Cruel River
| Cruel River | ||||
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| Studio album by Steve Knightley | ||||
| Released | 4 June 2007 | |||
| Recorded | February 2007 | |||
| Studio | Presshouse Studios, Colyton | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Label | Hands on Music | |||
| Producer | Steve Knightley and Mark Tucker | |||
| Steve Knightley chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Cruel River | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| The Guardian |   |
| The Living Tradition | (favourable) |
| Spiral Earth | (favourable) |
Cruel River is the second solo studio album by English folk singer-songwriter Steve Knightley. Knightley had spent 2006 with Show of Hands, his duo with Phil Beer, recording, releasing and promoting their twelfth album together, Witness, which saw the duo explore a worldbeat sound that departed from their usual English folk sound. The album was a success with critics and most fans, although some were perplexed by its direction. During a break in promoting that album with touring in early 2007, Knightley decided to record his first solo album since 1999. Hiring regular Show of Hands collaborator Mark Tucker to co-produce the album with himself, Knightley recorded the album in Presshouse Studios, Colyton in February 2007. The album explores a stripped-back, minimal English folk sound, similar to that of early Show of Hands. Lyrically, the album tackles dark subject matter.
Released on 4 June 2007 by Show of Hands' own label Hands on Music, the album was a critical success, with one review declaring it "another reminder of his song-writing skills and his fine, distinctive vocals." Knightley would soon return to Show of Hands but ultimately recorded another solo album, Track of Words – Retraced, in 2009. The Show of Hands website considers Cruel River to be "understated yet powerful".
Steve Knightley, best known as one half of the folk duo Show of Hands, had spent the 1990s releasing albums with the duo, but when the duo took a brief break in 1999, he released his first solo album, Track of Words, which featured what the Show of Hands website would later describe as a "more mainstream-sounding" sound than his usual style, or indeed the style of Show of Hands. Knightley spent the majority of his musical career in the 2000s touring and releasing music with Show of Hands, occasionally releasing solo collaboration albums along the way, namely Faith, Folk and Anarchy (2002) with Martyn Joseph and Tom Robinson, Western Approaches (2004) with Seth Lakeman and Jenna Witts, and Bridgerow Sessions with Martyn Joseph (2005). In 2006, Show of Hands released their twelfth studio album Witness. The album was produced by Simon Emmerson and Massey of Afro Celt Sound System and featured a crossover African and electronica-influenced sound with the band's typical English folk style. The album marked the first time since Beat about the Bush (1994) that the duo had undertaken experiments with a rhythm section. Many fans and critics welcomed it and it became the band's best-selling album, although a minority of fans did not welcome the album's new direction.
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