“Poetry of the Deed” stands to be one of the few records I hear every year that will stay with me until I die. This record is the best British punk record since the Clash’s “London Calling.” It’s the best British folk record since Billy Bragg’s “Talking With the Taxman About Poetry,” and despite the controversy behind this statement, it is the best British pop record since the Beatles’s “Abbey Road.”

Somehow, Frank Turner and his ever-expanding back-up band have created a record that fuses a punk attitude with folk
instruments and a pop-sensibility to songwriting. While Turner focuses a lot of songwriting on his friends (claiming they are poets of the deed), the album includes several calls to action, “Try This at Home” and “Sons of Liberty,” as well as songs about life, on “The Road,” and a song written to his parents, “Faithful Son.”

Never, not even once, does the album falter from amazing songwriting, lyrics and instrumentation. I would understand if you thought I were just a mindless fan of Frank Turner, but I have honestly never heard a single song by this man until I obtained this album. I cannot go on enough about how amazing this album is.

The insightful lyrics have you singing along and try to get you thinking. The title track, “Poetry of the Deed,” basically states that Turner and his friends are all what they believe. Meaning, they aren’t hypocritical and that they are what they are and they never try to hide it. The last track, “Journey of the Magi,” carries this theme using biblical and mythological figures who had a chance at immense power, but gave it up for what they believe.

Ever since hearing this album, I regret not seeing Frank Turner open for Fake Problems last fall, and I highly regret not buying a ticket to see him open for the Pageant this coming Spring. Frank Turner plays music appealable to anyone with ears and to everyone with taste.