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"Their Finest Hour"
(Charisma, '1975')
Lady Eleanor/Road To Kingdom
Come/Down/Wake Up Little Sister/Together Forever/Alright On The Night/Scarecrow
Song/We Can Swing Together//Meet Me On The Corner/All Fall Down/Go Back/Winter
Song/Clear White Light/Don't Ask Me/January Song/Alan In The River With
Flowers/Fog On The Tyne
"I
can feel your heartbeat like a song"
Losing a major name is always a bit of a mixed blessing for
a record company - they've lost the chance for a future string of records with
their band, but the silver lining is they can release whatever compilations
they like without the band saying anything to get in the way, effectively for
'free' without the expense of recording expenses of promotion costs. The result
'Their Finest Hour' is surprisingly generous given the circumstances (most
similar released tend to be tacky) and a generous playing time means that this
record is indeed pretty darn close to being an hour, rather than the usual
forty minutes. The track listing contains a good mix of eight 'Nicely Out Of
Tune' songs, six 'Fog On The Tyne' songs and three from 'Dingly Dell', all more
or less spot on (though 'The Things I Should Have Said' 'City Song' and 'Poor
Old Ireland' all more than deserve their places at this banquet table). A
proper chronological running order would have been nice though - and the album
cover (booze, basically) leaves much to be desired and is something of a
disappointment given that it's designed by Hipgnosis the creative team behind
most of the Pink Floyd album covers, summing up only half of the band's appeal
(now had the booze been drunk by a politician with his nose in a pipe then I'd
have been all for it!) The back cover is better though, choosing the racy
never-released-in-Britain shot of the band apparently naked in bed together
(you'll be pleased to know that in reality they all kept their trousers on for
the shoot!) Interestingly Hull wrote a new song named 'Finest Hour' shortly
before the split which might be where the title comes from, but never seem to
have seriously considered including the song on this set (this happens rather a
lot with AAA bands, such as Oasis' 'Stop The Clocks' being named after an
unreleased track removed from the tracklisting at short notice). This
much-loved comp sold well, peaking at a UK chart high of #55 even without a
band around to promote it, though it has yet to appear on CD under this name -
that said, many of the songs appear on different best-of compact discs.
Alan
Hull "Alright On The Night"
(Market Square, Recorded November 1975,
Released October 2009)
Squire/City Song/Dan The
Plan/Breakfast/Money Game/January Song/Cheeky Mouse/Gin and Tonix All Round/One
More Bottle Of Wine/Winter Song/Alright On The Night/We Can Swing Together/Fog
On The Tyne/Lady Eleanor
"I
realised then that I'd had too much - so I called out for more!"
So
obscure most fans didn't even know it existed before release, this is Alan Hull
as his career had left him in 1975 - resorting to local broadcasts on college
radio stations as his tour found him at Nottingham's Clifton Polytechnic's
Students Union Bar. Most singers would struggle to perform a solo show in such
surroundings but Alan sounds right at home, cheering on the boozy students and
joining in himself as he wanders between a simple guitar and a humble piano to
accompany himself. While you miss the power and clout of Lindisfarne there is
something special about hearing Hull strip his songs dowen to the bare
essentials and he'll be doing this sort of thing for the rest of his career
when the glare of the band spotlight isn't on him. The track selection is an
odd one, featuring several songs from his recent album 'Squire' but not the
expected quantities from 'Pipedream' or the Lindisfarne material (bar the
expected hits and 'City Song' and 'Alright On The Night' - perfect for a student
union knees-up!) The rarities include a lovely reading of 'Gin and Tonix All
Round' (that's a lot more vulnerable sounding than on 'Happy Daze') and a 90
second piano instrumental dubbed 'Cheeky Mouse' by the set compilers with Hull
talking about a mouse that's followed him about on tour 'stealing my cheese'.
Hull is on good form with lots of jokes made between songs and he sounds deeply
moved with the reception he gets, having clearly assumed that nobody this age
(four years on from his heyday) will remember who he is. Though later Hull live
recordings are better in both scope and performance, this is a very welcome
find indeed and is rather better than just alright on the night.
Bert
Jansch/Rod Clements "A Rare Conundrum"
(Charisma, May 1977)
Daybreak/One To A Hundred/Pretty
Saro/Doctor Doctor/3 AM/Curragh Of Kildare/Instrumentally Irish/St Fiacre/If
You See My Love/Poor Mouth/Cat and Mouse/Three Chord Trick/Lost Chord
"The
will of a child with no cares at all"
By
1977 the world had been without Pentangle for some four years and all the band
had established their own solo careers. Bert's was by far the highest profile
and best received, with the folk guitarist maintaining his cult following
across a series of predominantly acoustic records that were largely solo. By
1977 though he was missing the ability to play with a band and got together
with some of his biggest musician friends including Lindisfarne's Rod Clements.
The two had been close for several years by this time, having worked together on
a few sessions in 1974, and Bert largely left the band up to Rod to choose.
Keen not to use his old Lindisfarne and Jack The Lad friends, Rod instead hired
Newcastle drummer Pick Withers - a year away from finding fame and fortune with
Dire Straits - and violinist Mike Piggott who'll end up staying with Bert in a
reformed Pentangle for much of the 1980s and 1990s. While Bert's is naturally
enough the predominant sound and none of his new friends get a 'proper' credit
on the front of the album, it's really a collaboration between Bert and Rod
that feature several characteristic touches by both and a pretty neat mixture
of the pair's styles (Bert's pure folk, love of tradition and old songs and
seriousness meeting Rod's poppier, bluesy mould with a slightly friendlier tone
than some of Bert's work). The pair also produced the album together and it's
one of the better sounding Jansch LPs, with a spacious uncluttered feel that
really lets the acoustic instruments shine - it's a shame actually that the
Jack The Lad albums in particular didn't more of this 'feel' about them.
Highlights include the traditional song 'Pretty Saro' (which sounds very like a
Lindisfarne song with its fiddles and acoustic guitars even if Rod doesn't do
much) and 'The Curragh Of Kildare' which features some lovely double guitar
playing from the pair as well as one of Bert's greatest vocals. Jansch should
have made more albums like this and Rod is an empathetic collaborator - it's
obvious why so many names wanted to work with him. The pair will continue their
collaboration on 'Leather Laundrette' in the 1980s which is credited to both of
them.
Radiator
(Featuring Alan Hull) "Isn't It Strange?"
(The Rocket Record Company, '1977')
Spittin' In The Wind/I Wish You Well*/A
Walk In The Sea*/Madmen and Loonies*/Corporation Rock*//Isn't It Strange?*/Lay
Back and Dream/Something Got The Better Of You/Love Is The Alibi*/Love Is The
Answer*
* = Alan Hull compositions
"Is
there anybody listening? Does anybody really care?"
With
Lindisfarne Mark II having split and his own records selling poorly, Hull
wasn't quite sure what to do next. At first he toyed with making a third
straight solo album, recording a series of five demos in late 1975 that feature
many of the songs that will end up across this record and an early version of
'Evening' that will be finished for Lindisfarne's second comeback album 'The
News'. Hull had however stayed in touch with many old friends from the
'Lindisfarne Mark II' days and was keen to use them as his backing band. In
between contacting the band in 1975 and actually recording the album, however,
two of the band had mutated into a band of their own named Griffin. The band
featured lots of old Hull pals who knew each other through the Newcastle music
scene: 'Mark II' pals keyboard/guitarist Kenny Craddock, bassist Colin Gibson
who'd played on 'Pipedream' and - eventually - 'Squire' drummer Terry Popple
alongside new guitarist Peter Kirtley. At the first the band also contained a
drummer named Alan White (unbelievably a fourth AAA drummer with the exact same
name, following the session musician who played on The Beatles' 'Love Me Do',
the session drummer who played with the Plastic Ono Band at the 'Live Peace In
Toronto' gig and the Oasis drummer between 1996 and 2008) ) before
Lindisfarne's Ray Laidlaw, at a loose end of his own after the split of Jack
The Lad, agreed to replace him and became the band's second drummer. In a neat
mirror of how the original Lindisfarne formed, Griffin were a kind of
ready-made band who though the members had written a few of their songs were
really lacking a songwriter to give them clout - old friend Hull had the
ability to draw audiences they never could and was in need of a band in a
hurry, so the union made sense (although I'm surprised Radiator didn't to a
'Wings' and put Alan Hull's name high on the posters - even most
Lindisfarnatics were caught off guard - and ended up becoming the second
drummer, with White replaced by Terry Popple somewhere in the middle of the
sessions. Now a six piece, the band re-named themselves 'Radiator' (a hot name,
you have to say!) and performed some very powerful live performances while
working on this record that received some of the best reviews of Hull's career.
