The Ghost of Love is an album released in November 2009 by English folk-rock singer Robb Johnson

Robb Johnson

Robb Jenner Johnson is a British musician and songwriter, who has been called "one of the last genuinely political songwriters", and is known for his mix of political satire and wit...

 and his band The Irregulars. The album takes the form of a song cycle

Song cycle

A song cycle is a group of songs designed to be performed in a sequence as a single entity. As a rule, all of the songs are by the same composer and often use words from the same poet or lyricist. Unification can be achieved by a narrative or a persona common to the songs, or even, as in Schumann's...

 based on a woman called Mary and the events that occur in her life at Christmas over various years.

Concept

A number of the songs had appeared sporadically on earlier albums by Johnson, dating back to Overnight in 1991, although the recordings presented on the album are all new. The songs were inspired by Johnson's memories of living in the London borough of Hounslow

Hounslow

Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...

, where he was a resident for around fifty years, ranging from childhood memories of watching Brentford F.C.

Brentford F.C.

Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

 with his father to more modern incidents. One song, "Father Christmas Down Hounslow High Street" was inspired by a Christmas parade to which he took his own children, which featured Noddy and some "camp pirates". The storyline of the album centres on Mary, from nearby Feltham

Feltham

Feltham is a town in the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. It is located about west south west of central London at Charing Cross and from Heathrow Airport Central...

, her children, and her on-off boyfriend Gary, a carpenter. Johnson based the character of Mary on a girl he had taught while working as a schoolteacher, who had a child at a young age. Johnson and the band also toured in support of the album, combining the concert with a children's songs workshop.

Critical reception

Writing in The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, Robin Denselow called the album "bleak but unexpectedly poignant" and "thoughtful [and] well-observed" and said it offered proof that Johnson was "an English original".

Credits

Johnson plays guitar on the album and sings, accompanied by John Forrester on bass guitar, Charlie Waygood on drums, Naomy Browton on cello, Tim Walker on brass, and Roger Watson on melodeon

Melodeon (organ)

A melodeon is a type of 19th century reed organ with a foot-operated vacuum bellows, and a piano keyboard. It differs from the related harmonium, which uses a pressure bellows. Melodeons were manufactured in the United States sometime after 1812 until the Civil War era...

. Johnson's two young sons, Hari and Arvin, provided background vocals for the track "Poundshop Christmas".

Tracklist

1. Fairytales In Feltham
2. Rehoused In Hounslow
3. Jubilee Gardens
4. Father Christmas Down Hounslow High Street
5. Wooden Snowmen
6. Meanwhile, On Planet Earth
7. Crisis
8. Poundshop Christmas
9. Magic Pockets?
10. The Ghost Of Love
11. Motorcycle Diary
12. The Midnight Clear