The duo's website states that the album "creates an atmospheric musical portrait of the sea, and the seaside". The album, a collaboration between Ashley Hutchings, Chris While, The Albion Band and Julie Matthews, was also a "journey" concept album featuring sixteen songs mostly set in different locations in Southern England, with some of the songs named after the locations, making it similar in some sense to The Path. Ridgeriders was released in June 1999 to positive reviews, including one from Living Tradition who said "interesting concept album with enough interest for those who never saw the series, but for those readers north of the Border, it is very English in feel."

Release and legacy

thumb|[[Pendeen Lighthouse (pictured in 2002) features on the album cover.]]

The Path was released on 14 April 2003 on Compact Disc by the duo's own record label Hands on Music with the catalogue number HMCD18. The disc face features a map of the coast path. The album was not reviewed by any publications, perhaps due to its low-key release.

After the album's release, the duo returned to work on Country Life, which was released in October 2003. Country Life ironically features a greater focus on rural issues, most notably on its first song, "Country Life", a "stirring" and "finely honed rant about the desecration of British country life" It was packaged with a bonus disc which contained CD-ROM bonus material, including a lyrics section set to "The Exe Estuary" from The Path. The same track was also performed live by Knightley in an acoustic variation for his BBC Radio 4 documentary Open Country in 2010. In July 2012, music from The Path featured in several themed videos on a new interactive official website for the South West Coast Path, which attracts some 400,000 hits a year.

Track listing

  1. "Foreland Point" (Steve Knightley) – 4:09
  2. "Braunton Burrows" (Paul Downes) – 2:27
  3. "Buck's Mills" (Matt Clifford) – 2:31
  4. "Port Isaac" (Knightley) – 4:29
  5. "Carbis Bay" (Phil Beer – 2:46
  6. "Land's End" (Knightley) – 3:13
  7. "Lamorna Cave" (Downes) – 3:08
  8. "Pendennis Castle" (Beer) – 2:27
  9. "Charlestown" (Clifford) – 1:46
  10. "Rame Head" (Knightley) – 3:32
  11. "Hallsands" (Clifford) – 2:31
  12. "Paignton" (Knightley) – 1:28
  13. "The Exe Estuary" (Knightley) – 3:11
  14. "Lyme Regis" (Beer) – 1:18
  15. "Golden Cap" (Knightley/Beer) – 4:56
  16. "The Foreland - Reprise" (Knightley) – 1:29

See also

  • South West Coast Path
  • Ridgeriders – a 1999 collaboration album featuring Beer of Show of Hands with a similar concept concerning a journey in the West Country.
  • Hands on Music
  • South West Coast Path Association
  • The Countryside Agency
  • English Heritage

References