The name of this Welsh band is Colorama and their sixth album is Some Things Take Time. And this is not a pun since it took Carwyn Ellis and his bandmates ten years to make it!
Well, actually, this Edwin Collins produced the album is a collection of tracks that did not make it to the previous five or so albums Colorama recorded (one, Llyfr Lliwio being completely in the Welsh language) but this time it was given a unified arrangement and production.
Looking at all the influences Ellis himself mentions (and doesn’t mention), you can get the idea what to expect here - Glen Campbell, Townes Van Zandt, Van Morrison, even Bing Crosby. But then there’s also Harry Nilsson as well as the baroque pop stylings of the late Sixties, even blues (“Long Haired Doney” is an RL Burnside cover). What Ellis and the band did is take all these songs and recorded them live over in the US, giving their baroque pop Americana music a Celtic feel, so to say.
And the collection does feel as each of these songs belong together, even though decades separate some of them. For example, Ellis wrote the gentle opener “Halcyon Days” some twenty years ago. Still, the song has quite an ageless quality, as do all those The Band had on their first three albums.
From there on, the quality of songs and musicianship only grows in an unassuming but engaging way. The key song on the album is “In Your Memory (The Miner’s Letter),” Ellis writing the lyrics based on an actual letter a trapped miner wrote to his lover. Moving and engaging. Showing his pop sensibilities, Ellis does another cover. This time around it is Sonny & Cher’s “Baby Don’t Go”, making it sound even better than the original did.
With its natural feel and superb musicianship and songwriting as well as an overall gentle feel, Some Things Take Time could easily turn to be a perfect early morning record. A pleasant surprise, all in all.
