Seth Lakeman – Poor Man's Heaven / Relentless Records Audio CD 2008 / CDREL18

UPC 5099921700323

Seth Lakeman's fourth album, Poor Man's Heaven (not to be confused with the EP of the same name released in late 2007), was released on 30 June 2008, entering the UK Album Charts at number 8. Taking over 10 months to finalise, many of the tracks on the album have been part of Lakeman's live set since the second half of 2006, the initial tracks performed being 'Poor Man's Heaven' and 'Race to be King', but this expanded towards the end of the tour, with new tracks continuing to be previewed throughout 2007 and into 2008.

Many songs on the album have, by Lakeman's own admission, a rockier sound than his earlier, arguably more straightforwardly acoustic folk, material. The transition into this sound could be argued to originate in the live versions of the Freedom Fields tracks from the respective tour, since many of them had a rockier element added (most notably on the chorus on 'The Colliers'). Indeed, Lakeman said that the decision to release the Poor Man's Heaven EP was partly to introduce this new direction to his listeners.

While acknowledging the shift to a rockier emphasis, Lakeman denies that the album is any less acoustic or more electric than his earlier material, pointing out that all the tracks are still almost exclusively performed on acoustic instruments.