Magic Nights by Christy Moore.

I have purchased a lot of CDs this year in various genres of music, but I think the most enjoyable one of all is the new release from Christy Moore called Magic Nights. It is a 2 CD collection of live recordings made over the past few years. There are 26 songs in all, and I have enjoyed hearing every single one of them.

There is a very attractive booklet with the package in which Christy has written notes about all the songs. I like the way in which he gives full credit to all the songwriters. Apart from the songs by Shane McGowan and Jackson Browne I don’t think I would have been aware of most of these great songs if Christy hadn’t recorded them himself. Also, I like how when he hears a great song, he seems to always ask the writers permission before he records it. There are some great photos in the booklet by Adam Sherwood and Rafal Kostrzewa. Producer Jimmy Higgins and engineer David Meade also deserve a mention for bringing out the best in these live recordings, the sound quality is excellent.

I won’t tell you about every single song in detail or I’ll be here all day, just what I noted down as I listened. I hadn’t heard the opening song Magic Nights In The Lobby Bar before, but I notice it is written by John Spillane & Ger Wolfe. John Spillane is a great singer himself and I discovered his work through Christy recording other songs of his. Matty is a favourite song that I first heard on a cd in Joyce’s Bar in Kiltimagh about 20 years ago. Poor old Matty comes to a bad end when he meets his ‘dark familiar’ down the ‘curra line’. Sonny’s Dream I first heard on the Ride On album 35 years ago. Ringing That Bell is a relatively new song to me that I heard back in the summer at the Royal Festival Hall and it is that performance that is included here. What a great song it is. A Pair Of Brown Eyes is one of Shane McGowan's greatest songs.

Sail On Jimmy is another song that I heard at the RFH. It is hilarious and audiences love it. Burning Times by contrast is a very serious song that Christy now dedicates to Lyra McKee who died in the cruellest way earlier this year. The Tuam Beat is a great fun song that I was introduced to by the Saw Doctors. Back Home In Derry was written by the late Bobby Sands. I have never heard Rosalita And Jack Campbell before but it’s a great song with a western feel to it with tragedy and humour combined. I didn’t know about the story behind Duffy’s Cut until yesterday when I looked it up on Wikipedia. It is about 57 Irish workers who died building a railroad in the USA in 1832. They may have died of cholera or might have been murdered. Whatever the reason it is a tragic story. Motherland is a song by Natalie Merchant and Spancil Hill is a song that Christy  recorded in 1971 that has returned to his repertoire in recent years.

The second half begins with Before The Deluge. Listening to this song always reminds me of watching Christy in the pouring rain at Glastonbury 2004. The Two Conneeleys  is a very moving true story that Christy turned into song with Wally Page. Missing You is another song that I heard in London and seemed very appropriate to the big city. Cry Like A Man is a song that I have never heard sung live before and I must confess I had forgotten about. Reel In The Flickering Light by contrast is one of my all time favourite Christy songs. Veronica tells the story of the journalist Veronica Guerin and is another of Christy’s songs that show his deep social conscience. Johnny Jump Up was the first Christy song I ever heard, back in the 1970s, so it is great to hear it again. Inchicore Wake is a new song to me. It is written by Pete St John who is best known for writing The Fields Of Athenry. Tipping It Up To Nancy is a great fun song ably assisted by Jimmy Higgins, Seamie O’Dowd, Cathal Hayden & Mairtin O’Connor. Like Johnny Jump Up I first heard Only Our Rivers Run Free on a compilation album in the 1970s called All The Folk That Fits when it was sung by Planxty. I just saw on Amazon that copies of that album are worth £50 now. Hurt is a song that has become associated with Johnny Cash, but I like Christy’s version just as much. The Well Below The Valley is a Christy solo classic. The album ends with the wonderful Mandolin Mountain from the recent album called Lily.

I have loved listening to this collection of songs. Christy’s voice sounds as good as ever to me and lets not forget the little crew of musicians who help out on this album Declan,Jimmy, Cathal, Mairtin, Seamie, Vickie & Joleen. Thank you very much Christy for this great album.
PS, I hope Adam & Rafal don't mind me using their photos in this review.

Christy Moore: Delirium Tremens | The Late Late Show | RTÉ One

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi. 'Pizzica Di San Vito'. At The Foru...

A little example of a great concert in Bath.

Review: Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, Bath Forum 2019.

