Venue review of 'Waiting in Line'
by Steve Wright

"Fans of simple, uncluttered folk and lovers of fey English whimsy should find some nourishment here. Pritchett's from the same stable as fellow Bristol acoustico Roger Tarry..." See full review

Evening Post review
07 July 2005

"Minerva are fronted by Chris Pritchett, a well-known figure on the Bristol singer-songwriter scene but was here in rock mode with a band that can really drive a song along. Learning To Love was particularly strong, despite being one of the quietest songs of the night."

Click on image for full review

from DECODE Media review

"Lara England and Chris Pritchett turns out to be the two of them plus Paddy Uglow, playing material the three of them have written and arranged. It’s proper modern folk, none of this alt or dark or ‘tronica business. Listening to the opener Burn All Maps I find my self thinking that if they had a violinist they’d sound a fair bit like Steele Eye Span, in terms of the melodies and vocal arrangement, only for Paddy to play some lovely Celtic fiddle on the second, bluesy, toe-tapping number In My Dreams. As the set progresses I realise that these are proper songs; you know, back from when songs were actually about something and chart pop hadn’t destroyed their integrity and flayed traditional structure to within a bar of its life. When they write a song called On My Mind it’s about somebody being on their mind. Simple, and wonderfully so. Their songs are very real. Not that it is all ordinary; 11th Hour is a somewhat fantastic, in the true sense of the word, imagining of the experiences of War, accompanied by some lovely acoustic bass. Chris and Paddy mostly take a back seat vocal speaking, adding instead some great percussion and finger-picked guitar to Lara’s impressive voice which reminds of somewhat of Tracy Chapman (if she’d been English) and occasionally raises goosepimples and causes shivers. A really folksy number, complete with recorder and a some head nodding rapid rhyming closes the set, until Chris is bullied back on stage to play his song Bad Words. It’s a great song; I’d forgotten just how great a songwriter he is. Sneer all you like at those who stick to traditional formats and eschew more modern musical approaches, but they is still something magical about a great song and I reckon this trio have plenty more aces up their sleeve."

from DECODE Magazine review
Folkhouse Acoustic Festival, 16 January 2005
Hugh Ortega Breton

"Next up maybe two names for the future, Chris Pritchett, of Minerva and Lara England who began singing her breathy, delicate, freshly steamed lyrics to Chris's guitar and vocal accompaniment, then switching over for songs of unrequited love. Both enjoyable singers in different ways, but sharing a sentimentality in their lyrics, like on Chris's "Satellite" with his powerful range being the highlight. He might eventually taste pop rock success with songs like "Black Champagne" and "Treading Water" which were performed with Minerva."

Venue
July 2004
Review of Minerva at Ashton Court

"The sun must be shining as Minerva singer Chris is boasting the weekend's first significant onstage sweatpatch. And who wouldn't, after emoting this hard for 45 minutes straight? Consumate indie/country rock"

DECODE Magazine
December 2003

"Tuneful, polished songs of the wandering journeyman songsmith... a pretty damn successful album"

Click on image for full review

All hail Minerva!!!

To all those who think you need spangly leotards or Adam Duritz beards to play country-tinged rock I blow a big fat raspberry for you obviously have never witnesses the glory of Minerva in full flow. You don't get many standing ovations on the gig circuit, but everyone was up cheering at the end - I swear if they hadn't gone back on for an encore they would probably have been lynched. Their sound combines the guitar and piano hooks of REM or Counting Crows, yet with lyrics that make slightly more sense and dealing with their subjects with a sensitive humour.

'Bad words', with its gorgeous piano melody layered over subtle guitars, is a perfect example - dealing with the disintegration of a relationship Chris still manages to see the irony in his catchy refrain that 'Bad words/ All I ever hear/ Bad words/They're the only words you say that's sincere.'

Despite the fact that his sweet voice is perfectly suited to pop-ish love songs, he is not content to stick with the ordinary, and in 'Monsters' he cleverly explores the nature of childhood fear - the song also featuring one wicked old skool guitar solo! - 'All of the lions, tigers and bears/ Calling me backwards under the stairs/Hiding under the bedclothes just doesn't work anymore/ These monsters are just metaphors after all.' Genius!!! And if you can imagine these supported by a textured, dynamic sound with added vocal harmonies, then I'm sure you can imagine yourself into the crowd of their next gig!