Gaz Brookfield: I Know My Place [Album Review]

As soon as the music video for title track I Know My Place hit Youtube back in September, myself and pretty much every other fan of Gaz Brookfield up and down the country knew we were in for a treat with this album. The only disappointing thing about it was the fact that we had to wait until December to hear more.

The album is aptly named, and gives a hint of the themes that run through the album. The aforementioned title track is a storming, fiddle driven rock n roll song about, well, knowing your place. It’s about accepting who you are, where you stand in life and quite simply getting on with it. Opener ‘The March of Progress’ and final number ‘Flaws’ follow similar themes, although at completely different paces.

The two songs which stood out for me as the best on the album were ‘I’ve Paid My Money’ and ‘The Tale of Gunner Haines’, the second of which might just my favourite song that Gaz has ever written. ‘I’ve Paid My Money’ is an amusing observation of the behaviour of people at gigs who just want to talk through the acts, and how fucking annoying they are. ‘The Tale of Gunner Haines’ is the story of what happened in 1900 at Brean Down Fort, where Gunner Haines allegedly commited suicide by blowing up a magazine full of gunpowder. Put simply, this song is absolutely brilliant. Lyrically, it tells the story nicely and it’s just a big sounding rock song that you can imagine thousands of people singing and dancing along to at a show.

On the strength of this album, I don’t think it would be unfair to suggest that Gaz Brookfield might just be one of the best acoustic acts in the entire country right now. This album is a masterpiece and you should probably go out and buy a copy right away.