Frank Turner - The Second Three Years
It's no surprise that 'incredible' and 'Frank Turner' are often heard in the same sentence. After previous album "England Keep My Bones" climbed to an astonishing number 14 in the charts it's not surprising that the indie/folk songwriter is geared up for his biggest headline show to date - Wembley Arena. Now doesn't everyone in music just dream of that?
"The Second Three Years" is the second in a series of compilation albums released by Turner in the midst of album releases, the first being "The First Three Years" (No big shocker there) consisting of extra tracks missed out from albums and songs that hadn't been laid down in the studio. This album is no different.
Released on the 16th of January through Epitaph, "The Second Three Years" is equipped with all the extra bonus footage that "England Keep My Bones" only saw on the deluxe release. Also featuring EP recordings, B Sides and one hell of a lot of mastered covers done in true Frank Turner fashion.
Starting out with b-side 'Sailor's Boots' just gives the album a taste of Frank Turner, singing alone for the first verse before being joined by the lone strumming of his guitar. Later songs, such as the almost complete 'Rock & Roll EP' feature Turner's well known backing band The Sleeping Souls giving that variation between the Frank Turner from "Love Ire & Song" and the more updated Frank Turner of "England Keep My Bones". It, however, is not the unique and probably lesser heard tracks that make "The Second Three Years" stand out; it all comes down to the choice of covers Turner has chosen to include.
The Radio 1 Live Lounge gave us an incredible cover of Take That's 'Greatest Day' revamped and recreated entirely in Turner fashion. Alongside other covers from the likes of Nirvana, NOFX and of course, the barely recognizable 'Last Christmas' Made famous by Wham!. When the album reaches it's peak, Turner flicks on with a cover of the Foundations' 'Build Me Up Buttercup' you may expect to hear an almost exact recondition of the original however he has this ability to bring a song back to life- 'Build Me Up Buttercup' being one of the most covered songs it seems to have been done to the death, however, Turner makes it sound fresh. It's something that is often missed where FT is concerned; his skill in giving a song soul, whether its an original or not he has the ability to bring it back to life.
The compilation is very much a massive achievement. The first three years were amazing- or so it seemed but he just gets better and better. Turner has a voice like no-other and a sound so simple yet so unique he does it better than anyone ever could.