I have seen some great concerts at Bath Forum over the past few years, and I think last night’s show with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi was as enjoyable as any of them. The concert began at 7.30 and Rhiannon & Francesco were joined on stage by Jason Sypher who was excellent on upright bass all evening. The opening song was Ten Thousand Voices from their brilliant recent album There Is No Other which I reviewed back in July. Rhiannon played violin and Francesco was on accordion. I think Rhiannon has one of the most perfect singing voices I have ever heard. She was classically trained as an opera singer at the Oberlin Conservatory, so she knows how to project her voice, it is amazing.

Following The North Star from her solo album Freedom Highway followed. I had never heard this track before. It is an instrumental with banjo and hand drum. Francesco had a whole battery of percussion instruments which he introduced to us as the evening progressed. Gonna Write Me A Letter was next from the new album. This was followed by Briggs Forro which she informed us she had discovered in a book from 1855 called Briggs Banjo Tutor. It was a very educational evening because they explained the history of the songs and the instruments.

I think the most moving song of the evening was At The Purchaser’s Option. Rhiannon wrote this song after seeing an advert from a 19^th century newspaper for a female slave who was being sold. She had a baby, so they could be sold separately or together at the purchaser’s option. The traditional ballad Wayfaring Stranger was next, and the first half of the show ended with the very lively song in the Puglia dialect Pizzica Di San Vito.

During the interval I had a look at the merchandise stall and bought a CD that Rhiannon released in 2007 with her band Carolina Chocolate Drops called Heritage, so now I have two albums by a singer I hadn’t heard of six months ago. I have been listening to the Chocolate Drops album this morning and it is great.

I didn’t know the titles of all the songs and tunes in the second half, so I’ll just tell you what I remember as highlights for me. Rhiannon sang a sad aria by Purcell from the opera Dido & Aeneas which made full use of her opera training and she was accompanied by Francesco on piano. Another highlight for me was a song made famous by Ethel Waters in the 1930s called Underneath A Harlem Moon. I’m On My Way was also brilliant. The sound produced by just a banjo and hand drum is unbelievable. I’ll never look the same way at the humble tambourine again after hearing Francesco play a solo on one. This led into the Irish song Molly Branigan in which Rhiannon’s vocal pyrotechnics were on full display. It was mesmerising. Rhiannon made a little speech thanking the audience for coming along which showed what a nice person she is and then sang the very spiritual He Will See You Through. All three left the stage to tumultuous applause.

We knew they would be back for an encore which was Lonesome Road/Up Above My Head which became a call and response medley with full audience participation which brought a wonderful concert to a close. Thank you very much Rhiannon Giddens, Francesco Turrisi & Jason Sypher for a great evening.

Review: Van Morrison, Three Chords & The Truth.

Three Chords & The Truth is the fifth album Van Morrison has released since the excellent Keep Me Singing in 2016 and in many ways those two albums are  companions. Even the tasteful artwork on the sleeve is the work of the same person. Van’s previous four albums have been ‘genre’ type albums of jazz and blues explorations, collaborations and cover versions which haven’t always been to the taste of some fans. I think most fans will enjoy this collection of new songs all written by Van. One song is co-written with Don Black who also wrote the lyrics to a song on Keep Me Singing. Let’s have a look at the songs.

The opening track March Winds in February features American musicians who Van has worked with in the past John Allair, Jay Berliner, David Hayes and Bobby Ruggerio, plus Dave Keary and Teena Lyle from Van’s regular touring band. The song is a sketch of a moment in time which is a device Van has used before in such songs as Snow In Anselmo or more recently Going Down To Monte Carlo. There is no doubt that Van’s voice is still as good as ever. Some other  singers from the 60’s just can’t sing anymore, but Van certainly can. At certain points, such as when he sings the title words his voice is reminiscent of the Period of Transition era. The melody reminds me of Into the Mystery from Poetic Champions. This song is more like into the Mistral which is the cold wind that blows in the south of France in the winter. Van obviously finds the seaside inspirational. He always plays dates in seaside resorts when he can.