However
the album itself is rather a different story. Hull sounds slightly
disinterested, as if he's going through the motions because he has to make some
money to stay afloat - not because he really feels the passion in these songs. Many
of his latest set of compositions sound like re-writes of songs he's already
come up with before and go back to the 'Roll On Ruby' period of being generally
quite cynical and bitter, while also suffering from the anonymity of the worst
of his last album 'Squire'. Ultimately only two of Hull's songs really stand
out - the silly 'Madmen and Loonies' that name-checks famous partnerships that
were all a bit mad (although even then it's not as funny as some other comedy
Hull songs) and the gorgeous 'A Walk In The Sea' which is both sad and poignant
(although it's actually another of Hull's heaving set of pre-fame compositions
- what a shame the original Lindisfarne never recorded this song as it would
have been a fine addition to 'Nicely Out Of Tune' et al!) As of the rest of the
band, you can see why they longed for Hull's input so badly - Kenny and Colin's
'Spittin' In The Wind' is a rather anonymous rock strut of a record, Peter's
'Lay Back and Dream' is a rather clumsy music hall ballad that's comes across
like a cross between Steve Marriott and Ronnie Lane's solo careers and Kenny
and Colin's 'Something's Got The Better Of You' adds a curious flamenco sound
to a rather anonymous love song. Notably none of these three songs have
anything much to do with Hull's work and the rest of the band barely sing
behind Hull either. This makes it all that much easier when Hull will come to
revive the album in the wake of the success of 'Back and Fourth' in 1979,
turning into a solo set with the name 'Phantoms' (without the three 'outside'
songs, which are replaced by three similarly anonymous new compositions -
Hull's original intentions when making this a solo record in 1975 was to call
it 'Madmen and Loonies'). We'll review both albums as separate entities across
this site even thoughy both effectively appear together on the one and only CD
re-issue of either to date - 'Radiator' is slightly the better if only because
it throws in a little bit more variety but neither is exactly classic Hull or
indeed classic Craddock. The record didn't really sell in either packaging,
perhaps because in the case of 'Isn't Life Strange?' how weird it all looks, a
shot of a woman sitting at the back of a double-decker's top seat in a darkened
and creepy looking bus. Hull couldn't in fact find a label interested at all
for a year until he contacted old pal Elton John who'd just luanched his own
'Rocket' label for records like this one - that wasn't enough to stop the
cheeky Mr Hull adding Elton and co-writer Bernie Taupin to his list of 'madmen
and loonies'!
'Spittin' In The Wind' features Colin Gibson sounding like bad AC/DC on a noisy rock
song that has some nice brass work but not much else to recommend it. The
lyrics are clichéd fare about not getting too carried away with how good love
seems at the beginning because you'll only end up crying again. It's a song
about karma, really, although this is rather inelegantly described as 'like
spittin' in the wind - it all comes back on you!'
Hull's
'I Wish You Well' is
pretty enough, with a lovely production and some pretty shading going on behind
Hull's love-lorn vocals. Hull's nervy narrator is good too, as he stutters 'I
wish you well, well I mean as far as it goes, I mean as far as we know...'
However after a strong beginning the song rather sits still and you kind of
know where it's going long before it gets there and the slowed down pauses i
the middle of the song really don't work - Hull will be back for another crack
at this writing style with similarly mixed results on 'Back and Fourth'.
'A Walk In The Sea' is head and shoulders above everything else here and will become
a Lindisfarne semi-regular (there's a particularly nice live rendition on the
back of 1994 single 'We Can Make It', which turned out to be Hully's last
recorded vocal with the band). Hull's narrator claims to be happy when he's
alone, to 'work things out in my own mind' but he's suffering from 'I Am A
Rock-itis', in denial about the fact that he's just hurt and needs some time
alone to re-charge. 'Nobody else feels the same' sings Hull with true hurt and
betrayal, 'not even you' - the person he's always believed in.The ambiguous way
the song is written makes it sound as if Hull might be walking into the sea for
good (which might be why a tinkle of wind chimes marks the end of this song as
it fades away) - however it's not a completely negative song. Hull talks about
the fact that he still might meet his soul-mate one day, a person with whom he
needn't have all the communication problems he's having with his current loved
one - 'word no spoken but told, inside of me'. It's a gorgeous ballad,
exquisitely played and says so much about the narrator's fragile state without
really coming out and saying it directly. Only a true master composer could
come up with something like this - so it's deeply impressive that Hull should
have written this song so early in his career, alongside 'River' and 'We Can
Swing Together' as his first batch of compositions.
'Madmen and Loonies' is as close as Hull ever came to a reggae track and is as
mis-cast as all the other white reggae songs out there, especially the spoof
Dylan vocal which Hull uses to sing. The lyrics are worth a chuckle though
about double acts who work so well 'sometimes fighting, sometime making love,
sometimes up against the wall' but who love each other really - Hull quotes
Eric and Ernie, Elton and Bernie, Laurel and Hardy and Batman and Robin. Hull
talks about seeing all these 'crazy
mixed up millionaires and their dancing bears' and not feeling quite so bad
about his own circumstances. Which begs the question - who did Alan see himself
in a double act with?
The
rockier 'Corporation Rock'
is a sort-of-sequel to 'Taking Care Of Business', with Hull using a
straightforward rock backing that sounds like everything else around in this
era in which to lampoon everything that's wrong about the current state of
music. At the time this song was written it was the late prog rock era, just
before the punk era occurred when music arguably did need a little kick-start
and Hull laments how 'safe' music has become, laughing at how music has now
just become another business ('Get your divvy at the co-op!' is the mocking
backing vocal). Hull says not to worry if a career fades anyway because it's
now the norm for musicians to sell washing up liquid and football games! This
song is fun but it's not quite as clever as it thinks it is.
The
noisy 'Isn't It Strange?'
was the one new Hull song recorded directly for the record rather than as part
of the 1975 demos and sounds as if he's trying a little too hard to sound like
the 'Spoittin' In The Wind' Radiator sound. He'd have done better giving it to
Colin Gibson to sing as he lacks the 'demented rocker' voice needed to sing
this track, which comes across sounding more like Oi or Captain Sensible.
Peter
Kirtley's 'Lay Back and Dream'
is pleasant and has a rather lovely backing with lazy accordion and some lovely
Craddock piano. However it's all rather forgettable, with lyrics about having
taken a gamble on work and finding it had all worked and wanting to comfort his
loved one forever.
The
Kenny-sung 'Something's Got
The Better Of You' is also sweet, with some lovely guitar work and one
of the better melodies on the album but is perhaps a little anonymous compared
to both Hull's work and his own earlier songs for the 'Mark II' records. The
night is meant to be romantic one but the narrator has pressed ahead a little
too far and is getting worried about it - oh dear, for both them and us for
sitting through this clichéd song.
The
album then closes out with another Hull double-act. 'Love Is The Alibi' is a rather unlikeable
music hall style jaunt about why love is the only reason for being alive -
unless of course it' just an alibi for giving us a reason to stay alive. 'I've
read all the stories and sung all the songs, sometimes I'm right but more times
I'm wrong' sighs a bitter Hull reflecting on how love keeps changing.
However
Hull changes his mind and decides that 'Love Is The Answer' after all. An epic
piano ballad in the mould of 'Make Me Want To Stay' (written at the same time
but held back), the song turns bitter far too quickly as Hull worries about
being left alone ('is there anybody there?') and discovers that he only really
finds out what love is when he doesn't have it anymore. It's a rather odd way
to end the album and Hull and Craddock may be the only band members on the track.
