Thank you my darling – for being my best friend, for asking me to be your wife, for allowing my soul to bond with yours – and for the extraordinary gift of your love. And perhaps here it’s hardest to separate Door One– with all its heart, soul, love, vitriol, humour and wisdom – from its sad, posthumous circumstances. With that husky, timeless tone of his, David Longdon appeals to us to heed the words: ‘ Love is the only thing that matters, Love is all, love is all.’ He started music college in 1997, initially in Liverpool for one year before moving onto the Leigh College of Music where he met the musicians who would then become Mr. So & So - Shaun McGowan (bass & vocals), Leon Parr (drums), Kieren Twist (keyboards) and Charlotte Evans (vocals). Bailie, Geoff (29 April 2019). "Big Big Train – 'Grand Tour' (Album Review)". The Prog Report . Retrieved 21 November 2021. We are in the early stages of planning an event for fans to be able to attend and celebrate David’s life. It is hoped that this event will take place before the summer and we hope to announce details later this spring.

The same issue of Prog magazine also included the magazine’s annual Readers’ Poll, in which David and Big Big Train feature prominently:The quality of the writing and playing on this album make it an absolute standout album of 2022 for me. The sadness of knowing that David’s voice is now silent is eased by the wealth of incredible music he has left us – and this album stands as one of his very best. Issue 125 of Prog contained the magazine’s Critics’ Choice for 2021, in which Common Ground was ranked the third highest album overall. Kendall, Jo (23 May 2017). "Big Big Train – Grimspound album review". Louder . Retrieved 21 November 2021. David Longdon, Big Big Train’s lead vocalist since 2009, died on 20 th November 2021 in hospital in Nottingham in the UK following an accident at home. His funeral was held on 6th January 2022 in the Amber Valley in Derbyshire in the UK and was attended by David’s partner Sarah Ewing, very close friends and family.

In 2013 after writing with Steve Rothery for a few months, the Steve Rothery Band was formed along with Leon Parr (drums), Yatim Halimi (bass) and Riccardo Romano (keyboards) with Martin Jakubski (vocals) added for the live shows. In 2014 Rothery released his first solo album The Ghosts Of Pripyat, which Dave co-wrote. But for all of these things, David was most truly himself when he was on stage. Just watch the DVD of Empire – that is David at his truest. That is who he was. He was quite simply magnificent. With his father, Per Øystein Sørensen of Fra Lippo Lippi, Oskar has performed a televised show and recorded a live album with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, as well as playing several arena gigs in the Philippines, the earliest of which at the age of 19. Oskar is also a voice actor and piano teacher. David made an extraordinary contribution to Big Big Train and enriched the lives of so many people with his music and his personality. We miss him deeply and will always remember him. His memory will live on forever through his music with Big Big Train, Dyble Longdon and his solo work.

Recommendations

Mr. So & So released three albums with this line up (Paraphernalia, Compendium and The Overlap). Prior to the recording of The Overlap, Dave was introduced to Marillion guitarist Steve Rothery who was a fan of the band and ultimately signed the band to his own label Dorian Music, through which The Overlap was released. Giammetti, Mario (November 2010). "David Longdon exclusive interview for 'Dusk' ". Dusk.it . Retrieved 9 July 2019. Following this album Mr. So & So disbanded and Dave subsequently formed Sleeping Giant in 2001 with Charlotte Evans (vocals), Leon Parr (drums), Simon Crumley (bass) and James Rimmer (keyboards). Sleeping Giant released two EPs (Primates and Embers) before disbanding in 2006.

Clare Lindley grew up in the 1970s in rural Aberdeenshire in Scotland, where a rich traditional music culture still sits happily amongst popular music. She learned classical viola at school and played in string quartets and orchestras. Her tenuous claim to fame is that she was in a string quartet at school with J.K. Rowling’s husband!The album’s stunning artwork is by Sarah Louise Ewing with graphic design by Steve Vantsis. Sarah’s cover portrait of David is from a photograph by Sophocles Alexiou. After this it took five years until the next solo album, Please Be Quiet, was released. On this album, the Gungfly moniker was first used. Gungfly is a Swedish word meaning unsecure ground and this band identity has featured on all of Rikard’s subsequent solo ventures. When Beardfish disbanded in 2016, Rikard signed as a solo artist (Rikard Sjöblom’s Gungfly) with InsideOut Music and has since released two albums with them and a 5 CD box set spanning the ten years leading up to his signing with the label.

Wild River’ represented a transitional period for David, both artistically and emotionally. His father, Eric, had passed away in 1994, he had been through a divorce, and he’d auditioned to be the lead singer of Genesis following the departure of Phil Collins. However, after a protracted audition-cum-rehearsal process, he was immensely disappointed to lose out on the role. Which, with hindsight, was a blessing in disguise. Born in St. Helens, Merseyside in north west England, Dave started playing guitar at the age of 6 and ‘found’ music when he was 12 years old after discovering a cassette copy of Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits. The album’s eight songs are highly personal and follow a lyrical journey from darkness to enlightenment, from the intense and raw first single ‘Watch It Burn’, channelling David’s love of The Who, to the folk inflected ‘There’s No Ghost Like An Old Ghost’, which recalls David’s Dyble Longdon album with the late Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble, and ‘Love Is All’, the gorgeous ballad which closes the album.At the time of his death, the album was 90% finished. However, David’s partner Sarah and all the key protagonists involved in its creation agreed that David would want the world to hear the album. Rikard has always written and recorded music alongside his work with Beardfish, and these recordings eventually led to a self-released album under his own name in 2004 called Cyklonmannen, a musical (instrumental) interpretation of a novel by the Swedish beatnik author Sture Dahlström. So the album ends positively and with a strong message of hope that we can all accept and employ in our own lives. So from the tragedy of David’s death, we can find hope and purpose and celebrate his memory with this fine collection of songs. David will certainly be missed but his legacy lives on in his recorded works and this album will certainly be a part of that legacy that he leaves us.