Published on the same day as the album release of the same name by prog band Big Big Train (BBT), this book is designed not only to complement the music but also to give the listener an insight into the thought processes and ideas that went into the making of Woodcut, stated by the band to be a “true album for the ages.”
The idea for the album arose from a visit to the Oslo Munchmuseet in 2023 while BBT were touring Europe, sparking an exchange of ideas between Greg Spawton (bass) and Alberto Bravin (vocals). That spark ultimately led to BBT putting together their most ambitious piece of music, based upon “a single woodcut print to an exploration of the universal light and darkness of artistic hopes and thwarted dreams.” All the band have been involved in the creative process, though. Each member has contributed to the book, offering personal reflections on not just the album and how it was made, but also on why the whole thing matters and the resonance it has for listeners.
You will need to be a dedicated “passenger” (BBT fan) to take in all the detail provided. Woodcut: The Making And The Meaning weighs in at over two hundred pages and is much more than just the standard book about how a band made an album. There is considerable detail given about the centuries-long art of woodcut itself, taking in medieval book illustrations via Thomas Bewick’s Tiny Marvels, including Edvard Munch’s radical “jigsaw” prints, and it makes fascinating connections between the groundbreaking artists of the 19th century and modern day prog musicians. The detail included is quite astonishing.
Andy Stuart has written a book which is in equal parts a history, creative journal and cultural commentary, and he is the right author for this project. He is no stranger to BBT because he also wrote the book A View From The Embankment, A View From The Line about BBT’s 2023 European tour, where he accompanied the band across the continent on several dates.
Possibly the most intriguing section of the book is the introduction. Andy Stuart used as his starting point a review of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s album Welcome To The Pleasuredome, which initially produces a sigh of “what?” from this reviewer. It was not so much the review as the context of the review, and reading on, I caught onto where he is coming from and appreciated why he took this approach. As someone who is most definitely fully paid up on the “sweat equity” (you will have to read the book), Stuart’s rationale made sense. I also said yes to the questions he asked. Again, you will have to read the book.
Woodcut: The Making And The Meaning is a labour of love from an author who really does know his stuff, and who has put together a book about a creative process, linked it up to an historical perspective and brought it into the present day. This is not your bog standard book about what went on in the studio when a band records an album. What originally began as an invite by BBT to write the liner notes for their new album has become so much more, and complements the album perfectly.
Woodcut: The Making And The Meaning is published by Kingfisher Publications and written by Andy Stuart.