Since playing his 'friends and countrymen' rallying song, I Still Believe, at the London Olympics Opening Ceremony, Frank Turner's star has mostly been in the ascendant.
The album Tape Deck Heart (2013) entered the UK Charts at Number 2 while previous discs England Keep My Bones and Love Ire & Song have already been certified gold and silver respectively.
It is now 10 years since his first solo gig, nine years since his first solo recordings and this is Turner's third compilation of original songs, demos, covers, collaborations and other selected rarities accumulated along the way.
The new Billy Bragg he is not although his stabs at didactic diatribes might initially make you think otherwise. Still, as an old Etonion previously employed as a City investment banker, you wouldn't expect him to be particularly left wing. This all makes the recent fuss surrounding his allegedly right of centre leanings seems like a storm in a teacup.
I suppose with musical roots in hardcore punk band Million Dead, it's not unreasonable to assume that he has turned his back on a privileged background once and for all. In an attempt to set the record straight, Turner says he prefers to be seen as an egalitarian than a hardcore socialist.
His choice of covers demonstrates that classic rock and Americana are greater influences than three chord wonders. He plays Queen's Somebody To Love as a party tune then Tom Petty's American Girl and Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run as slow, plaintive laments.
There are a few duds here. His take on Noel Coward's There Are Bad Times Just Around the Corner is fairly dire, a version of Live And Let Die is bad karaoke while the cheesy Happy New Year with Jon Snodgrass would have been best forgotten about.
On a more positive note, Matt Nasir from the Sleeping Souls accompanies Turner on stripped back versions of three plainly superior songs from Tape Deck Heart: Plain Sailing Weather, Tell Tale Signs and The Way I Tend To Be. Tracks like these show that he does not have to resort to predictable sloganeering.
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Unfortunately, he can't resist mounting an imaginary soap box to deliver state of the nation addresses like Sweet Albion Blues, Something of Freedom and Riot Song. On the latter he speaks up for little Englanders against the "bullshit insurrections of the London riots in 2011.
For these self defined 'Folk songs for the modern age', you picture him waving a Union Jack bemoaning the loss of common working class values. I don't doubt his integrity but at the same time it's often too sentimental and lacking subtlety.
The more passionate he becomes, the more out of tune he gets so it's a relief when he focuses more on singing than ranting. A fine version of Cory Branan The Corner and a rough demo of a touching break up tune Broken Piano are proof that he's at his best when not in rabble rousing mode.
The Ballad Of Me And My Friends from a live recording at Twin Cities, Minnesota is presumably included to demonstrate that despite all his patriotism for dear old Blighty he can also strike a chord with American audiences.
The final, full-band live version of Dan's Song is a full-blooded Punk anthem that has no place among these mainly acoustic works. Its inclusion adds to the impression that this 21 track mix was thrown together in a hasty manner.
Rough and ready is how he thinks we'll like it and his growing fan base indicates that he's probably not wrong.
Frank Turner's website
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