The second song Fame Will Eat the Soul features the same band plus Bill Medley who sings a duet with Van. It was recorded in Las Vegas. Bill Medley recorded some of the greatest songs in popular music with the Righteous Brothers, but sadly I don’t feel he adds much to this song. Chris Farlowe would have sounded just as good and probably been easier to hire. I like John Allair’s organ playing but I think it is one of the weaker songs on the album. Dark Night of The Soul is a vast improvement. This song features some of his old friends from South Wales, Start McIlroy, Pete Hurley, Colin Griffin & Richard Dunn. I love the rich sound of the Hammond organ on this song. Dark night of the soul is an expression that Van has used before in his lyrics. Lots of other phrases he has used previously are recycled throughout this album such as ‘Start breaking down’, ‘get off the merry go round’, ‘plans of mice and men’, ‘brand new day’ etc.

Some fans have said that In Search of Grace is one of the weakest songs on the album, but I like it. That shows that everybody’s opinion is subjective and personal and equally valid. Van isn’t referring to an actual person called Grace, he is searching for the spiritual state of grace which has been lost. Grace has appeared in previous songs such as Joyous Sound, Once in A Blue Moon and of course By His Grace. I love the delicate acoustic guitar of Jay Berliner. The song shows Van is still on a spiritual quest which he has been all his life. I’m pleased about that because it was the spiritual nature of Van’s music that drew me into it to begin with. There are a couple of books called In Search Of Grace. I wonder if Van might have been inspired by one of them?  

“Music is spiritual, the music business isn’t”, Van once famously said. That might be why his songs seem to be divided between, music uplifting the spirit, or railing against corrupt operators which is the subject matter of Nobody in Charge. It is a very angry song without being specific about what he is complaining about. There is one line I like though about ‘media implantation rules the day’. That is spot-on as far as I can see. The lazy population being brain-washed by the tax dodging media barons who are telling them how to think because they can’t think for themselves. (I better stop there, or this review will turn into a political rant!) You Don’t Understand is even angrier. Many people have noticed the similarity to Ballad of a Thin Man by Bob Dylan. The band are stripped down to Paul Moran, Jeremy Brown and Bobby Ruggerio. It has a bluesy gothic feel to it which has echoes of St James Infirmary as well. The eerie haunting organ sound of Paul Moran is very effective and reminiscent of Al Kooper. Paranoia strikes deep with human nature not being trusted and people working in the dark and making you a ‘mark’. I wonder if Van wrote it in answer to journalist’s questions as Dylan did? Something is happening here, and you don’t understand, do you Mr Jones?

Read Between the Lines is much lighter and upbeat. The message seems to be about finding out the truth in these days of fake news. For me it is one of the lesser songs here. Does Love Conquer All? Is the question Van asks in the next song and he seems unsure of the answer. If in any doubt keep the enemy out, seems to be the idea. Early Days is a nostalgic fun song about the early days of rock n roll which we first heard live on Monday night. I love the Jerry Lee Lewis style piano playing of Stuart McIlroy and Van’s saxophone playing.

If We Wait for Mountains is Van’s collaboration with lyricist Don Black. Why one of the greatest songwriters in history feels the need for a lyricist at this stage of his career I don’t know. Maybe at the time he met Don Black he was going through a period of writer’s block and searching for inspiration. It is a very sentimental song about appreciating the simple things in life. The kind of song which will be popular with Radio 2 listeners but veering towards easy listening.

Up on Broadway is possibly my favourite song on the album. The Broadway in question is in San Francisco and I feel it is a companion song to In Tiburon from Keep Me Singing with its references to North Beach and City Lights. Van seems to like that area and its association with the Beat Generation. Three Chords and The Truth is a shot of rhythm and blues. It is another song about the early days of rock n roll when his old friend Lonnie Donegan was king. There is great guitar and piano playing here. Bags Under My Eyes is a humorous tongue in cheek fun song about life on the road for a musician. There is some very nice country style guitar and harmonica playing and even a yodel right at the end.

Broadway San Francisco.

Days Gone By is the final track on this album. It reminds me slightly of Behind the Ritual from the Keep It Simple album. Basically, Van has taken Auld Lang Syne and put new lyrics and a new arrangement to it. I’m sure this will get a lot of play on New Year’s Eve. It would be great if Van performs this song live. It has lots of scope for ad libbing and improvising. I get the feeling that a lot of the words were dreamed up spontaneously live in the studio. When I heard the line about ‘Carry my child on my back across the river’ It reminded me of the story of St Christopher. He has sung that part before in live versions of Into the Mystic. Van seems to carry images in his head for years sometimes before they emerge into songs, often religious images such as holy guardian angels for instance.

