Reviewed by Adrian Cherrill

I should imagine that watching this grizzled folkie live is an interesting experience given the selection of material on this offering, and probably quite entertaining. Lyrically it varies from insightful ("Holy Places", "The Ghost Behind"), to comical ("The Wombat Song", "Coffee"), to a combination of the two ('Reginald'). Whilst the actual sound and production itself is reasonable given the limited recording and his guitar playing is mostly very good, as has been commented on in previous reviews, Pete's idiosyncratic vocal style will be a bit testing to some listeners and the female backing vocals here don't really help either. And while we're fault-finding "Surgeon Surgeon" has a second guitar part that in far too many places doesn't seem to be in time with the rest of the song. But no one can deny Pete is a clever and at times brilliantly witty lyricist and like all his other releases, 'Philately.' will find a place in the hearts of his small but devoted band of followers.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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