Album Review: Frank Turner - 'Last Minutes & Lost Evenings'

'Last Minutes & Lost Evenings' is a neat little package that everyone's good buddy Frank Turner has put together featuring a collection of English punk rock country covers and a live DVD of his Wembley concert.

The music is what you would expect, drinking songs that centre around real life topics and are easy to gang vocal along to, with Turner rarely stretching past his acoustic. Some of the tracks will come as no surprise to Turner fans, or people who have seen his live show, as alternate versions of tracks like 'I Still Believe' are included on the playlist and differ slightly from their originals, sounding more like demo versions.

For the most part however there is a swag of new material, like the fast paced and electric 'Try This At Home', or the violin laced 'Father’s Day' that has Turner talking about his young punk days seen through his father’s eyes. A stand-out moment is the soft reflective piece 'The Next Round', which provides a welcomed change of pace from the speedy country punk that dominates the record.

The live DVD shows exactly what it is about Frank Turner that people love, his on stage charisma and down-to-earth approach to music comes across as well on the huge Wembley stage as it would at the local pub. The live set focuses on Turner’s latest record ‘England, Keep My Bones’ with absolute live highlights like the single 'Peggy Sang The Blues', which has a completely different personality on a stage, sounding all the more prolific.

The massive twenty-six songs set which sees Turner play both solo and with his band also features a guest appearance from Billy Bragg for the Bob Dylan cover, 'The Times They Are A-Changin’. Considering the size of the venue and crowd, Turner does his best to make the show as communal as possible, and pulls it off.

The best part of the whole concert however is - the whole concert. Summed up poignantly by Turner with “Simon Cowell didn’t make a phone call to make this happen” in front of the 12,000 fans he worked his butt off to earn. The real music industry is far from lost.

1. I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous

2. I Still Beleive

3. Try This At Home

4. The Real Damage

5. Father's Day

6. Nashville Tennesse

7. Dan's Song

8. Substitute

9. Reasons Not To Be An Idiot

10. Sons Of Liberty

11. The Road

12. Long Live The Queen

13. The Next Round

14. Photosynthesis

15. The Ballad Of Me And My Friends