The Ghosts of Vaudeville

Once more to the boards
One more curtain call
Give the crowd everything they’re asking for and more

Always make them laugh
Try to make them cry
Always take the stage like it’s the last night of your life

So I finally got my hands on the new Frank Turner album.  I may have slightly ruined this for myself by constantly surfing for live versions of new songs, so there weren’t many surprises.  The last of three bonus tracks, Balthazar, Impresario, is definitely a gem in the rough.  That’s not to say that the rest of the album doesn’t have its charms, but I suspect that on repeated listenings the acapella English folk song – English Curse – will wear a little thin. Otherwise, the singles are stellar and the filler is pretty – just as you’d expect.  Frank is my favourite artist recording today and I’m sure I’ll grow to love every song on this album for different reasons, just as I have with each previous release.  In the meantime, for those of you who care, here’s a video of the song (working at time of posting):

And, because it’s absolutely what makes this song special, here’s that riff (tab from the chorus, as found on UltimateGuitar.com):

e-2------2------3---------------------2--|
B-3------3------3---------------------3--|
G-2------4------0-----0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2--|
D-0------4------0-----2-4-2-4-2-0-0-0-0--|
A--------2------2-----0-0-0-0-0-0-2-0----|
E--------2------3------------------------|