I think this is a very satisfying album indeed. Certainly, for me it is the best one since Keep Me Singing. A nice addition to Van’s great body of work. It will have its critics no doubt, but I think for a musician aged 74 after a career of nearly 60 years to be able to produce work of this standard is quite remarkable and I’m sure there will be even more great work to come from Mr Van Morrison in the not too distant future.

Review: Van Morrison in Bournemouth 21/10/ 2019.

The big day had arrived. Five long months had gone by since that sunny evening in the city of Bath when I last saw a Van Morrison concert. It was time for another appointment with the Celtic Soul Brother. I caught the 11.01 train from Westbury on a golden autumn day and arrived in Bournemouth too early to check into the Hermitage hotel. I had a look at the concert venue which was on the bright side of the road across from the hotel because you never know who might be hanging about. Then I went for a walk along the sea front and the pier to pass the time and smell the sea and feel the sky. It’s nice in Bournemouth.

Back at the hotel it was great to meet Nell again who had come all the way from Canberra, Australia for all four Van shows on this mini tour. It was nice to meet Maryann for the first time as well from New York. Later, we were joined by Jane from Oxford and Fumiko from Guildford and Julien from France who I hadn’t met before. It was a nice little multinational gathering of Van fans. There are no frontiers in Vanland. We raised a glass to two Van fan friends who had sadly passed away recently, Birgit and Stewie. 

'Neath October skies.

Also, we had a toast to Jack Kerouac because Monday was the 50^th anniversary of his death. He is mentioned in three Van songs and I wondered if Van might acknowledge that later, but he didn’t. It was nice of  Teena Lyle from Van's band to take time out from her busy day and come and join us for a while. What a wonderful lady she is.

The time flew by and it was time to walk down the avenue again. We had time for one drink and a sandwich before it was show time. We had good seats in Row H. Sitting near us I spotted two old Van fan friends Tom & Sandra who I hadn’t seen for ages. Out of consideration for the people behind me I took off my hat and put it under my chair (more about that later!) 

Me, Julien, Jane, Fumiko, Maryann & Nell.

Right on time at 8.00 the band shuffled on stage. It was the usual band of Teena Lyle, Dana Masters, Mez Clough, Paul Moore, Dave Keary & Paul Moran. They were soon joined by Van wearing his saxophone. The first number was Gonna Send You Back To Where I got You From. It is a song from Van’s recent album The Prophet Speaks. It was originally recorded by Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson. It’s not one of my favourite Van songs but ok to start the show with. I really enjoyed the next song which I first heard performed live in Bath. It is It Once Was My Life from the Healing Game album. Then Van put on his guitar and treated us to an all time Van classic song St Dominic’s Preview. For me that was one of the highlights of the evening. Van has slightly changed some lyrics to ‘And Warner Brothers are still drinking my wine’. This was followed by a medley of Baby Please Don’t Go/ Parchman Farm. This has been part of the repertoire for quite a few years now. The next song was the title track from Van’s Roll With The Punches album of a couple of years ago.

Fumiko, Julien, Teena, Maryann, Me.

The audience all applauded when they recognised one of Van’s best-known songs Days Like This. I have heard it so often it has lost his impact a bit on me. I can’t complain though because it is a great song. Then Van announced that he has a new album coming out on Friday and played two new songs from it, Early Days and the title track 3 Chords & The Truth. It was great to hear some new songs. The first one had a kind of rockabilly flavour which brought out all of Dave Keary’s guitar skills and the other is a shot of rhythm & blues. I am looking forward to the new album. Watch this space for a review in a few days’ time. I have heard great reports of it. Then it was a return to the back catalogue for Magic Time and Moondance. The crowd cheered when they realised it was Moondance but I have heard it too often. I liked Teena’s contribution though, she always seems to be enjoying herself on stage. She also played a starring role in the next song Broken Record. I enjoyed Spirit Will Provide which I think is one of Van’s best songs of recent years. I am afraid though that I have heard his duet with Dana of Have I Told You Lately? too often. Another song from The Prophet Speaks was Ain’t Gonna Moan No More which was quite good but not great. The duet of Sometimes We Cry was good until the audience almost ruined the ending by cheering and applauding. Van stopped and said, “Anyone heard of Johnny Ray? This is it” and completed the song. I don’t like the next song Symphony Sid much but then Van said, “Ok, Ray Charles” and sang I Believe To My Soul which I loved. I usually enjoy the transcendental brilliance of In The Afternoon/Ancient Highway/ Sitting Pretty which puts Van in a class of his own. During this song though some bloke decided to go to the toilet, and we all had to stand up to let him go by and about four minutes later he came back again. Why can’t people have the consideration to at least wait until the end of a song before disturbing everyone? The next song was The Party’s Over which Van seems to enjoy playing. He made the rhythm section of Paul Moore and Mez start again, I don’t think he was quite happy with the timing. Then it was the usual crowd-pleasing Brown Eyed Girl  and Gloria. Van left the stage and the band played on as I prepared to leave.

