Writing On The Wall – The Ultimate Edition

Polydor Music

Like, wouldn’t it be embarrassing if a ’serious’ music reviewer took a pure pop act like Bucks Fizz seriously and simultaneously let slip a secret fascination with BF and blonde songstress Cheryl Baker ? Eh ? Won’t happen on my watch…

Polydor are treating Bucks Fizz followers to a rerelease of the quartet’s 1986 album ‘Writing On The Wall’. It is probably the group at the height of their powers of song interpretation. They had enjoyed chart success of course but had what you might call a rocky road as regards relationships within the group itself, not quite in the later Fleetwood Mac league but enough to produce outright or barely concealed friction often enough to spoil the ensemble’s progress sometimes at key times.

Bucks Fizz toured with THEIR OWN SNOW MACHINE

On this set, we find Mike Nolan, Bobby G, Cheryl Baker and Shelley Preston as co-female vocalist. Now Ms Baker had not got on with Jay Aston the previous fellow chanteuse. Ever the pro, Cheryl had made the best of the era but it might be fair to say that when making this set, the group was in overall better shape relationshipwise than it had been for a while.

The production for these cuts is pretty standard mid-80s pop. Hence there are at times over-busy synthesizers, clattery drums, too many twinkly things going on in the treble range and some frankly horrible reverb settings on the bursts of guitar (not the players’ fault, of course, it were The Fashion). To their eternal credit the tried and tested warm vocal blend of the singers overcomes the trendy trappings and usually but not always overcomes any shortcomings in the material. Take the steady-tempo’d and bittersweet lyrically song ‘Love In A World Gone Mad’. It sounds as though it was composed to equal or cap the dreaded ABBA whose chart success before and at this time had pretty much set the bar for vocal ensembles. But whilst to my ears the Swedish foursome far too often sounded like singing robots, Bucks Fizz sound SO much better and albeit gong for crisp delivery here, soulful. The intro’s chorused guitar and gated reverb snare sound OKish but the verse is tenderly phrased and when the four sing out together the chorus it’s cathartic and strong. The rubbish synth brass can’t get close to a real grainy horn section ( how good would these singers have sounded with the Kool & The Gang brass and horns guys ?). This cut is certainly one of the highlights of this disc and can only be described as Quality Pop, made against a sea of 8Os tripe when more time was spent on makeup than tuneup by many other acts. Following track ‘The Company You Keep’ has a lovely harmonica intro and a male lead vocal. The girls sound like sexy vocal icing when they chime in. The bass on this is sublime, by the way.

Cheryl Baker has twin daughters

Whilst album lead cut ‘New Beginning’ has started the record with a cod-African and massive vocal intro then clattering drums over interesting chords it sounds a bit cold compared to the other selections on the set. The ladies sing in perfect synch with quick asides. It’s ascending chord progression really does grow on you. The song got them back in the Top Ten in May 1986. Unfortunately their stomp through Steve Stills’ curious song ‘Love The One You’re With’ – is it suggesting promiscuity or just a wishy washy nod to ‘free love’ whatever that was ? – is as subtle as a rain of petrol bombs. Sung really well but smashed into the wall by duff production features. No need to go Manhattan Transfer for this song, but it’s on this reading as if Frankie Goes To Hollywood were about to burst in to the studio. The thing about Bucks Fizz is that they were all fine singers – again in my humble opinion far better and edgier than ABBA. ‘Don’t Turn Back’ turns up the sexual heat and has a Tina Turner feel though there is no aping of her singing delivery. Great bridge and chorus here and neat damped guitar clipping away, female pop singing doesn’t come classier than featured here. The (real) trumpet only adds sass.

Cheryl

Bear in mind that this is a group coming back from a terrible tour bus crash late in 1984 that left handsome singer Mike Nolan badly injured and facing a long road to recovery. This meant that late 1984 single ‘I Hear Talk” was not promoted and reached just a lowly chart position. Of no consquence compared with a touch-and-go situation for a band member, of course and Nolan battled back to health over a long period. Bobby G took lead vocal with Baker supplying the middle eight. It was written by Andy Hill and Peter Sinfield and has had a new lease of live in a recent new arrangement by Baker’s partner, adding a jazz tinge.