Radiator
rather came apart after the poor sales of the album and with six pay packets to
account for simply didn't make ends meet enough on the gigs. The album was
shelved so suddenly that few fans even realised it was out and Hull felt sure
enough that nobody had heard it to re-issue the album under his own name in two
years' time. In many ways you can see why - this is an album that spends most
of the record commenting on how terribly bland and ordinary music has become,
whilst falling in the same traps of blandness and averageness itself, lacking
any real bite or adventurousness that Hull and co usually managed. Even
compared to the 'Mark II' collaborations between Alan and Kenny, it's all
rather forgettable. However it did give the pair a chance to work together
again, re-booting a friendship that will result in some really lovely songs to
come in the years ahead. Radiator also convinced Hull finally that he really
didn't have much of a future outside the band, with a reunion only a year away.
Isn't it strange indeed! However that's not to say this set is totally
unlikeable. Indeed, the CD re-issue of this comes highly recommended, a value
for money release that adds the three
songs added to make up 'Phantoms' from 1979 and a further five 1975 demos that
are slight, but charming including a lovely otherwise unreleased folk tune 'Raw
Beacon' that would have slotted in on this album's slightly acerbic tone well.
"Magic
In The Air"
(Mercury, Recorded December 1977,
Released '1978')
Lady Eleanor/Road To Kingdom Come/Turn
A Deaf Ear/January Song/Court In The Act//No Time To Lose/Winter Song/Uncle
Sam/Wake Up Little Sister/All Fall Down//Meet Me On The Corner/Bye Bye
Birdie/Train In G Major/Scarecrow Song/Dingly Dell//Scotch Mist/We Can Swing
Together/Fog On The Tyne/Clear White Light
"Oh-Woah-woah
there's magic in the air, Oh-woah-woah it's everywhere, and I need you to share
it with me!"
Tentatively
regrouping at Newcastle City Hall for a Christmas gig in 1976, mainly for fun,
Lindisfarne were bowled over by the reception they got - the audience sang
along to every song, gave the band a standing ovation and the reviews in the
music press the next day were amongst the best Lindisfarne ever got. Given that
all five original members were suffering various states of ill luck and
financial loss, it seemed inevitable that the band would do it again - but with
so many commitments lined up already for a busy 1977 the band decided to wait a
year until performing together again for Christmas Eve 1977, advertising a run
of four shows (of which this was the last) with a giant banner unfurled from
the town hall reading 'Lindisfarne Occupation'. They certainly did - it was the best Christmas present ever for
those in attendance and most people agree that This show was even better -
everyone was more prepared for it this time and Lindisfarne had brought along a
recording unit to capture the concert on tape. The audience are eager to hear the band together
again, Lindisfarne are eager to play and, considering this double set is made
up of songs from only three LPs, there’s surprisingly little filler here. The album was named
'Magic In The Air' after a line from 'Dingly Dell' (a song the band had split before
being able to perform live) and temporarily shelved while the band got to work
on their reunion album 'Back and Fourth' released on their new record label
Mercury. The record company were only to pleased to release the record as a
follow-up to 'Fourth' and to capitalise on the band's new-found success - a
reminder of where Lindisfarne had come from to go alongside where they'd gone.
It's
a thrilling show, with almost all the songs you'd want to hear performed live
by a band who are now the best of friends again (although sadly the one
negative point is that much of the jovial banter fans remember from the day
itself appears to have been cut). There's a nice mixture of the three albums
here too instead of just the 'hits' - seven songs from 'Nicely Out Of Tune'
(including a rare 'Scarecrow's Song), six from 'Fog On The Tyne', three from
'Dingly Dell', rare B-sides 'No Time To Lose' (which sounds specially fine) and
'Scotch Mist' and the record's only 'exclusive', a rather noisy cover of R and
B standard 'Bye Bye Blackbird'. Lindisfarne rehearsed like mad for this show
and are notably tighter and more disciplined than they ever were the 'first'
time around - though without sacrificing their natural sound (the harmonies in
particular standing out throughout). The highlights include a rocking 'Road To
Kingdom Come', a fun and funky 'Court In The Act' with much more life than the
one on the third album, a moving solo Hull rendition of 'Winter Song', Rod's
bass gulps on 'Dingly Dell' and a moving 'Clear White Light' finale. There are
several great performances on this album: Along the way a brass section appears
to add an extra colliery band feel to 'All Fall Down', the stage gets invaded
by the Killingsworth Sword Dancers for 'Scotch Mist', Jacka turns in his lengthiest
and arguably best extended harmonica solo during a very lengthy 'We Can Swing
Together' and compere and comedian Mike Elliott turns up dressed as Santa to
dish out presents. Most fans attending didn't need them though - they'd just
seen one of the best folk-rock bands of their generation perform one of their
best ever gigs. Lindisfarne were back with a bang - of course the reunion was
going to be permanent after this triumphant show - how could it not be with so
much love in the air, both on stage and in the auditorium? Not many live albums
are truly essential - but this one comes close. Just about the only sad note is
that having already perfected their live show Lindisfarne were never again
quite able to match the magic captured here - both on record and on stage. Oh
and the fact that this record is so flipping hard to find on CD - it's been
re-issued twice, on its own and in a double set with the lesser
'Lindisfarntastic' concerts of the 1980s but both are hard to find and rather
expensive these days (the Lindisfarne Mercury recordings really need an
overhaul!) To date your best bet for finding these recordings is on the 'live'
disc from the 'Meet Me On The Corner' anthology which features this album
complete (a handy way round the fact that most of the band's best loved
material first appeared on Charisma!)
Alan
Hull "Phantoms"
(The Rocket Record Company, '1979')
I Wish You Well/Anywhere Is
Everywhere*/Make Me Want To Stay*/Dancing (On Judgement Day)*/A Walk In The
Sea//Corporation Rock/Madmen and Loonies/Somewhere Out There*/Love Is The
Alibi/Love Is The Answer
* -= New Recordings
"Make
me want to stay - and I'll probably stay forevermore!"
With Lindisfarne now big news thanks to 'Run
For Home', Elton John's record company had a look back through their past
records and realised that they still had the 'Radiator' album which was rather
un-promoted and a bit of a poor seller back in 1977. Rather than simply
re-release the album as it was, they got in touch with Alan Hull and offered
him a new solo recording contract. Hull agreed and decided to re-release the
six older compositions from 1975 he'd released on 'Isn't It Strange?' with four
more recordings (abandoning the 1977 title track 'Isn't It Strange?' along with
the trio of tracks written by the other band members). Hull clearly considered
this a 'proper' canonical follow-up and even stung the Rocket Label with the
cost of another Magritte painting - amore obscure one this time, part of a
sequence featuring a series of faceless businessmen with their heads missing
and filled in with the scenery behind -
this one is entitled 'The King's Museum' and was painted in 1966. Hull named
the record 'Phantoms' more after the cover symbolism than anything else - there
isn't really a theme underlying the songs broken up as they are by a matter of
years.
The result is slightly better than 'Isn't It
Strange?' simply because Hull is a better writer and singer than the rest of
the Radiator band were and it makes more 'sense' having ten songs in one sound
than seven with three alien extras from elsewhere. However this album still
seems flimsy and unrewarding somehow, with even the new recordings sufferings
from the same feelings of detachment as the earlier songs. Hull slightly
tweaked the older recordings too, adding a longer fade to 'Corporation Rock'
(and much more use of the 'get your divvy at the co-op chorus) - the 'first'
version of which is still missing on CD. Even with the might of 'Run For Home'
and 'Back and Fourth' behind it this album still didn't sell terrible well,
although this second version at least outsold the first. Left to languish for
years in the vaults, the album finally made its debut in the digital age thanks
to the efforts of fan and chronicler Jim Henderson who organised the re-issues
of this album and 'Happy Daze'. It's a welcome addition to the Lindisfarne shelves
and any Alan Hull is better than no Alan Hull, especially with so many of the
extra demos from 1975 on the end - but don't expect to find a long lost
classic; this is Hull on auto-pilot by his high standard and the gorgeous 'A
Walk In The Sea' is the only song up to his very best.
