Some decisions...

... for no good reason other than prejudice can influence how you view a performer. And as we all know prejudices can be hard to shift. So my negative reaction to Teddy Thompson cancelling his forthcoming local show was not solely based upon disappointment but more for the reason behind it. To give up singing to his faithful band of followers he has chosen to accept the opportunity (as he will see it) to be the warm up act on the James Blunt tour.
On the plus side for Teddy I estimate this will increase his nightly audience by an estimated thirty times but on the down side it has lost him my loyalty as a fan who has shelled out on numerous occasions to see him. Hell, I’ve even payed out to watch him as the support act. But not on this occasion. Turning your back on the faithful is bad enough but to support James Bland calls into question his musical integrity.
Now if he were doing the Leonard Cohen tour, and an opportunity to learn at the feet of the master, that would be an altogether different matter.

Beyond this personal gripe it has got me thinking of how many support acts I have seen over the last thirty five years who have sufficiently inspired me to make me watch out for their name in the following months and years. Precious few is the answer with only Lynyrd Skynyrd (Golden Earring), Tymon Dogg (Alan Price) and The Pixies (Throwing Muses) coming readily to mind.

So will hoardes of Mr Bland’s fans make it hard for me to get a ticket the next time Teddy comes to town? I think not. Will I be there? Putting prejudice aside, probably. But I may have to have a drink first, for as the man says ‘an altered state makes me love everything I hate’.

MP3 Teddy Thompson – Altered State

Concentrate On Irate Hats

Slapp Happy were an Anglo/German/American trio who, not to put too fine a point on it, were as mad as a box of frogs. Henry Cow were a product of Cambridge University, had a style described as 'neo-Hiroshima' and, as Wikipedia succinctly and accurately puts it, an 'inherent anti-commercial bias'. I think you get the picture. The name of the person who thought that it would be a jolly good idea for the two bands to combine is lost to history but combine they did and Desperate Straights is one of two albums they made together.

Back in the day, the two Reverend Doctors would gather around the phonograph in the Old Vicarage and try and make sense of what was going on. I am not sure we ever did or whether we were ever meant to but it was fun trying.

The sound is built around the unusual vocal stylings of Dagmar Krause. Her husky alto is not to everyone's taste but is undeniably original. She is unlikely to win X Factor and the world is a poorer place for it. Slapp Happy also featured Peter Blegvad who wrote a song that will shortly feature in the Good Reverend's Hymnal. Watch this space.

Slapp Happy/Henry Cow
Desperate Straights

1."Some Questions about Hats" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:49
2."The Owl" (Moore) – 2:14
3."A Worm is at Work" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:52
4."Bad Alchemy" (Greaves, Blegvad) – 3:06
5."Europa" (Moore, Blegvad) – 2:48
6."Desperate Straights" (Moore) – 4:14
7."Riding Tigers" (Blegvad) – 1:43
8."Apes in Capes" (Moore) – 2:14
9. "Strayed" (Blegvad) – 1:53
10."Giants" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:57
11."Excerpt from The Messiah" (Handel, Blegvad) – 1:48
12."In the Sickbay" (Krause, Blegvad) – 2:08
13."Caucasian Lullaby" (Cutler, Moore) – 8:20

Click here to go to the file

The Good Reverend's Hymnal - #8 When My Baby's Beside Me - Big Star

'I never travel far, without a little Big Star' as someone once said. I was, however, a little late starting the journey. I remember unsuccessfully trying to buy #1 Record in one of Virgin's early shops in Leeds. Ardent's distribution problems were legendary and I suppose that the chances of any of their records reaching West Yorkshire were slim. The dawn of the CD era saw many labels pushing their back catalogue out in the new format and one of the first CD's I ever bought was the double header of #1 Record and Radio City.

There is little doubt that Big Star worked best during the brief period when Alex Chilton and Chris Bell were in tandem. Radio City (although wonderful) lacks some of its predecessors sense of purpose and, come the recording of Sister Lovers, Alex was away with the fairies. Listening to the three records together is like hearing a band disintegrate in front of your ears.

The song that makes it into the Good Reverend's Hymnal is the glorious 'When My Baby's Beside Me'. This, quite simply, is how bands should sound. Whenever I hear it it makes me feel a whole lot better and that, as they say, will do for me.

MP3: Big Star - When My Baby's Beside Me

We are to whom we listen

This was the phrase that struck whilst reading an editorial by Lenny Kaye. It is often edifying to know what someone else listens to. I certainly make assumptions about people based on their listening habits. But is Lenny right? And if so do we come to define ourselves through music.