“Soul Motion’ has Motown-updated tempo and may have been put together as a whomping opener for live shows. It’s great beaty cut and yet again the singers sound so punchy when they come in together. A brassy production whacks along and a great guitar break with a key change works well. Hard to resist and sadly the Lixxie Potts and Katy Perrys of today have nothing to touch this among their phoney ‘party’ efforts. ‘Give A Little Love’ is set to pop-reggae motion – a style throughly debased since by the likes of the dreadful Lily Allen. Not Bucks Fizz at their best, but we’re not expecting a ‘Kashmir’ from them after all. Pleasant enough, I guess. ‘In Your Eyes’ does sound like a song to take on ABBA, so strident is the pacing and tapping keys but the BF girls make it a hornier creation altogether as they coo over the stabbing rhythm. Yet again, the listener yearns for a proper brass arrangement, though the sax inserts work. Ghastly drum sound on this one.

A more reflective mood is struck by the compressed-Strat intro’d ‘I Need Your Love’. Too formulaic a composition to really dig deep this makes for a worthy album cut and that must be Bobby Gee on the vocal lead ?

The eleven cuts on Disc One are lifted to fifteen by alternate and extended versions eg of ‘New Beginning’.

Shelley Preston looks a little like Olivia Newton-John

On to the second disc and this has extra songs and also various other versions of the songs on Disc One plus some live show extracts wherein The Fizzers tackle a Motown medley and then – I kid you not – a Rolling Stones mini-set comprising ‘Satisfaction’, ‘Let’s Spend’, ‘Jumping’ and ‘Brown Sugar’, good numbers to use in a live show for audience reaction, of course.

Of the extra songs, ‘Big Deal’ is generic 80s fare and features Bobby Gee, who wrote it but it sounds in the shadow of Bjorn and Benny rather than really original ; the Marley-tempo’d ‘I Want To Stay’ has a slightly unsettling synth solo, what a weird tone ! ; ‘Paper Hearts’ written by Steve Glenn and Mike Burns is a winsome ballad and sung by Shelley in an emphatic but held-back style. It sounds like it belongs in a musical. Female lead reflective time. How good do the girls sound when they sing together on this ? Too Drury Lane for this writer but very pro. Our Cheryl attacks ‘Easy Trouble’ which has Germanic Moroder atmosphere and sounds inspired – yet another rich and tuneful chorus and yet another plastic drum track stifling the song or trying to.

”I Hear Talk’ is one of Cheryl Baker’s favourite Bucks Fizz recordings

The group look good on the contemporary photos in the packaging booklet. Production-line pop perhaps, but classy singers who get some soul to the fore whenever the over-busy production allows even half a chance.

Pete Sargeant www.fairhearing.co.uk

The Complete EP Collection

www.james mccartney.com
Engine Company Records

Being the man’s EPs thus far plus bonus tracks – and I readily admit that I have been drawn into this collection of tracks over the past few weeks. Expecting nothing and just wishing to give the songs a (ahem) fair hearing, I perceive a distinct London summer’s day feel to many of the cuts. Dad Paul of course did hang out with the great troubadour Donovan back in the day, singing uncredited background here and there on the Leitch recordings . Songs like ‘Sunny Goodge Street’ and indeed ‘Sunshine Superman’ showed a blend of folk-blues and the emergent psych-pop-rock of the day. It is perhaps an unconscious or unwitting reference point for at least some of these numbers

Apparently James Mccartney most admires artists who ring the changes and don’t make the same album or use the same sound over and over. This may explain the nod to Neil Young on ‘Old Man’ found here on the first disc of the two-cd set. However the main appeal of this bunch of songs is the originality on display, albeit or notwithstanding the evident ( to these ears) tinge of George Harrison from time to time. Not quite what you might expect, but J McC is clearly not aiming at duplicating father Paul’s works and good for him.
Produced by David Kahne and Paul McCartney, the songs have a rolling twinkle at times and a stark honesty at others. Over-produced or fussily arranged they are not. The guitar tones and timbres are alluring, a crisp execution frames the compositions. Unlike Sting and others, James gets the key spot on each time and never strains so that the lyrics become something to share rather than proclaim. That’s yer folk ambience at work. Almost no shouting or yelling, just the compositions delivered.