Of the four new tracks, 'Anywhere Is Everywhere' is a pretty but pretty
slight song about 'having the notion to sail the Spanish ocean' before
realising that home is best after all. It's clearly written with 'Run For Home'
in mind and even throws in a crowd-pleasing reference to the 'Fog ON The Tyne',
while in context of the rather flat album it's a much punchier, energetic track
that really stand out. It's still not a particularly good song, though, and
it's comedy rather falls flat.
The re-recording of 'Make Me Want To Stay', which originally closed
'Back and Fourth', ruins a song that always sounded a bit artificial but always
had a certain poise in its 1978 form. Hull over-sings the rack terribly and
there's a syrupy synth string part alongside the piano which is all terribly
off-putting and sickening. You really wouldn't want to try too hard making this
narrator 'stay' - I'd pack your bags and go while you can!
'Dancing (On
Judgement Day)' is the best of the four newbies, a lively energetic rocker with
the second-best melody on the album (after 'Walk') and a descriptive lyric of
watching the water on holiday turn different colours and 'changing rages,
dancing through the ages'. Hull reckons that life is all about re-acting to
'waves of emotion, covering tragedy and comedy, and that whatever happens to
mankind they'll always pick themselves up and even the end of the world will
probably be greeted with a quick conga. The 'old' Hull would have added an
extra something into this song, though, to make it sound superb instead of just
promising.
The pop song 'Somewhere Out There' makes Hull sound like Leo
Sayer or Cliff Richard - he's not right in this outré pop setting at all. The
lyrics are good though even if the slicked-back backing isn't, returning to the
theme about mankind picking themselves up and trying again.
Ray
Jackson "In The Night"
(Phonogram, '1980')
Everything Will Turn Out Fine/Make It
Last/In The Night/Another Lonely Day/Stick Around Joe/Waiting For The
Time//Little Town Flirt/Tread On A Good Thing/You Send Me/Easy Love/Solo
Again/In The Midnight Hour
"Took
for granted that you wanted to stay, never thinking you'd want to go your own
way"
Jacka's
only released solo album, 'In The Night' was a labour of love that found the
singer returning to the soul songs that had inspired him and is the 'missing
link' between what Lndisfarne Mark II' were up to and Jacka's songs on the
reunion albums. It goes without saying that Jacka sounds great and makes
singing some very tricky material sound effortless. However it's the material
that's the biggest surprise - Jacka and his writing partner, fellow 'Mark II'
member Charlie Harcourt wrote several songs in this period, including the two
that appeared on Lindisfarne albums in 1979 and 1982. While nothing here is all
that experimental or up to the best of the Alan Hull solo albums, it's all
pleasant and deeply superior pop to most of the songs Lindisfarne had been
including on their recent records, in a similar vein to 'Warm Feeling'. The
record confused a few fans, though, who missed the fuller sound of a
Lindisfarne album and one of the record's biggest critics was the man who
engineered it, Steve Lipsom, who'd loved working with the band on 'The News'
but felt that the singer was selling himself short. To some extent that's true
- you get no sense of the true depth and range and skill of Jack's vocal here -
especially on the cover songs which Phonogram insisted he record instead of
some of his own songs in a desperate attempt at getting a hit (all of which are
far too treacly, with a truly awful 'In The Midnight Hour'). However I have a
soft spot for this under-rated album, which is easy listening at its finest
with a singer who has real abilities on some excellent original material that
has just enough depth and warmth to cut through the slickness of the backing.
Certainly 'In The Night' is a much more consistent listen than most solo
Lindisfarne albums - or even most Lindisfarne reunion albums and makes up in
beauty what it lacks in bravery or rule-breaking. The highlights include the
lovely 'Another Lonely Day' which is the sort of breathless pop the 'Mark II'
era band were aiming for but fell short of and the cheery 'Everything Will Turn
Out Fine', a catchy up tempo rock song that would surely have been a hit if it
had been released with Lindisfarne's name plastered all over it. Alas the
record has become very hard to track down and has never appeared on CD - Jacka
has apparently tried to contact Phonogram about releasing it but considered the
costs exorbitant given how many copies it was likely to sell. However
Lindisfans have done quite well across the past ten years with albums we didn't
think we'd ever see on CD finally released ('Pipedream' 'Happy Daze' and 'Isn't It Strange/Phantoms'
included) so maybe one day we'll see this one too.
"Repeat
Performance"
(Charisma, May 1981)
Clear White Light/Knacker's Yard Blues/Lady
Eleanor/Nothing But The Marvellous Is Beautiful/Meet Me On The Corner/Scotch
Mist/No Time To Lose//All Fall Down/We Can Swing Together (Live)/Court In The
Act/Don't Ask Me/Taking Care Of Business/North Country Boy/Fog On The
Tyne/Mandolin King
"Strumming
his strings, singing his songs, if you want you can all singalong!"
With
most of their initial releases now a decade old, Charisma decided to revisit
their back catalogue with a testing-the-waters compilation of all their artists
over the years (including Lindisfarne's 'Lady Eleanor'). The record proved to
be a big seller, taking the label rather by surprise, so they decided to turn
the 'Repeat performances' into a series featuring low budget re-issues of their
most popular bands including Hawkwind, Van Der Graaf Generator - and naturally
enough Lindisfarne. This is only the second time that past Lindisfarne songs
had been made available again and is a neat complement to 'Their Finest Hour',
repeating only the hits 'Lady Eleanor' 'Meet Me On The Corner' and 'Fog On The
Tyne', plus the ever-popular 'Clear White Light' and 'Go Back' strangely
enough, not to mention 'We Can Swing Together' (which appears here in the
'Lindisfarne Live' version). Considering that so many of the 'obvious' songs
have been passed over this is still a very impressive track selection and may
even be slightly the better song by song with semi-rarities such as the B-sides
'Nothing But The Marvellous Is Beautiful' 'Knacker's Yard Blues' 'No Time To
Lose' and 'Scotch Mist' . There's a lot more from 'Dingly Dell' here - the
third record which was rather passed over for the first compilation -
which is welcome in terms of 'All Fall Down' and less welcome in terms
of 'Mandolin King'. Most controversially, Charisma also chooses a pair of songs
from the 'Mark II' era album 'Roll On Ruby' with 'Taking Care Of Business' and
'North Country Boy'. The packaging leaves a bit to be desired (a Celtic cross
on white - which is a waste for such a colourful band) but given the low cost
this is impressively value for money and offers a nice way in to Lindisfarne
for new fans.
"Cambridge
Folk Festival"
(Strange Fruit, Recorded 1982 and 1984,
Released 1996)
Start Again/Nights/Lady Eleanor/Warm
Feeling/Stormy Weather/Meet Me On The Corner/I'm A Lover Not A Fighter/Winning
The Game/Clear White Light Part Two/Run For Home/Fog On The Tyne/No Time To
Lose
"Come
on boys it's time that we all pull together!"
Lindisfarne performed two well received gigs in
front of the Cambridge Folk Festival crowd in the 1980s - a show that still
takes place every year in the English city and has done since 1964. More
uptempo and rocky than most of the bands who played the gig, Lindisfarne were
always rapturously received. Fans had long since wondered what had happened to
the recordings made of the band there - one brief televised clip of 'Stormy
Weather' from the 1982 gig was all that had been broadcast - but thankfully the
tapes had been kept safe and were at last given a re-issue on the Strange Fruit
record label, established by DJ John Peel to release specialist radio
recordings. Sadly the gigs still aren't complete and a third performance at the
festival - one of the band's last show with Alan Hull in 1995 - isn't on here,
but it's still better than nothing. The band are on one of their ramshackle but
charismatic moods across both gigs and turn in a show closer to chaos than
slickness. However it's a lively set full of character and high on hits,
highlighted by Alan Hull tearing into Thatcher's government on a very
fast-paced 'Stormy Weather' and an exquisite 'Warm Feeling'. The band even
revive Jacka's R and B cover 'I'm A Lover Not A Fighter', previously only
available on the 'Lindisfarntastic' album. It's not the best Lindisfarne gig
out there, but it's still a good gig and a CD worth owning if you're lucky
enough to track it down (these Strange Peel sets are all becoming quite scarce
now and badly need another re-issue!)