Maryann's new t-shirt.

Remember my hat which I had put under my seat? I reached under my seat for it and it was soaking wet and stinking of beer. Someone behind me had kicked over a drink and drenched my hat. That put me in a really bad mood I can tell you. Anyway, we all met up outside afterwards. We wanted to go to a restaurant and tried three of them, but they had all stopped serving. It wasn’t even 10 o’clock. What is wrong with this country? In the end we all went back to the hotel and ordered sandwiches from room service and a drink and I cheered up and forgot about the hat incident. It wasn’t the greatest ever Van concert but still good and when you meet up with such great friends it always makes every Van Morrison concert worthwhile.

                                                        THE END.

Quite A Nice Day.

It was a nice sunny dry October day, so I thought I should get out and about. I caught the bus over to Warminster to meet a friend. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my bus pass which was a bit annoying because it cost me a fiver to travel both ways. Anyway, I put that disappointment behind me. I was a bit early when I arrived, and I passed the time browsing in the music shop which we are very lucky to have in this day and age. I didn’t know what to buy but I felt obliged to buy something as I had been in there about half an hour. I wanted something by somebody new that I hadn’t heard before. I ummed and aahed for ages and finally bought a CD by Joanna Newsom called Divers. I have heard great reports of her and she has been described as psychedelic folk which I like the sound of. I liked the picture of her on the back of the cd which was the deciding factor in buying it as well. I haven’t played it yet, but I’ll write a review when I have time and tell you all about it.

I had spent so much time in the shop that I was now late. I scurried across the road to Spoons where my friend was waiting. She was annoyed at me for being late, but soon cheered up when I bought a bottle of wine. We sat out the back and enjoyed the autumn sunshine. The time flew by and two large glasses of chardonnay later we were back at the bus stop. After she departed, I still had 16 minutes to wait for my bus, so I went in the Blue Cross charity shop. I found a nice first edition SIGNED! book called The White Book by Han Kang. I must admit that I had never heard of her before, but I had a feeling it was a bit special, so I bought it. When I got home I looked her up in Wikipedia and was pleased to find that she is a Korean writer with a high literary reputation who has won the Booker International prize in recent years. That was a good find. Book hunting is like gold mining. I’ll put the book in my bookshop in the next few days. I might even read it if I have time. Also, when I looked at my emails, I found I had sold two books which was great. That paid for my bus fare, the wine and my cd. What goes around, comes around as they say. I’ll post those books in the morning. After that I had a nice nap. Then I went to the pub for an hour. This evening I listened to the BBC Folk Awards show on the radio. Then I thought I’d write a little blog, which is this. All things considered it had been quite a nice day.

Joanna Newsom.

October In The Railroad Earth.

THERE WAS A LITTLE ALLEY IN SAN FRANCISCO back of the Southern Pacific station at Third and Townsend in redbrick of drowsy lazy afternoons with everybody at work in offices in the air you feel the impending rush of their commuter frenzy as soon they'll be charging en masse from Market and Sansome buildings on foot and in buses and all well-dressed thru workingman Frisco of Walkup ?? truck drivers and even the poor grime-bemarked Third Street of lost bums even Negroes so hopeless and long left East and meanings of re- sponsibility and try that now all they do is stand there spit- ting in the broken glass sometimes fifty in one afternoon against one wall at Third and Howard and here's all these Millbrae and San Carlos neat-necktied producers and com- muters of America and Steel civilization rushing by with San Francisco Chronicles and green Call-Bulletins not even enough time to be disdainful, they've got to catch 130, 132, 134, 136 all the way up to 146 till the time of evening supper

