Hardwicke Circus - Cumbria Pizza (2024)

Cumbria Pizza is an all acoustic, live concert album by Hardwicke Circus recorded at Pizza Express live in Holborn, London, England in May 2023.

Although the band currently has only two studio albums to their name, this recent release is subtitled The Greatest Hits Unplugged, and while it may seem overblown to talk about "greatest" hits at this point in the Carlisle, UK band's career - especially in America - that superlative easily applies to this show because they played their best-loved and most well-known songs.

To quote the quintet's producer Dave Robinson - who also was the legendary founder of Stiff Records - directly from the back of the LP cover, "There are two kinds of people in the world, Hardwicke Circus fans and people who haven't heard them yet."

Hardwicke Circus plays melodic, upbeat rock 'n roll with plenty of hooks. As mentioned in my earlier review of their latest studio album, Fly The Flag, past descriptions of their sound include retro-new wave and 60s pub-rock laced with some R&B and pop-punk sensibilities. Mixed together they create unique music that's hard to label, so I'll just say they're excellent. I like them as an electric band, but Cumbria Pizza proves that rockers don't necessarily need volume to connect with their fans.

The CD and download editions each contain twelve tracks. Both are almost half the price of the more expensive vinyl release that only has nine tunes, so making the right purchase should be a no brainer. All of the songs on the LP are originals except for a cover of Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" on which sax man Jack Pearce proves he can blow with the best players in rock. The CD includes a second cover tune not on the twelve inch platter. It's an old 1952 blues single, by Memphis bluesman Roscoe Gordon, "No More Doggin'," that's also on Fly The Flag and proves how much these young guys are heavily influenced by the music of generations past while skillfully producing new, entertaining, modern art.

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