Alan
Hull "On The Other Side"
(Black Crow Records, '1983')
On The Other Side/Evergreen/Inside A
Broken Heart/Malvinas Melody/American Man//Mystery Play/Day Of The Jackal/Love
In A Cage/Fly Away
"On
the other side of night there's either darkness there or light..."
To
date practically every AAA album has made it out on CD at some point during the
digital age. While some were only available in some foreign land, some turned
out to be very limited editions and some others are scattered across pricey box
sets you can usually get hold of a rare record in some form or another (though
if you're unlucky it will be a case of all three happening at once). Alan
Hull's fourth studio album is near-impossible to find, to the point where most
Lindisfans have never heard it. The reason why is down to an issue over rights
- Hull didn't have the commercial clout he'd once had and by 1983 was down to
releasing records on a small folk label. He probably thought nothing of the
license rights at the time as records rose or fell on their own merits without
the chance of reappraisal and re-release until nearer the end of the decade,
but the rights belonged to folk historian Dave Bulmer, who simply never got
round to releasing the album for re-issue (things may change after his untimely
death in 2013, though there's no sign of it yet). Hull is not alone in this -
Bulmer owned the rights to many a folk legend catalogue and there are lots of
online forums out there discussing lots of speculation and rumours over whether
he's within his rights to block re-releases/holding out for more money/is
genuinely concerned about the upgrading of material he owns/has lost all the
mastertapes etc. All you need to know is that unless something changes in the near future you're unlikely to
see this record sitting on the shelves of HMV any time soon. Even as strong a
Lindisfanatic as me has never ever seen a copy of this album, never mind been
able to afford to buy one at such inflated costs, so you'll have to make do
with a sort of 'half-review' this week and a review based on the understanding
that some of the arrangements may have changed from the actual record. Sorry
about that - perhaps if I sell enough copies of this book I can afford to buy
an original copy and review the record properly (I'll need to sell a lot, mind
you!) Luckily
Hull was a prestigious live performer and there are lots of in concert
performances of these songs around, including a few that were re-recorded (or
in some cases previously recorded) by Lindisfarne so we can at least review
something. Hull appears to be back on form, having rediscovered the mojo that
had deserted him for much of 'Phantoms' and the political developments of the
1980s (none of them good) bring out the best in his songwriting which is by
turns, sarcastic, pleading and snarling on behalf of the underdog.
The
title track 'On The Other
Side' is gutsy, rootsy blues, with a melody and strutting shuffle not
unlike the title track of 'Squire' but played with more funk. It's a poetic
song that never quite defines what 'the other side' is - is it death, madness
or a different way of looking at the world?
'Evergreen'
is a pretty track that is perhaps the closest Hull ever came to writing a
sequel to 'Lady Eleanor' with a similarly surreal, impressionistic take on what
falling in love seems like. Lindisfarne tried this song out lots of times in
the 'Sleepless Nights' era, with Jacka or Alan on lead, but never nailed a take
they liked. Si is said to have referred to this as 'Alan's Barry White Song',
much to the composer's horror!
'Inside A Broken Heart' is Hull's despairing take on how love lost can never be re-found
and how even though it can't be 'seen' by doctors or nurses it can be very much
there inside you. 'A bottle of wine a toothbrush and a comb are all that a man
has to remind him of home' is Hull's take on being kicked out of the marital
house.
The
record's towering achievement, 'Malvinas
Melody' flies right slap bang in the face of the gung-ho coverage of The
Falklands War back in Britain. The song is sung by a sarcastic local who tells
the troops why the land would be so good for the British empire ('We've got six
million sheep, some penguins and a whole lot of snow!') and how they expected
to be 'freed' by a 'one hell of a party' there to meet us - not just the
handful of ill-equipped soldiers Thatcher sent over to fight. Throughout the
song the narrator talks about it being 'so cold' on the islands, but a twist in
the last verse points out that he's 'cold' because he's dead, killed in a war
that didn't need fighting and in which the narrator only enlisted to see the
world - instead he never got off his own island. Though strangely melody-less,
this song is still deeply powerful through the force of the lyrics alone and
the chilling way that Hull sang the song (both solo and with Lindisfarne, where
it was a stage regular and was also recorded for 'Sleepless Nights', with this
version later released on 1992's band compilation 'Buried Treasure') makes it
one of its composer's best songs of the 1980s.
'American Man' is another damning attack, apparently on Ronald Reagan who can't
'get' the fact that the Russians are people just like him and have feelings
too. 'What could the difference be?' Hull wonders as a long list of countries
go to war against each other for no reason and adds that the sea both sides of
the cold war want for their own is 'simply a space-coloured blue on an atlas
that's shrinking fast'.
'Mystery Play' is a slower, more thoughtful song about how out-of place Hull
feels in a world he doesn't understand. He sarcastically adds that all life
experiences good or bad are part of 'life's rich tapestry' but still can't
understand why the 'wrong' people have everything and the deserving have
nothing. Lindisfarne sang this song in concert too and their band version can
be heard on 'Lindisfarntastic', the live record given away free with tickets to
their shows.
The
record is also home to another Lindisfarne classic 'The Day Of The Jackal', later re-recorded for
1993 album 'Elvis Lives On The Moon'. I much prefer Hull's solo version which
is more basic but freer without all the technological trappings and which is
more suited to Hull's witty lyrics about children in politically unstable
countries having to grow up before their time, while the world dances a
'bezerker' dance. Hull even plays God ('or Allah if you choose') looking down
on Erath and wondering why so many wars are being fought in 'his' name,
bringing 'despair, destruction and abuse'.
'Love In A Cage' is a much more peaceful love song which is effectively a first
draft of 'Everything Changes' from 'Amigos' - but it's about how things seem
worse when you're out of love, not better when you're in it. Everything in life
has lost its sparkle for the recently divorced narrator, who now hears a
stroppy DJ playing facile music where he once heard love songs and where 'the
moon has dropped out of sight'.
The
album then closes with 'Fly
Away', a pretty little song that sounds like one of Paul Weller's
ballads about his children growing up and flying the nest. Hull offers some
fatherly advice, mainly about 'ignoring the grey men in suits', but he knows
his daughters have to find their own way in the world and sighs 'no words can
explain no words can tell'. The song veers a little too close to MOR by Hull
standards, but the sentiment is heartfelt enough and the melody is one of the
strongest on the record.
Overall,
then, 'On The Other Side' offers a much more rounded view of Hull's songwriting
than 'Squire' did. The (I think) sparser, rockier performances mean that Hull
sounds more direct and emotional rather than singing against a 'posh'
over-slick backing and while there are perhaps a couple too many 'top 40 radio'
love ballads, there's a real bite and danger to some of these songs which have
been missing from Hull's songwriting for quite some time. Hopefully one day the
world will get to re-discover this album for themselves and while not quite the
revelation for many that 'Pipedream' proved to be on its much-delayed re-issue,
there's reason enough to think that this album is something of a buried
treasure with as real worth for fans of Hully's songwriting abilities - far
more so than 'Phantoms' proved to be and indeed most of the 1980s Lindisfarne
records will prove to have.
"Lindisfarntastic!
Live"
(Lindisfarne Music Publishing, Recorded
Christmas 1983, Released '1983')
I Must Stop Going To Parties/Marshall
Riley's Army/Down/We Can Swing Together//Fog On The Tyne/Engine Trouble/Meet Me
On The Corner/Clear White Light
(Released on CD with 'Lindasfarntastic
Two' as 'Caught In The Act')
"The
lessons you have taught us, who has learned them?"
Did the world need another live album from
Lindisfarne so soon after the last one? Possibly not, but the fans did so the
band got together for the one of their greatest philanthropic gestures - an
extra special present for fans on their Newcastle City Hall tour of Christmas
1984. This record and its companion volume given away a tour later were taped
during the run of Christmas shows in 1983 and wasn't sold in shops at first but
handed out to fans who sent in a voucher from the tour programme and included in
the ticket price; amazingly it took less than a month for the record to be sent
out (hence the fact that the credit to Lindisfarne's short-lived record label
which only ever released these two volumes). It was a kind gesture, even if the
ticket prices were slightly higher than usual to compensate for the mobile
recording units, with the band promising the fans during the dates 'you'll
going to be on this record you know - it's for you' and enabling fans to relive
their memories at home. Though the album was later released in the shops so
other fans could buy them - at a cheaper price too - the idea brought the band
much positive press coverage just at the time they needed it and it worked
nicely as a 'promotional' tool for the band. The concerts would prove key for
the band's guest musician that night too, keyboardist Alan Clark - who found
himself hired to join Dire Straits less than a week after taking part (Dire
Straits and Lindisfarne were always very close!)
