Some Bleeding Hands Reviews
...."Is this genius or a very bizarre emotional war being played out on the sonic
battlefield" garageband.com
"Bleak doesn't really do Bleeding Hands justice. As you'd expect from someone with a name like a blues legend, he takes a downbeat look at life and manages to create, in his simple acoustica, songs that sound both empty and full at once. Give him a budget for a band and his growling charm could fly" Review by Chris Long BBC
bbc review
“Andy Hughes, more notably known as Bleeding Hands. Just one man and his guitar. Or rather just one man with a bloody big heart worn on his sleeve, that throbs through the guitar he is playing like they are joined by a single life force. Perhaps this explains the overflow onto his talented appendages. The set switched between vitriolic outbursts such as Magic Spell and softer sentimental tracks the most moving being ‘strange addiction’. A new song called ‘Camelot’ that had been ‘inspired by the sunshine’, (a rare occurrence in our fair city of Mancunia) completed the set and in my opinion epitomised the raw passion of Bleeding Hand’s repertoire.†Review by London/Mcr writer, Jemma Regan
the clash website
"Sometimes I think someone's music is utter crap, but it is possible to see where they are coming from, and where they could be going with a little more effort and a little less Carling. In the case of Bleeding Hands, I am at a loss as to how to put a positive spin on this appalling set of contrived suicide-blues bollocks. Not only was he the kind of loser who still has his Glastonbury wristband on, nearly two years on, but the kind of loser who wishes to share this fact with his audience; most likely because he has nothing else of any interest to say whatsoever. I wrote in my last blog that The Sound Of Superstring reminded me why I love to venture out and see local live music in the first place. Bleeding Hands made me want to run away to my duvet, and Ant and Dec on ITV. He forced a raspy voice because, in the current musical climate, it holds the key to acoustic credibility, but sounded very much like he was choking on all his putrid "fly so high/like a butterfly" primary school rhymes. "Keep on keeping on" was another favourite, and used in two different songs. Having said that however, the only way to differentiate between the tunes was by counting the breaks he took in between bouts of mistake-laden finger picking. Pitiful and embarrassing sh*t. Get back to your bedroom, and don....'t come out again until you have studied BB King for at least eighteen months.†Blog review by Meg www.myspace.com/tennesseelamb71
Next on is BLEEDING HANDS, a handsome and affable lad with an acoustic guitar, a bunch of warm indie-folky tunes flecked with bitterness and a wonderfully gravelly troubadour voice. Criticised on the very message board which begat this session for the simple directness of some of his lyrics, you don't always need a thesaurus to express feelings and to watch him is to know that this comes from the heart, which is good enough for me.
By Cath Aubergine
manchester music website
The is the debut album from Andy "Bleeding Hands" Hughes, singer/songwriter from Stockport. With mainly vocals and acoustic guitar, arrangements are straight forward, but striking - its Andy's distinctive voice that immediately grabs you by the scruff of the neck with the opener "Promised Land" and only lets you go kicking and screaming to the closing refrain of the live version that ends the album. Comparisons have been made to Nick Drake and Tom Waits, and vocally Tom Robinson also springs to mind. This is by no means the happiest album I've heard recently, but it's engaging and it makes a change to hear every single word sung. Sorrowful, yet joyfully emotive. Simple, yet strangely complex. A rather ambivalent feeling album! There are a full 15 tracks; 10 studio recorded and five live tracks from Andy's gigging around Manchester. If anything that's a bit too long and because of the simple arrangements you'd be forgiven for thinking that you'd accidentally put your CD player on repeat. I think the addition of a full band would really lift these songs to another level giving a much more colourful palette for the artist to express himself. A good start for a first recording and hopefully this will bring Andy the opportunity to do much more.
Reviewed by Chris Sharp of Cross Rhythms
crossrhythms.co.uk
please visit www.bleedinghands.com
or drop me a line some time
cheers Andy