I am always perplexed by those stories from people who say ‘that song got me through my teens/divorce/hard time’ etc. How can a song do that? Unless we take a message from it and act upon that message or receive comfort/guidance. And are there really songs that do that? Most of the musicians I’ve met couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag less bring succour to the lonely and forsaken. Yet some writers undoubtedly have the knack of summing up an experience in a simple pithy line and in so doing bring clarity. My current fave being Bright Eyes when he writes ‘What seems so simple by the moonlight by the morning never is’. I can relate to the sentiments yet could never have put things so simply. Bastard.

So here are the last three things I purchased and have listened to endlessly over the last week. Can I divine some sense of self from these disparate songs? Sorry Lenny, I just can’t see it.

MP3 Nancy Elizabeth – I’m Like The Paper

MP3 Swell Maps – Raining In My Room

MP3 The Sea & Cake – Left On

God Knows: Bob Dylan Redefined

No stranger to a Dylan moment Cat Power is captured here on a 1970 recording for the BBC.

At her best Ms Marshall has a way of worming herself insidiously inside a song to draw out it’s dark interior and on paper Oh, Sister possesses all the hallmarks of the kind of song that will bring out this quality. Sadly she fails to ignite sounding laboured and dull rather than careworn.

Things pick up as she segues into Knockin’ on Heaven's Door with its prescient air of doom. Though I would have loved her to have stopped strumming half way through and just let her voice drift into the awaiting void.

The piece has a certain novelty value as it was recorded at Peel Acres, the home of John Peel, and was one of a number of songs that failed to make it onto The Covers Record. Also recorded was the earlier Dylan song Hard Times In New York Town along with a brief rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird, Oasis’s Wonderwall and the sessions finest moment Mary J Blige’s Deep Inside.

MP3 Cat Power – Oh, Sister/Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door

Review: The Waybacks - Loaded

The Waybacks have been around for a few years now but the release of Loaded on Nashville's Compass Records reveals, for the first time, a pared down, four piece line-up that seeks to offer a tighter focus to their eclectic sounds.

At the band's heart is singer and guitarist James Nash and he, along with newly recruited fiddle virtuoso Warren Hood, has taken on writing responsibility for the new album. Having two independently strong writers within a band can cause problems. On Loaded however, for the most part, it works, not least because of the quality of the playing which is impeccable throughout. Nash's writing tends to be more bluesy and rhythmic whilst Hood's displays a greater melodic strength – perhaps they should get a few beers in, get the guitars out and see what they can come up with together.

The Waybacks have been pigeon-holed in the past as bluegrass revivalists but if Loaded does nothing else it will free them from that erroneous label completely. The band draw upon a wide range of influences from the Hammond tinged Atlantic Soul of the excellent 'Nice To Be Alone' through to the Western Swing of 'Tired Of Being Right' and the sea shantyesque 'Beyond The Northwest Passage'. Perhaps the most extraordinary track on the album is the instrumental 'Black Cat' – a vehicle for Hood's fiddle playing - that takes us on a musical journey that starts on the plains of Texas, transports us through Eastern Europe, allows the Spanish sunshine to settle briefly on our backs, leads us onwards to a Parisian café, places a glass of Ricard on the table, before making a convincing case that Stéphane Grappelli has rosined up his bow once more.

Loaded is not a faultless record – there is a little too much inconsistency in the writing for that – but it is never less than a rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable listen and well worth getting hold of.

MP3: The Waybacks - Savannah

God Knows: Bob Dylan Redefined

From a much lambasted album, The Hollies Sing Dylan, this is perhaps the most reviled track. Which is obviously why I love it so. Always for the underdog us English you know. And very English it is too with Alan Clarke giving a stately performance devoid of any emotion or understanding of the songs themes.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be too harsh as I consider this to be one particular Dylan song that should be left alone. It’s narrative being too wrapped up in his legacy to that point.

Alongside the clueless vocal performance the accompaniment is also wonderfully bizarre with a muscular drum sound being out of step with the playful reed and woodwind interludes. The overall effect sitting somewhere between West Coast psychedelia and the pristine orchestration of 60’s UK pop.

The 1969 album concentrates on Dylan’s more romantic songs and that is where it’s strengths lay. ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’ being the most effective. The same year saw them have considerable commercial success with ‘Sorry Suzanne’ and ‘He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother’ as well as releasing the fine ‘Hollies Sing Hollies’ album. Proving that they really didn’t need the frippery of a whole album devoted to a songwriter whose skin they just couldn’t get under.

MP3 The Hollies – My Back Pages