‘Angel’ has a sprightly trebley guitar bounce and plaintive vocal in a Stealers Wheel gone uptempo mode, catchy chorus and all ; whereas ‘Glisten’ has a distinctly Celtic vibe, at odds perhaps with its Sterling Sound NYC (!)mastering ( Greg Calbi ) though looking at the notes the song may well have been recorded at Abbey Road. The strings seep through enhancing the misty streams atmosphere.

‘My Friend’ is jauntier and a frankly puzzling lyric – hard to tell whether it’s a celebration of friendship or an expression of regret….

Next cut ‘Denial’ has a stern chordal cadence playing up the cyclic and hypnotic electro/acoustic guitar weave. It’s the closest his own songs get to that Neil Young intensity typified by the great Canadian’s ‘Love That Burns’. The Bo Diddley 6/8 beat is deployed for ‘New York City’, a romp through the cityscape complete with horn riffs. High key but he hits the dominants. James should pass this song to Lulu, it would suit her ! ‘Moonstar’ starts like a Pirates / Rockpile outtake – yeah it’s that good, a real rocker that sound a lot more English than a Yank shot at rock and roll. Weird bridge and middle eight but it (just about) works… so what the hell. The insistent guitar gets the toes tapping. Thus ends Disc One.

The highlights of Disc Two are opener ‘I Only Want To Be Alone’ which you would swear was a co-write by Richard Thompson and George Harrison, jaw-jutting verse delivery and an utterly gorgeous chorus set to those driving guitars. ‘Wings of a Lightest Weight’ doesn’t quite connect with this listener, a bit morose. The other-worldly ‘Else and Else But Dead’ is set to snappy harmonics but has a quasi-metal fuzz guitar passage for contrast. I couldn’t begin to guess what the words of this song signify but it’s the collection’s most original creation and haunting to boot so fair enough.

The piano-intro’d ‘Fallen Angel’ is a paean to love and joy but sounds a tad sad. Cries out for a female voice to make a duet, bet Kate Rusby would do it for nothing ! Set ender ‘Your True Love’ bows to Carl Perkins, who I once saw do a show backed by his sons.

This song isn’t copying his father stylistically but has much of Dad’s enthusiasm and musicality, surprise yourself by giving this album a listen

Pete Sargeant www.fairhearing.co.uk

Dark Angel
www.roadhousegb.co.uk

By now established as one of the most distinctive sounding outfits on the English roots scene and known for delivering great live performance sets wherever they play, Roadhouse album releases are renowned for the film noir tinge of Gary Boner’s lyrics, sharp band playing and the interplay of main writer Boner’s gruff vocal delivery with that of his current chanteuses. I say ‘current’ because there are usually changes from record to record – however to say that  a high standard of female singing is maintained would be an understatement.  This time around we get to hear the rasping passion of Mandie G, the ever improving clarity and appeal of Kelly Marie Hobbs plus the knowing sexiness of Suzi D…any of these ladies would be an asset to a musical outfit but moreover they work well together.

Never to be overlooked or underrated, bassist Bill Hobley and drummer Roger Hunt provide a rock solid but nonetheless nimble backdrop to the songs. Apart from the Roadhouse live sets, the rhythm section lend their skills at live shows to guest artists, including yours truly.

