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One band I have followed for almost thirty years are The Men They Couldn’t Hang. For me they have always maintained a consistent level producing some of the finest folk/punk music around. They have always managed to perfectly mix the raucous energy of rock with much slower ballads, even in the very early days of ‘Night of a Thousand Candles’ with ‘Ironmasters’ sitting comfortably alongside ‘The Green Fields of France’.

Many years later The Men They Couldn’t Hang are still going strong whilst individual members also pursue their own objectives and if proof is needed that this is not such a bad idea, TMTCH’s front man Phil Swill Odgers has released a stunning album ‘The Godforsaken Voyage’.

This is folk/country/punk at its finest and easily sits alongside anything he, or the band, have produced during all those years. The album came about following the success of Swill’s ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ EP (the title track of which is also included on ‘The Godforsaken Voyage’ and remains one of the most inspired songs on the album) and he has collaborated with some of the finest to produce a breathtaking piece of work.
The title track is a powerful opening to the album dealing with an historic riot in Coventry where new machinery at a ribbon factory would cost the jobs and livelihoods of many men resulting in uprising and retribution.

For ‘Dusty Fields’ and ‘Through the Morning, Through the Night’ acclaimed folk singer Eliza Carthy accompanies Swill to produce two stunning folk/country songs whilst ‘Sunday Morning, Coming Down’ is one of those tracks you just can’t get out of your head.
The quality never waivers, from gambling away his kids school shoes in ‘Names’ to dealing with separation in ‘Emotional Wreck’, Odgers makes each character his own.

This is certainly Phil Odgers finest solo work and I’m sure it means there will be more to follow - which can only be a good thing (as long as it doesn’t also mean the end of The Men They Couldn’t Hang).



Verenigd Koninkrijk
Pop / Folk
Label : Vinyl Star Records 


1. The Godforsaken Voyage
 2. Dusty Fields
 3. Coming Home
 4. The Master’s Whip
 5. Through The Morning, Through The Night
 6. Names
 7. Sunday Morning, Coming Down
 8. Emotional Wreck
 9. The Wrong Side
 10. Bottom Of The World