CLIPPINGS FROM THE PRESS

"And it was lovely to see (The Sex Patels) somewhere with a decent PA so you could actually hear (for the first time, in my case) all those instruments that Tim Moon plays. "

From the Chumbawumba website 2007

 

'Christmas Isn't What It Used To Be" is a worthy exploration of the less salubrious aspects of Christmas in modern times by Tim Moon and Paedar Long, and a great souvenir of a bleak 1980s Britain in the midst of Thatcherism..

Mike Wilson, Green Man (Review of 'Mid Winter' Box Set)

 

'This set (Second disc of 'The Transports ; Silver Edition') is salvaged by 'Black Concertina', Tim Moon's heartfelt live tribute to Bellamy....'

Colin Irwin, Froots, May 2004

 

'...while the best thing about the update (of The Transports) is 'Black Concertina', a Tim Moon tribute following Bellamys suicide in 1991.'

Mojo, May 2004

 

'...Magic of the first order.'

Folk Roots, 1986

 

'Tim Moon started the evening with his customary aplomb (you know he really does have some very fine songs) - managing to play 147 instruments extremely effectively  in just 15 minutes - and then did a grand job MCing the rest of the evening '

Tom Bliss, Swarbaid Review, 2005

'PS One moment to share: Tim Moon brought a wonderful tiny electric guitar with the amp built in and a speaker where the soundhole should be(!) Starting something well-known to finish the session, I found, without any forethought whatsoever, my fingers going to The Foxhunters. Suddenly there's Tim at my side with those classic RT (or is it SN?) powerchords. Maybe a few old boys were frowning over their pints but we didn't care. That Liege and Leaf track probably did more to bring Irish music to the British public than any other single recording, and 90% of us would probably not have been there without it. '

Tom Bliss, Swarbaid website

The final part of The Ballad Of Henry & Susannah by Simon Nicol and Chris Leslie, which segues into The Convicts' Wedding with Fairport Convention gloriously crashing in with bass, drums and electric guitar, concludes the CD. Or so you think; which is why Black Concertina, Tim Moon's heartfelt tribute to his friend, has such an emotional wallop, particularly when it's immediately followed by Roll Down, a rare rendition by Bellamy himself during what was to be his final concert performance, in a voice to wake the vaulted echoes.

Dave Tuxford , The Living Tradition

When FREE REED launched our Peter Bellamy 3 CD retrospective (Wake The Vaulted Echoes - FRTCD 14) at Bacca Pipes Folk Club, Keighley, guests and club regulars were invited to perform songs associated with Peter. Many of those who performed that night appear on this set. Singer songwriter Tim Moon scrapped plans to play Tumbling Dice in order to perform this newly written tribute. The impact was amazing and we are pleased to be able to include that performance on this set. For anyone who knew Peter, the details here will bring memories of the man flooding back; for those not lucky enough to have met him, this serves as a belated introduction to the man behind the songs.

Nigel Schofield, Transports Booklet

Moon's songs finally rise

The third album to be released by Haworth performer Tim Moon is actually his first. And the second album recorded by the singer, musician and poet never saw the light of day. Such apparent oddities are nothing unusual for a man who plays more than 60 instruments and wrote 100 poems to celebrate the turn of the century. The folk club regular has also been known to wear multi-coloured outfits while playing in the street, and recently found himself the unlikely idol of young grunge-rock fans. These are just some of the milestones for a man who began his musical career at the age of five playing piano duets with his grandmother at the British Legion in Shelf.

Tim, 49, of Bridgehouse Lane, Haworth, released the critically-acclaimed album Anger and Kiss two years ago and has now followed it with the release of No Amnesty! The CD is a collection of songs written by Tim that was originally released on cassette tape in 1985. No Amnesty! was Tim's album debut and featured songs recorded for Nigel Schofield's weekly folk show on Pennine Radio. Tim says: "The CD version is exactly the same, but it's cleaned up. We thought of putting bonus tracks on but decided to leave it the same.

"The original tape went to every continent on the planet - including behind the Iron Curtain. You couldn't sell things there, so we swapped it for this guy's book."

Tim planned a follow-up album soon afterwards, but Critical Backlash never saw the light of day after Pennine became Pulse and dropped the folk show. By the time Nigel Schofield built a home studio and Tim recorded some tracks, tapes were being overshadowed by compact discs and Tim felt his style didn't fit the new medium. A second album eventually followed 15 years later, and then only because Tim was offered free recording time by a friend setting up a new studio. Anger and Kiss featured mostly new songs, some of which were taken up by other artists including folk goddess Norma Waterson.

Such support came as just reward after a four-decade musical career that began in earnest when 10-year-old Tim and his pals set-up in opposition to The Beatles using biscuit tins as drums.

A decade later came his first proper band Argy Bargy, followed by Yorkshire Miracle - their single Camra Song becoming almost a standard - and a duo with Pete Watson. He began playing solo in folk clubs - "I was probably pretty bad," he says - leading into the 80s when he regularly guested on Pennine Radio.

Nowadays Tim presents his own radio shows for Bradford Community Broadcasting, he still performs as Moon de Lune with Peadar Long, occasionally expanding to become Irish outfit Mad Mix, and he writes for folk magazine Tykes' News.

He features on two other newly-released albums: Ephemera 1, showcasing spoken work from the Sowerby Bridge-based Puzzle Hall Poets, and Will You Be My Friend? containing education songs for primary schools.

 

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Friday 8th Mar 2002.