Given the circumstances both albums are very much
tailored to the passionate fan. Lindisfarne only include the fan favourites
from yesteryear (the hit singles 'Fog' and 'Corner' plus an endless version of
'We Can Swing Together') and mainly concentrate on the newer songs from the
three albums the band have released since 'Magic In The Air'. This is
particularly welcome on the more electro songs from 'Sleepless Nights' that
sound quite different in their new setting as the band find new ways to
reproduce these songs live and while much rougher and less impressive to the
casual listener there's a lot of 'life' about this concert. There's definitely
a party atmosphere in the room, with a very vocal audience clapping, cheering
and singing along all the way through and highlighted by a singalong 'Marshall Riley's
Army' from 'Back and Fourth' that really does sound like an angry Geordie mob
about to march on London for their rights! The one 'new' song here isn't really
a 'song' at all but a bit of an indulgent Ray Jacka monologue from in between
'tuning', as Jacka prepares for a career in cabaret on the side by re-enacting
the sounds of engines, police cars, fire engines and all sorts with nothing
more than his mouth! (Alas there doesn't seem to be a recording of the 'trick'
fans remember most, Jacka re-creating the sound of a walkman getting louder
then softer!) The result isn't strictly Lindisfarntastic (though it's
Lindisfarnegood - which doesn't quite have the same ring to it somehow) and the
pair are probably the weakest Lindisfarne live recordings overall, sloppier
than 'Magic In The Air' without the charm of 'Live' or the inventiveness of the
'Unplugged' sets. However even if they're a record only a fan could really love but
that's alright - it was only meant for fans anyway and was a nice inventive gesture
that other bands should have taken up. The album was popular enough to be sold
'properly' in 1985 but never did sell that many couples. It's since been paired
in the CD age with its sister volume and re-branded 'Court In The Act' after a
song that, erm, Lindisfarne don't actually play at either gig!
"Lindisfarntastic
Two"
(Lindisfarne Music Publishing, Recorded
Christmas 1983 Released '1984')
Moving House/Taxman/Lady
Eleanor/Nights/Mr Inbetween//Brand New Day/Mystery Play/I'm A Lover Not A
Fighter/Day Of The Jackal/Stormy Weather
(Released on CD with 'Lindisfarntastic!
Live' as 'Caught In The Act')
"Two
ton Terry with a cherry on his nose is wrecking the record machine"
The
goodwill from fans after the first volume was so strong that Lindisfarne did
the same again, with a second set culled from the same Christmas 1983 shows
that was also given away 'free' (or at least as part of the ticket price) for
the next run of shows. This is for the more longer-term fan a much more
interesting record, containing several songs that were either brand new and
unreleased (and never did make it through to next record 'Dance Your Life Away'
as expected) or had only formerly been performed by Alan solo. To be honest
there's nothing here approaching Lindisfarne's best and songs like 'Mystery
Play' (from Hull's 'On The Other Side' LP of 1983), 'Brand New Day' (a rare
band single from the same year), another noisy R and B Jacka-led cover 'I'm A
Lover Not A Fighter' and 'Moving House' (a new song only ever released here)
are Lindisfarne at their worst: sloppy, soppy and insincere. However there are
at least a couple of reasons for tracking this album down, including another
fine new song the band should have returned to (the snarling 'Taxman', a wicked
Alan Hull song about 'a lowlife ratbag sort of a person' which is almost as
funny and scathing as the Beatles song of the same name and an early band
rendition of Hull's solo 'Day Of The Jackal', which sounds far better here than
it does on either 'On The Other Side' or the re-recording a decade later for
'Elvis Lives On The Moon'). As for the older songs, there's a nice version of 'Lady Eleanor' and
a crowd-rallying 'Stormy Weather' which are both mighty strong, though 'Mr
Inbetween' is a bit ramshackle and 'Nights' isn't half as good as other more
doo-wop versions of the song from the same period. Overall then it's a bit hit
and miss, pretty darn good as a 'freebie' (the way it was originally intended)
but a bit less of an essential purchase when re-released on CD as the
ever-expensive 'Court In The Act' (which the band still haven't played!)
"Lindisfarne
Christmas" (EP)
(Lindisfarne Music Presents, '1985')
Warm Feeling (Live)/Red Square
Dance/Run For Home (Live)/Nights (Live)
"I
remember the nights nights nights nights wo-ah woah!"
Often
missing from Lindisfarne discographies - and still unavailable on CD - this EP
is effectively 'Lindisfarntastic Volume Three', filling in the gaps between
albums with three more recordings from the band's festive shows along with one
hard-to-find single released in 1980 under the pseudonym 'The Defectors'.
Though the instrumental 'Red Square Dance' turned out to be quite a
disappointment musically (despite hinting that Lindisfarne were more aware than
most about events behind the iron curtain during the fall of society Russia -
see 'Elvis Lives On The Moon' for the band's decision to become one of the
first Western bands allowed to tour there), the live recordings are all very
good and easily up to the standard set by the two albums. 'Warm Feeling' is
enough to make you go fuzzy all over and is one of the best versions Jacka ever
performed of his lovely song, whilst 'Run For Home' - a curioous absentee from
the original records - is nicely out of tune, to coin a phrase! However the
highlight is a staggeringly good new arrangement of 'Nights' from 1982, treated
'Grease style' as a doo wop a capella song with all the band singing (even Ray
Laidlaw!) It's a thrilling version, with Rod providing the deep voice, Ray Si
and Marty on the 'woo wahs', Jacka on lead and Alan on counter-lead: the
finished version, though very 80s, was exceptionally well crafted but this live
arrangement may well have the edge with those famous sweet and sour harmonies
at their loveliest.
"C'Mon
Everybody!"
(Stylus Music, '1987')
Let's Dance/New Orleans/Splish
Splash/Party Doll/You Never Can Tell/Little Bitty Pretty One/Running Bear/Mr
Bass Man/Sea Cruise//Let's Go!/Woolly Bully/C'Mon Everybody!/Do You Wanna
Dance?/Twist and Shout/Do You Love Me?/Runaround Sue/Shake Rattle and Roll/See
You Later Alligator/It'll Be Me/You Keep A Knockin'//Love You More Than I Can
Say/Oh Donna/Keep Your Hands Off My Baby/Rhythm Of The Rain/Speedy
Gonzales/Little Darlin'/Dreamin'/La Bamba//Meet Me On The Corner/Lady
Eleanor/Fog On The Tyne/Run For Home/Warm Feeling/Clear White Light
"Turning
your head to the cloud, the sun and the sky, because you never know what you
might find"
Regrouping
after the relative failure of 'Dance Your Life Away', the band decided to go in
an entirely different direction and make some quick money on an album that has
divided fans like no other. A double album set containing three long medleys of
predominantly 1950s rock and roll songs and a fourth side of rather rushed
re-recordings of their biggest hits, it's very much a release of its times when
re-workings of songs in medleys with godawful drum beats were all the rage (see
'Stars On 45' and the various Beatles and Hollies hit medleys of this
period).However it seemed a strange career progression for a band who so
recently had been too modern to go all the way back to their past. However the
idea wasn't Lindisfarne's but Stylus Music, a label which had the bright idea
of getting as many big names from the past as possible to record rock and roll
'party' albums (then all the rage, though usually featuring anonymous session
men) and offering them cheap through a series of TV adverts. Though rock and
roll wasn't really what the band were known for and was only one of the
influences on their sound (if Lindisfarne really had made a 'roots' album like
so many of these cover albums are, it would have been full primarily of blues
with a bit of folk thrown in and perhaps a little pop - but very little actual
rock and roll) the potential for making money was huge and came along just when
the band needed it most. In many ways it was an offer they couldn't refuse -
but in many others it was an offer they should have refused anyway.