Firmly rooted in US Southern rock for dynamic inspiration, the two-guitar arrangements display light and shade, a cloudborne airiness at times and a grinding metallic clout at others. The axes don’t blur out the vocals – Gary is not going to bury his own wordsmithery! The ace in the pack is the difference in the guitar styles of Boner and Danny Gwylim – the former having a classic Mick Ralphs style with biting buzzy soloing but the latter perhaps more of a Wishbone Ash style player, fluid and soaring and by no means a blues purist or rock obsessive. In fact Danny will happily take in anything you lend to him, if  a Brad Paisley touch appears, blame me…..

Inside another classy cover design by band amigo Vaughan Oliver lurk more dark compositions. Fans of US rockers Drive By Truckers would be entranced with this material but bear in mind THIS group has been in existence over twenty years and delivering original numbers all that time.

Too Tired To Play has a purposeful attack and eerie slide to kick off the collection and a fine example of the vocal arrangement skills of this crew. Already alive classic, Rainmaker has a contagious country rock bounce and twanging key riff. Dark Angel is one of what Boner himself would tag a misery-incarnate piece but shows his saturnine leaning to great effect. Dig the arpeggio intro chords overlaid with a singing lead guitar line.  So Over You has – if memory serves – a Kelly Hobbs lyric and a springheeled vibe to offset the hellbound atmosphere of several of the other compositions included here…wonder how Danny gets such a perfect Les Dudek sound on the guitar here ? ‘Play With Fire’ has Mandie G capturing a Stevie Nicks sound over guitar harmonics and pumping Hunt drumwork, a song with great impact and perhaps the one you would play to an acquaintance to illustrate the Roadhouse approach. CloserTelling Lies is a past triumph dusted off the for the present personnel.

For this writer the urgency and insistence of ‘Tornado’ make it the pick of this set but you, dear listener, will find plenty to savour on this album

Pete Sargeant         www.fairhearing.co.uk

Goodtimes Goodtimes

www.franc-cinelli.com

This deluxe edition of the new Franc Cinelli album goes some way to explaining his appeal and has no better example of his talent than the two versions of ‘Fortune Teller Song’. One is a commercial radio edit but the acoustic take is akin to a tuneful Dylan, reedy harmonica interludes and all. This is pure troubadour stuff and after repeated listens, falling somewhere in style between English song maestro Al Stewart in the songs’ clear delivery and touch of mysticism and US roots stalwart Steve Forbert in the texture of Cinelli’s edge-of-raspy voice. The way that he sings is exactly right for these easy-paced compositions and the crisp rhythms have you tapping your feet and nodding along.

Opener ‘Point One’ is a lovely rolling lope of a number with fine washes of harmonica here and there ; “Let It Begin’ a lively country rocker with a catchy chorus, probably a set-opener and a darned good one. His clarity of vocal delivery heightens the impact of each song and there is a keen sense of dynamics at work in the arrangement on this selection.

Anyone liking McGuinness Flint or Stealers Wheel ought to investigate Franc Cinelli at the first opportunity.

‘Magic Hour’ is the most evocative of Al Stewart, in his ‘Last Days Of The Century’ classic era, when the songs were rooted but had a twist away from the ordinary, the rhythm here is a stealthy tread and the singing a touch conspiratorial over some inspired chord choices…is there a neat major 7th in there ?  One thing : the production on the band numbers is never over-the-top which makes the set a comfortable listen as you are never struggling to make out the lyric. As for ‘Love’, the song should be taken immediately to Rod Stewart as recording numbers like this might just rescue him from Vegas Loungeland ….

The airy ‘Get Ready’ has a Zimmerman touch and you do wonder how often the young Cinelli might have played his copy of ‘Nashville Skyline’. Maybe as much as I played the Byrds’ ‘Younger Than Yesterday’ I suspect !

Born in Rome and brought up in London, Franc Cinelli is a natural World musician of the folkrock persuasion and I am not surprised that he has played around the US to a good response. I have no doubt that Cinelli songs could prove successful vehicles for other singers to cover – ‘Diamonds In The Sky’ for Steve Gibbons or Zucchero for example.  But like another of my favourite artists Albert Hammond, it is so good to hear the composer    perform them.

