"Steam
Railway" review of LSJ002:
"Steam
Railway" magazine issue 330 (December 2006)
My
thanks go to Mark Pearce at "Steam
Railway" magazine for reviewing my
Severn Valley CD. But I beg to differ over his "ambient sound" criticism! In just the same way that a fine
photograph of a train will show you the landscape too, I try to capture the soundscape. So while the sound of the train passing is at
the core of each recording, it is only one part of the whole picture. If you
sit quietly in the riverside woods near Highley on a
fine, warm Sunday morning, what you’ll hear – apart from the trains – is the
gentle rustle of leaves, rooks chattering, church bells ringing over the valley
at Arley and light aircraft droning lazily overhead.
Close your eyes and listen to that track on the CD and I hope you’ll be
transported there!
"Steam
Railway" review of LSJ001:
"Steam
Railway" magazine issue 295 (March 2004)
"Moors
Line" review of LSJ001:
"I recently acquired a copy of this excellent piece of N.Y.M.R.
nostalgia and have played it many times. It proves a nice reminder of times
spent on the Moors over the years.
I have met up with Linda and her assistant Tim on several occasions,
usually as they were trying to find a suitably quiet location, free from human
interference, such as Yorfalls Wood, north of Levisham.
This professionally-produced CD presents some of her best work, recorded
over the first few years of the 21st century. We hear a variety of typically
N.Y.M.R. sounds, including birdsong (from long-tailed tits to pheasants), sheep
in the distance as the trains climb the long gradients, the sounds of signals
and points changing and even the footplate staff conversing with station staff.
All brilliant memories of visits to the line.
I counted at least thirteen different locos, identifiable, along with
the locations, from the detailed sleeve notes. Being a CD, these can be easily
confirmed from the track playing, when referred to the notes.
Some of the longer tracks last for over six minutes, as the trains wind
their way into the distance. Shut your eyes for the last track - it was
recorded in pitch darkness at Levisham Station during
the twenty-minutes-late run of the 1920 ex-Pickering, which pauses to make up
the fire for the six-mile run to the summit as the footplate men chat with the
signalman. A well-balanced and accurately recorded production - Well
recommended - it was the next best thing to being there. A real bargain
too!"
Alex Hurd's review in "Moors Line" - the magazine of
the
"Severn
Valley Railway News"
review of LSJ002:
"As a TTI on the SVR for the last six years, I have come to
appreciate the Valley in all its different moods, and no matter how often I
travel up and down the line, there is always something new to see.
So it is particularly pleasing to have been asked by Steamy Sounds to
write about their latest offering on the SVR. I have already had and enjoyed
their first efforts on the North Yorkshire Moors, so was looking forward to
what they could do for the SVR. I was not to be disappointed!
The stars were 42968, 5764, 80079, 45110 and 48773, to mention but a
few, and it was good to hear them when I could concentrate on the sound and not
be interrupted by someone asking where the toilet was!
To my mind, what makes this such a special CD is the attention to detail
which Steamy Sounds gives to these recordings. The background
noises which make the piece and set it in its context, the little details like
the pheasant calling out at Northwood Halt (on track 5). A new one on me
was the sound of the water tumbling from the brook near Hampton Loade station, something I had never heard before when all
was quiet there.
I loved the sound of the church bells at Arley
on a Sunday morning and the sound of a light aircraft overhead (on track 6)
before we even hear the railway – magic!
This is a recording to listen to over and over again; there seems to be
something new each time I hear it.”
This review by Ian Allred appeared in