What
should have been a fun album of rock and roll classics done on the cheap - and
given the hilarious working title 'Teddy Boy's Picnic' by Si which they should have used - ended up
dividing the band terribly over what direction they were taking, with Jacka the
most outspoken over the whole experience (Alan - the one you'd expect to be
most 'against' the idea - was persuaded on the grounds that his idol John
Lennon had made a similar record in 1975, which sounds much like this one
though thankfully without the electronic 80s drum sound). Stylus demanded
several stipulations for this record which took even more fun out of things:
they chose the cover (a tacky photo of teenagers dancing, which is even
credited to 'Club 18-30' on the back!) and demanded certain song choices for
the record - the Lindisfarne hits, mainly, with a veto over the rock and roll
choices the band came up with. The result is an album that could have worked in
different circumstances (and with a very different cover!) and did at least
enable Lindisfarne to stay active for a fair few more years yet (selling some
60,000 odd copies - a big improvement over all the albums since 'Back and
Fourth'). However it's an album that was confused from the start, with 1980s
re-treads of 1950s songs that just sound 'wrong' even with a band as fine as
Lindisfarne playing - the power and warmth of the original songs were their
biggest strength and even that is sapped away by the very synthesised, digital
backing, while the Lindisfarne re-treads fare even worse, as if someone had
produced the timeless 'Nicely Out Of Tune' in the style of 'Dance Your Life
Away'.
It's
certainly not 'the greatest party album ever!' as promised on the sleeve
(that's Magic I The Air' if you didn't already know!) though it's also not
quite Lindisfarne's worst album as some fans think and maybe even an improvement (of sorts) oxn
the woeful 'Dance Your Life Away'. There are a few highlights, such as a
rippling electronica version of 'Clear White Light' (the way Gary Numan might
have done it!), a fun take on 'Mr Bassman' with Si singing lead to Jacka's
increasingly tongue-twisting 'bam ba bams', a lovely version of 'Rhythm Of The
Rain', Alan Hull ruining all the respect he's built up over the past quarter
century with a turn as a high-pitched 'Speedy Gonzales', a better-than-expected
updated 'Lady Eleanor'and a welcome chance to hear all four of Lindisfarne's
lead singers in this period (Jacka, Alan, Si and Marty, who really comes into
his own here) more or less equally. However neither is this is anything more
than just a money-making exercise, without Lindisfarne's usual quality and
care: Ray's drumming fares particularly badly in the 80s age, while the band's
guitar and rhythm sound are drowned out by a raft of keyboards that sound
horrid. What the band might perhaps have been better off doing is recording
these albums even more cheaply on tour, adding a bit of life back into the
covers which disappeared in the studio (legend has it the tour for this album
was great, with the band dressed up as 50s rockers with slicked back hair and
proper suits. The band also missed a trick not re-recording 'Nights', the retro
50s-style song from 1982 the band once sang in a doo-wop version which would
have been perfect for this album. Perhaps mercifully the album has become
rather hard to track down - c'mon Stylus re-release it now!
The
first three sides are all lengthy melodies without any split between them on
the original vinyl editions (though some were out in for the CD era), running
more or less as a continual whole for twenty-odd minutes. Bob Darwin's 'Let's Dance' is an odd place
to start, with Jacka singing over a heavy rolled drum beat on an obscure rock
song that even the internet seems to be unsure about - it appears to be an 80s
song written in the style of a 50s number which no one else seems to have
recorded. Suddenly Marty's singing a 'hey hey heyyyyy-yeah!' chorus as he takes
us on a trip down to 'New
Orleans' by Rosyter and Guido, made famous by The Blues Brothers shortly
after this record's release. Suddenly we make a left-turn as Alan Hull is
making a mess in the bath on 'Splish
Splash' the song made famous by Bobby Darwin. Hull at least sounds as if
he's having fun, but he has his work cut out trying to be heard over Rat's
noisy yet tinny drumming and Marty's very 80s sax. 'Party Doll' was the album's hit single and is
a rather noisy song which was a big hit for Buddy Knox in 1957 and sounds
atrocious here despite the hard work Jacka is putting in on vocals and
harmonica, lifeless and limp. One of Chuck Berry's weaker songs is up next with
'You Never Can Tell',
re-arranged to include some honkytonk piano as Hull sounds bored out of his
mind. Rather better is 'Little
Bitty Pretty One', a classic 60s tune first sung by Bobby Day which is
better suited to this sort of pointless revelry although even here Marty struggles
with the words and it all sounds far too 80s by half. Suddenly a load of
Indians who sound just like Jacka arrive panting 'ungachugga' and we're braced
for 'Running Bear', a very empty song about a romance between two native
americans written by The Big Hopper and sung with complete disinterest by the
band's lead singer who clearly would rather be anywhere else right now.
Thankfully the band's stuttering rhythm turns into the record's relative
highlight, the delightful Johnny Cymbal comedy in 'tribute to the hidden king
of rock and roll', 'Mr Bass
Man'. Si sounds great singing the lead while Jacka tries to teach him
how to sing. There's far less 80s trappings going in for this one which sounds
like the band really are having fun! The side then ends with another better
than average cover 'Sea
Cruise' which features Hull tackling the Frabkie Ford classic with lots
of joyous 'oo-wee!'s and lots of sound effects.
'Let's Go!'
onto side two now, where a noisy riff never develops into a proper song before
disappearing into the warmer tones of Hull roaring his (woolly) socks off to Woolly Bully, a track which
might actually sound good if you could hear it behind all the noise. The band
then pick up the pace for title track 'C'mon Everybody', a better-than-average stab at Eddie Cochran's
classic with Hull again on a sterling lead vocal and some nice bass-guitar
interplay that sounds very authentic. Bobby Freeman's ever-popular 'Do You
Wanna Dance?' is a good choice too, with a double-tracka Jacka tailor made for the
song and a great Si Cowe guitar solo, even if again it all sounds curiously
sterile by Lindisfarne standards. It doesn't last very long anyway before Jacka
is aping John Lennon on the single worst version of 'Twist and Shout' I've ever heard, with all the
passion and emotion removed. Luckily this song doesn't get any further than the
chorus until we're in the similar-all-round groove of 'Do You Love Me?', a Berry song for Motown act
The Contours with Jacka still on lead and Alan and Marty backing him, before
returning in a loop back to 'Cmon Everybody'. Next up is a rather good Marty
take on Dion's doo wop song 'Runaround
Sue' which is performed with a real feel for the 1950s and an actually
pretty fine a capella opening, although the show is stolen by Jacka on the
'heddy heddy hip' backing. Bill Haley's 'Shake Rattle and Roll' sounds less convincing
though, with what used to be the most alive art form of the 20th century with
the narrator just like a one eyed cat peeping in a sea-food store every time he
sees his girl now sounding old and feeble, with Jacka struggling with his vocal
(instead the highlight is Rod's great jazzy bass part!) Somewhere along the way
the song turns into another similar Bill Haley tune 'See You Later Alligator' with Jacka still in
cruise control mode for a three minute cover that definitely outstays it's
welcome. Jacka sounds much happier on 'It'll Be Me', a rare British cover song on this album best known
from Cliff Richard and the Shadows' cover with some great bluesy harmonica
playing. This leads quite neatly into the side's finale, a very OTT Alan Hull
almost cackling his way through Little Richard's 'You Keep Knockin' But You Can't Come In' which even
the original would have considered a little too hysterical!
Onto
side three now - Gulp! Is that all? - which starts off quite sweetly with the
lovely J J Allison song 'Love
You More Than Words Can Say', covered by lots of people without ever
quite being a hit (fellow AAA star Otis Redding's version is the best). Jacka
is well suited to this sort of romantic ballad but Rayt's heavy drumming makes
it sounds as if he's clobbering his lover over the head not taking her out on a
date! Ritchie Valens' dreary 'Oh
Donna' is horrendous and has no redeeming features at all, slowed down
to a crawl with Alan Hull trying his best to sound romantic but instead simply
sounds nauseous! Popular Goffin and King song 'Keep Your Hands Off My Baby' at least sounds as if
it belongs in this era, turning out not unlike noisy contemporary singles by
Madonna and Kylie Minogue and the like ('Locomotion' is about the only thing
the band don't do here!) and Jacka copes well on lead, although the change of
the song from a guitar based one to a very 80s casio sequencer keyboard is a
very bad move. Thankfully The Cascades' 'Rhythm Of The Rain' sweeps off to ease my headache
and it's a delightful version with Jacka and Alan singing largely in harmony
against a backdrop of pretty guitars and some delightful Jacka whistling.
