Life Is People

Bill Fay | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 21, 2012)
• Original Release Date: 2012
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: DEAD OCEANS
• ASIN: B008D1RCI6
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,773 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. There Is A Valley

2. Big Painter

3. Never Ending Happening

4. This World

5. The Healing Day

6. City of Dreams

7. Be At Peace With Yourself

8. Jesus, Etc.

9. Empires

10. Thank You Lord

11. Cosmic Concerto (Life Is People)

12. The Coast No Man Can Tell

Editorial Reviews

Bill Fay is one of English music's best kept secrets. At the dawn of the 1970s, he was a one-man song factory, with a piano that spilled liquid gold and a voice every bit the equal of Ray Davies, John Lennon, early Bowie, or Procol Harum's Gary Brooker. He made two solo albums but his contract wasn't renewed, which left his LPs and his reputation to become cult items. But he never stopped writing, the music kept on coming. In his late sixties, he produced Life Is People, a studio album that shows his profoundly humanist vision is as strong as it ever was.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Bill Fay - "There are miracles in the strangest of places" August 21, 2012

By Red on Black TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

Is it possible to be genuinely excited by the release of an album by an obscure English songwriter who will never trouble the charts and who recorded his last album 41 years ago? The answer is an emphatic yes, not least since Bill Fay remains one of the great lost artists of British music. He is one of those unexplainable great singer songwriters whose musical footprint never left any kind of substantial imprint. It is true that over recent years Fay's stock has risen not least as his first two albums have been re-issued and he has been championed by musical heavy weights like Nick Cave and Wilco's main man Jeff Tweedy. It is only right therefore that the latter has collaborated on this album with Bill Fay and if you do nothing else after skimming through this review please download the cover version of Tweedy's "Jesus, etc" which is one of "Life is people" many stellar highlights and easily matches the original. Better still get this album and listen to the sound of a composer who has been denied his proper deserts finally get his moment and grasp it with both hands. This is music for thinking, feeling and possibly "experienced" music lovers who know that the reaching of a certain age can shatter hope and ambition but also can lead to reconciliation and greater peace of mind. Bill Fay's "Life is people" is essentially a strategic overview of life's uneven journey, charting its desperate low points in the superbly evocative street sweeper in the "City of dreams", an accommodation with faith in "Thank you lord" and in the seven minute "Cosmic Concerto "Life is people"" producing an anthem of quiet wonder.

The tempo on this album may appear downbeat and the heavy darkness on songs like the "Big Painter" where he speaks of "no lessons learned over the centuries" show an artist who has lived through tough times. Yet he retains his optimism. Thus in the brilliant "Never ending happening" Fay brightly concludes that "on what's to be and what has been/ just to be a part of it/ is astonishing to me". Some will detect Nick Drake related melodies and influences in this album and Fay has been compared to him not least in the comparative obscurity that both singers endured, albeit that Fay happily remains with us. The Drake comparison is perhaps overstated not least since Fay's music is not quite so quintessentially English or infused with the pastoral shades of Drake's work. Indeed the lovely duet he undertakes with Jeff Tweedy on this album "This world" is almost a pop song. Other songs here suggest potential classics particularly if taken up by other more well known artists these include the almost spiritual "Be at peace with yourself" and the affirmative world-weariness of a true highlight "The Healing Day".

Fay recently wryly commented in a interview to NPR in States that "Life in People" must not be seen as some sort of comeback album since "you can't make a comeback album unless you arrive in the first place. He then sardonically observed "I'm getting a little bit worried that I'm coming close to arriving". It is hardly surprising for an artist who has hidden from our worldview for over four decades that a late rush of fame may be viewed with some trepidation. Yet what we see at work is a master songwriter on "Life is people" who positively demands attention and the recognition that somewhere along the way a great talent got lost but has returned with a vengeance.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful album. September 3, 2012

By Anne Pann

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a beautiful and meaningful album. I had never heard of Bill Fay until I heard a track from this album on an Uncut magazine sampler, and I was hooked...the world weary voice, the thoughtful arrangements and beautiful melodies, and yes, the fact that someone who was able to cut several albums forty years ago has survived and is still willing to communicate with us about this strange journey of life. ( I wish Judee Sill were still alive and could come back from obscurity...it seems like she and Bill Fay were on a similar wavelength back in the early '70s.)

The two highlights on this album for me are "The Never Ending Happening" and "Cosmic Concerto." I am seriously considering telling my husband to have "The Never Ending Happening" played at my funeral. The song conveys so much gratitude for the gift of life inspite of the difficulties of being human.

There are two weaker tracks -- "This World" has an aggressive pop sensibility and tempo that seem out of place to me (even Jeff Tweedy can't save this song), and "Thank You Lord" just doesn't seem very interesting to me. However, on the strength of the two abovementioned classics and the other tracks, this is still a five star album.

One of the reviewers here complained that the lyrics are trite. A few are a bit hackneyed, but Fay is like Van Morrison to me, in having a voice that can convey more than words, and who can make even repeated simple lyrics seem meaningful. Yes, there are many Christian/spiritual references on the album, but this is in no way Christian Rock or any other genre whose main goal is to push a viewpoint on others. The religious references seem to come from an authentic place, and don't require your assent.

Kudos to the people who organized the recording and release of this album. I'll be checking out Bill Fay's earlier work as soon as I can.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Welcome Return...but Vinyl buyers beware February 5, 2013

By Comrade Spaghetti

Format:Vinyl

This is a welcome return of one of the most idiosyncratic singer songwriters of the late 60's and early 70's. The album itself is majestic, elegiac, and everything one would expect from Bill Fay. That being said, vinyl fans need to know that the LP suffers from serious pressing issues. I have gone through 4 different copies, all of which were severely compromised. The last copy was sent to me by the record label as a replacement for the earlier poor pressings. It was a very stand up thing for them to do, sending me a free copy of an album from their cataogue. Unfortunately, the newly cut, freshly pressed copy is still problematical. While easily a 100% improvement over the initial pressings, it is still extremely noisy and prone to distortion. While I am a champion of vinyl, buyers might be better off with a download or CD copy. I hate to say it, as I prefer vinyl over any other format. But the pressing issues are a real problem here. Beware.
The material itself is remarkable. Absolutely gorgeous. And a reminder that rock n roll is not necessarily a young man's game. Definitely buy the album, but choose your format advisedly.