When I lived in Cardiff we all fell in love an album called Every Famous Last Word by The Miracle of 86. There was a small punk record shop in the antiques market called Damaged Records which had a bunch of copies on cd for £3. Somehow Hugh ended up buying a copy and it got played a lot on the hifi in the kitchen (putting a hifi in that kitchen was one of the best things we did in that house). I can't remember if that was before or after we saw Kevin Devine supporting Lucero in Le Pub, but I certainly wasn't aware of the connection at the time (as an aside, I don't really remember much of that show - it was the same evening as my work Christmas party and we'd been drinking since midday - I snuck away at 7 and met everyone else on the train to Newport. I remember the gig being good, but details were hazy).
A while later, another Kevin Devine cd ended up in the kitchen and that's went I learnt that he was in The Miracle of 86. The album (Circle Gets the Square) didn't quite get the same traction and eventually got out-played by whatever the next hot-hit on the kitchen hifi was. After two years of living in Cardiff I moved to London to start my PhD. A week or so after arriving, I decided to go record shopping and blow some my new funding money. I went straight to Berwick Street and picked up some gems in the second-hand stores. One of the cds I picked up was Brother's Blood by Kevin Devine. I didn't know much about his back-catalogue and it was a whole £7 (which is a lot for a second-hand cd) but figured it was worth checking out.
I got home and listened to some of the cds. I remember it was late by the time I first played Brother's Blood - not crazy-late, but after midnight. The first four songs were all quite nice but I was aware that I wasn't giving the album my full attention. I was about half-way through the title-track when I first became aware that I was listening to something really special - the guitars were just menacing enough to warn you that something was about to happen; then Kevin started singing louder and louder, until it was basically a scream and he had my full attention. That verse in Brother's Blood always grabs me and I love hearing it. As song as the song finished, I went back and played it again (something I never normally do, especially on the first play of an album). I turned the volume up a little, enough to wake my housemate who text me from upstairs telling me to turn it down. I waited 6 minutes before doing so - I wanted to hear the whole song again, loud and with my full attention.
I remember feeling amazed that I'd found this incredible song, and I very nearly hadn't bought the album. From that point on I listened to rest of the album totally differently. One of the best things about Brother's Blood is that the title-track isn't the only great song - Another Bag of Bones, I Could Be With Anyone and Yr Husband are all incredible songs too. I've found with most of Kevin Devine's albums I need a few listens to get into - and hearing the songs live usually adds something. Brother's Blood is instantly brilliant and hearing the songs live adds even more to them. I've seen Kevin countless times since and the songs from this record are always my favourites. There are others I've become very fond of and enjoy greatly, but I mostly get excited at the thought of hearing Brother's Blood and I Could Be With Anyone. Some time later I discovered Banquet Records in Kingston and found a video of Kevin playing Brother's Blood in-store, which I have watched countless times over the years.
A while ago it was announced that Brother's Blood was being re-released on vinyl and really wanted a copy. I held off a while because I was buying a house and didn't have much spare cash for albums I already had on vinyl. I recently bought a bunch of records from Big Scary Monsters and was pleased to finally get a copy of this album. It's a pretty nice reissue with the die-cut sleeve and some bonus tracks (including an acoustic demo of She Stayed as Steam, which is another favourite from this EP).
Format: 12", die-cut gatefold sleeve, picture sleeves
Tracks: 14
Cost: £18 new
Bought: Big Scary Monsters
When: 07/03/16
Colour: Black
Etching: none
mp3s: no