Though one of the most obscure songs here, it's also one of the best, full of
the pathos and emotion Lindisfarne are so good at conveying (and which has been
absent for so much of the record!) Pat Boone's 'Speedy Gonzales' is either horrendous or great fun
depending on your mood, with Jacka taking the mickey out of the opening speech
and Hull seemingly ruining his voice forever as the squeaky bandit of the title
(though Si does the actual 'talking' about 'green stamps and tequila'),
although the doo-wop backing is still awfully limp. We then switch tack
mid-song for Hull channelling his inner Elvis on The Original Diamonds' doo-wop
song 'Little Darlin'
which is less funny but just as mocking with Hull growling the spoken word part
while Jacka, Si and Marty make for a great doo-wop choir. Jacka then sings
Johnny Burnett's song 'Dreamin',
though not to any great effect _this sounds more like a nightmare) before that
sodding Speedy Gonzales riff comes back for a fourth time, suddenly turning
into a histrionic Hull cod-Mexican version of 'La Bamba' which would be terrible if not for his
sly nonsense vocal and Ray finally getting off that same awful rhythm and
taking out his frustrations on a different set of drums for a change. I can't
tell you the relief when this song finally stops and nothing else sweeps in to
take its place - is that it? Did we survive all that?
Phew,
because side four is much easier on the ears - even if the band are still
ruining older material at least it's their own this time and so of interest no
matter how bad it gets. We start with a jangly 'Meet Me On The Corner' which is perhaps the closest
to the original although you can hear some differences, notably Jacka's
slightly altered vocal lines and different places where he breathes in to play
the harmonica. It's nice, but pointless when you can just hear the original. 'Lady Eleanor' - also
released as a single - sounds surprisingly good, with this Elizabethan lady now
an 80s android with 'aaah' ing synth noises, a Jack a flute solo that's more
like Jethro Tull and gongs going off in the background. Though the band don't
sing as well as they did on the original there's a certain ghostly beauty about
this new arrangement that's very fitting and not the travesty it might have
been. 'Fog On The Tyne'
is kind of ok, inevitably turned into a heavily percussionised foot-stomper
with a curious harmonica scene-setting opener while Hull introduces it with a
'one two three quatro' count-in. The band's more 'upbeat' harmonies foreshadow
what they'll do this song in three years' time with footballer Paul
Gascoigne's, erm, 'help'. 'Run
For Hone' sounds flat though, the band having an off day as they get
smothered in a horribly tacky arrangement full of strings and saxophones (put
that thing away Marty!) That horrid Ray Laidlaw drum part is back too. Jacka's 'Warm Feeling' seems like a
strange choice and is probably here to placate their red-up lead singer and get
him some welcome royalties as much as anything else. Dear God this version now
has a reggae beat to it and all sense of warm feelings towards this originally
lovely piece evaporate long before the end. Finally, and against all the odds,
the record ends with another success story in 'Clear White Light Part Two' which is turned into a
percussion crazy electronica landscape with ghostly synth-vocals and what
sounds like a guitar-banjo. It ought to sound horrendous - and yet in a curious
way it's fitting, updating a song about not knowing what the future holds for
another generation and treated with much more reverence than other cover songs
on this record, with the lengthy fade particularly haunting, ending not with
the comforting declaration that the clear white light exists but the rather
more edgy 'do you believe?' sung over and over.
'C'mon Everybody' is not without worth, then, and there are worst things that AAA
bands have done in the name of money. However I'd have been furious if I'd have
bought this under false pretences - as either just another Lindisfarne album or
as a various artists hits medley of rock and roll tunes. You have to question
Stylus' manner of thinking that made them turn to a band not particularly known
for recording this sort of material - surely a single album of re-recordings
would have been much more marketable anyway than hearing one of the world's
greatest songwriters pretend to be Speedy Gonzales or hear one of the world's
greatest vocalists reduced to singing a comedy bass-line. Thankfully
Lindisfarne did get their money and stayed afloat a while longer but the price
was perhaps too high - the band lost a lot of the goodwill that was left
amongst their old fans and didn't really gain any new followers from making
this album. They also began to start sniping about each other behind the scenes
too, none of them quite happy about where the band were headed from here (the
band answering reporter's questions with 'is this your new direction then?'
with straightfaced 'yes' es didn't help!) Though it's named after a rallying
cry of unity, 'C'mon Everybody' proved to be a very divisive record and there
will only be one more record with the 'core five' of the band still there.
'Elvis Lives On The Moon' (L) (1993) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/lindisfarne-elvis-lives-on-moon-1993.html
A NOW COMPLETE LIST OF LINDISFARNE ARTICLES
TO READ AT ALAN’S ALBUM ARCHIVES:
'Nicely Out Of Tune' (L)
(1970) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-37-lindisfarne-nicely-out-of.html
'Fog On The Tyne' (L) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88.html
'Dingly Dell' (L) (1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146.html
'Roll ON Ruby' (L) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/lindisfarne-roll-on-ruby-1973.html
'Fog On The Tyne' (L) (1971) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/news-views-and-music-issue-88.html
'Dingly Dell' (L) (1972) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/news-views-and-music-issue-146.html
'Roll ON Ruby' (L) (1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/lindisfarne-roll-on-ruby-1973.html
'It's Jack The Lad' (JTL)
(1973) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-61-jack-lad-its-jack-lad-1973.html
'Happy Daze' (L) (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50.html
'Pipedream' (AH) (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-alan-hull.html
'Happy Daze' (L) (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/news-views-and-music-issue-50.html
'Pipedream' (AH) (1974) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2010/06/news-views-and-music-issue-63-alan-hull.html
'The Squire' (AH) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/alan-hull-squire-1975.html
'The Old Straight Track' (JTL) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-jack-lad.html
'The Old Straight Track' (JTL) (1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/news-views-and-music-issue-109-jack-lad.html
'Rough Diamonds' (JTL)
(1975) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/jack-lad-rough-diamonds-1975.html
‘Jackpot’ (JTL) (1976) https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/jack-lad-jackpot-1976.html
'Magic In The Air' (L) (1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15.html
'Magic In The Air' (L) (1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/12/news-views-and-music-issue-15.html
'Back and Fourth' (L)
(1978) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/lindisfarne-back-and-fourth-1978.html
‘The News’(L) (1979) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/lindisfarne-news-1979.html
'Sleepless Nights' (L) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-83-lindisfarne-sleepless-nights.html
‘The News’(L) (1979) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/lindisfarne-news-1979.html
'Sleepless Nights' (L) (1982) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/review-83-lindisfarne-sleepless-nights.html
'Dance Your Life Away' (L)
(1986) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.com/2017/01/lindisfarne-dance-your-life-away-1986.html
‘Amigos’ (1989)
https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/lindisfarne-amigos-1989.html
'Elvis Lives On The Moon' (L) (1993) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/lindisfarne-elvis-lives-on-moon-1993.html
'Here Comes The
Neighbourhood' (1998) http://www.alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/lindisfarne-here-comes-neighbourhood.html
'Promenade' (2002) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/lindisfarne-promenade-2002.html
Si Cowe Obituary and
Tribute (2015) http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/simon-si-cowe-lindisfarne-guitarist.html
Surviving TV Clips http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/surviving-lindisfarne-tv-clips-1971-1996.html
Live/Solo/Compilation
Albums Part One 1970-1987 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/lindisfarne-sololiveraritiescompilation.html
Live/Solo/Compilation
Albums Part Two 1988-2015 http://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/lindisfarne-sololiveraritiescompilation_29.html
Essay: Keepin’ The Rage On Behalf Of The Working Classes https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/lindisfarne-essay-keepin-rage-on-behalf.html
Essay: Keepin’ The Rage On Behalf Of The Working Classes https://alansalbumarchives.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/lindisfarne-essay-keepin-rage-on-behalf.html