Always tuneful and with a balanced drive to his delivery, Cinelli has put together a very listenable collection with this album and I hope to catch him live in the near

Pete Sargeant            www.fairhearing.co.uk

Live at Cadogan Hall, London

The veteran bluesman and band leader always manages to pull something special out of the bag for his visits to the capital and tonight’s eve-of-halloween performance had magic and quality in equal measures. Stepping out to announce his opening band for the evening in the shape of the Oli Brown Band, Mayall mused aloud whether any of the audience might be ‘ interested  in guitar players…’ – the ultimate tease for the London blues fans as sharp six-string work is a guaranteed feature of any Bluesbreakers show.

Oli Brown and his two cohorts took the stage and take a stealthy slink into their first offering ‘I Can Make Your Day  ‘. I recognised the snare drumwork immediately as that of Wayne Proctor, band and session man par excellence and of course as any modern blues enthusiast will know, a kingpin of the admirable band Amor, tall man John Amor’s group project after the first incarnation of The Hoax. With bassist Ron Sayer aboard, not much could go wrong in the engine room with this well-chosen support slot. Ron and Wayne also sing, which brings another dimension to certain parts of the arrangements. Looking like Albert Lee’s shock-haired nephew, Brown sings and plays with a crisp mixture of abandon and precision and more to the point with his ensemble not sounding particularly like other trios past or present. One reason for this is the wide range of songs he selects. He steers his white Tele through ‘Mr Wilson’, then veers into a Robin Trower mode for a languid solo that purrs and bites. ‘Devil In Me’ has a choppy swing and emphatic vocal.  Then he does justice to a song from the late great Donny Hathaway’s ‘Extension Of A Man’ album – ‘ Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’, singing like an angel and playing with a clipped fervour. One of the best moments of the whole night. The three players sing during the funked-up fun of ‘Hot Diggity’ then a Johhny Winterish closer wraps up the set. Just right.

Oli Brown

When the star attraction takes the stage, the audience is well and truly warmed up and ready to savour the songs. Mayall blends crowd pleasers and nods to his original influences – especially Rice Miller aka Sonny Boy Williamson 11 -  plus some of his superior originals.

Rightly renowned for bringing fabulous lineups out on tour, John Mayall has really found the cream in the Chicago rhythm section of drummer Jay Davenport and fusion bassist Greg Rzab. Davenport sound uncannily like an early Butterfield Blues Band sticksman a lot of the time as he rattles out breaks and rolls but at other times it’s as if ‘Spectrum’ era Billy Cobham is sitting in. When Rzab solos as Mayall often encourages him to do, the Stanley Clarke influence is manifest but deftly aimed to complement the mood of the material. The crowd take to his lively outings, as he makes the bass strings sing and sound akin to high-flying birds or even at one point a pterodactyl being evicted from a nightclub by Robocop……

John Mayall and Rocky Athas

As for Texan axeman Rocky Athas and his red Les Paul, he makes his mark in his usual subtle way. With years of experience framing the gritty vocals of the Larry the singer in the Rocky Athas Band, this guitar ace has nothing to learn about playing in a band. The guitar tone is kept on the edge-of-feedback level but at comfortable volume, enabling Athas’ lines to sing and swoop  ; and whilst others solo, he keeps up a sonic thread of chords, chugs and fills.  Tonight’s events keep him on his toes, but knowing Rocky as I do, he always welcomes the challenge to bring the right dynamics to the set.

As for Mayall, I have seen several Bluesbreakers lineups including ‘Crusade’, the Bath Festival all-star grouping with Peter Green and (at the Royal Albert Hall) the ‘USA Union” group ( with my hero Harvey Mandel and the late Don ‘Sugarcane’ Harris) and I have never heard John play better than tonight. He is truly inspired, upbeat and fluid and cannot disguise his delight at the quality of his players, namechecking them when he feels appropriate. His harp work is authentic and effective, his keyboard stints organically solid and very musical and his use of his customised guitar his best ever, even taking in a variant of tapping that sound fine against the agile Gibson lines of Athas.  To see him on such form thrills the audience, it is an exciting show and not the plodding visit to the blues museum some may have feared.

From the solo set starter ‘Another Man Done Gone’ with just longform ‘G’ harp for accompaniment, Mayall drives things along, taking in Otis Rush gem ‘All Your Love’ , SBJ’s ‘Help Me’, the lament ‘Blues For The Lost Days’ complete with scorching Rocky solo, a bustling ‘Parchment Farm’ and a reflective but smoking ‘Nothing To Do With Love’ from his ‘Tough’ release.  Some neat unison harp and piano livens up ‘Early In The Morning’ and the familiar ‘I Wish You Would’ tempo of ‘Room To Move’ works pretty well.

Anything can happen in a Bluesbreakers show and the audience whoops at the arrival for encores of the teddy bear figure of former JMB guitarist and ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and his gold Les Paul. Mick seems happy as Larry to be aboard as he flicks out sharp fills and then produces a slide for some eerie figures during the moody ‘California’, this evening given an airy Steely Dan touch. The evening ends with a voodoo stomp through ‘Congo Square’ but for this writer the earlier dynamite version of Mayall’s ‘Mail Order Mystic’ had alone justified the trip to the metropolis. Audiences throughout the country will find much to enjoy when these two outfits arrive and perform

Pete Sargeant        www.fairhearing.co.uk

Martamaria Q & A

Junkman

CD single  www.traciehunter.com

Well if you’re after rock pedigree, I would venture that embracing the hard-rockin’ vocalist daughter of Mott The Hoople mainman Ian Hunter plus the singer from Def Leppard AND that outfit’s ace guitarist Phil Collen ticks all the boxes !  Add to that Quireboys keys man Keith Weir and from the ingredients, this cut ought to rock.

The song ‘Junkman’ was originally recorded by dad Ian Hunter and the fiery US singer Genya Ravan. Her history takes in punchy pop in Goldie & the Gingerbreads and then time with soul-psych lost legends Ten Wheel Drive and it’s easy to see that Ravan might be an influence on Ms Hunter. I saw Tracie play an enjoyable own gig a few years back – she gave me a current single that I still have – and she does command the stage, no doubt about that. She has power without shouting, her main gift in my opinion.

An ebow’d guitar floats over a stately acoustic strum intro and Hunter’s slightly husky vocal spins the tale, answered @ 1:20 by Joe Elliott’s best Rod-meets-Dylan singing. If radio played ‘Up Where We Belong’ the Joe Cocker /Jennifer Warnes duet, then there’s no real reason they shouldn’t play this. Both singers sound top notch and soulful, the guitar solo is appropriate in a kind of mid-term Whitesnake fashion and the rhythm restful and listenable.  Tracie Hunter is easily as good as most female rock singers and better than most, so let’s have this promised third album from her please…

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk

I’ve Been Up

CD single  Size 9 Records

Mr Amadeus is German born but raised in the UK and currently London-based, involved in writing songs and producing. His fields are electro house and disco funk and his first single release ‘God Only Knows My Shoe Size’ received a chunk of mainstream radio play and attention from mix experts.

‘I’ve Been Up’ includes a contribution from London rapper Kes. It’s not a paean to Viagra but a kicking synth bass-register led repetitive song mentioning a lust for Page 3 girls that will appeal to club dancers. Ludwig keeps things interesting as something different happens in the mix as each verse and he sets the regular rather softly-delivered vocal against the rap passages

Remixes here are by house bod Justin Harris and half of Obey, namely French DJ Josh Torrent ( yeah, but THAT’s his real name..) and the disco touches are emphasised, even Moroder-era treated robotic vocals and no let up in the skipping beat. Really quite catchy as dance melodies go but to these ears unlikely to crossover into other listenerships

Pete Sargeant     www.fairhearing.co.uk