in homes of the railroad earth when high in the sky the magic stars ride above the following hotshot freight trains-it's all in California, it's all a sea, I swim out of it in afternoons of sun hot meditation in my jeans with head on handker- chief on brakeman's lantern or (if not working) on book, I look up at blue sky of perfect lostpurity and feel the warp of wood of old America beneath me and have insane conversa- tions with Negroes in several-story windows above and every- thing is pouring in, the switching moves of boxcars in that little alley which is so much like the alleys of Lowell and I hear far off in the sense of coming night that engine calling our mountains. or the Gate of Marin to the north or San Jose south, the clarity of Cal to break your heart. It was the fantastic drowse and drum hum of lum mum afternoon nathin' to do, ole Frisco with end of land sadness-the people-the alley full of trucks and cars of businesses nearabouts and nobody knew or far from cared who I was all my life three thousand five hundred miles from birth-O opened up and at last belonged to me in Great America. Now it's night in Third Street the keen little neons and also yellow bulblights of impossible-to-believe flops with dark ruined shadows moving back of tom yellow shades like a degenerate China with no money-the cats in Annie's Alley, the flop comes on, moans, rolls, the street is loaded with darkness. Blue sky above with stars hanging high over old hotel roofs and blowers of hotels moaning out dusts of in- terior, the grime inside the word in mouths falling out tooth by tooth, the reading rooms tick tock bigclock with creak chair and slantboards and old faces looking up over rimless spectacles bought in some West Virginia or Florida or Liver- pool England pawnshop long before I was born and across rains they've come to the end of the land sadness end of the world gladness all you San Franciscos will have to fall eventually and burn again.

BUT IT WAS THAT BEAUTIFUL CUT OF CLOUDS I could always see above the little S.P. alley, puffs floating by from Oakland.

Poetry On Sunday.

Sunday afternoon in late September and the weather has changed. It will soon be the days of the leaves. The sun tried  to come out earlier but it looked at the sky and changed its mind. I won’t be going far today. Earlier I listened to Desert Island Discs on the radio. The guest was Thom Yorke from the band Radiohead. It was quite interesting, and I enjoyed the music choices which included Sidney Bechet and Nina Simone. I’m a bit bored now, so I thought I’d write a wee blog. I’ll tell you about something which came in the post a few days ago. It is a letterpress print of a poem by Seamus Heaney. As you probably know Letterpress is a form of printing that was invented by Johannes Gutenberg in about 1450 and was the most used method of printing right up to the 20^th century. Letterpress is enjoying a comeback in recent years as an artisan craft. It is very nice, and I might have it framed when I get around to it. The poem is called Terminus. It came with a well-presented booklet containing an essay by Heaney called Something to Write Home About. It was published recently by Faber & Faber to mark the 80^th anniversary of Seamus Heaney's birth in 1939.

I have read this poem before, but I must admit that I didn’t understand it. It would have helped if we had studied the early work of Heaney at school, but we didn’t. I have always found poets like him too high brow and my concentration drifts away. I wish I had worked hard at school and gone to university and studied English & Irish literature with a good teacher. My writing might have been a lot better as well. Some poets I can understand immediately, like John Cooper Clarke for instance, but Heaney is a different kettle of fish altogether. It is like comparing pop music to Mozart. Luckily for me in this case the essay perfectly compliments the poem. After reading the essay I can appreciate and understand the poem a lot better. For example, Northern Irish words like hoke which I hadn’t heard before are explained. Also, a march drain is understood and who was the earl on horseback in midstream. I hope Faber do more of this sort of thing. It is very educational for the likings of me.

I can’t think of anything else to say about Terminus except thank you Seamus Heaney for explaining it to me. Anyway, the sun seems to be peeking through the clouds again. I think I’ll go and feed my shubunkins. See you later.

Life, Life By Keith Christmas.

It is another golden autumn day today. I was sitting in the yard enjoying the sunshine when there was a knock on the door. The post lady handed me a package which contained the new album by Keith Christmas called Life, Life. “That was quick”, I thought to myself because I had only ordered it on Sunday. The first impression I had was that I liked the attractive artwork on the sleeve by David Alderslade. I wonder if he is related to John Alderslade of Village Pump Folk Club fame? It was at the Village Pump in Trowbridge about eight years ago that I first saw Keith Christmas perform. He made a live album that night which I bought, and I have been a fan ever since.

When I put the CD in the machine, I immediately loved the opening song Round The Stones which is about the Stonehenge Festival of 1979. For a person like me who lives in Wiltshire and has been to Stonehenge for the solstice this song is a bit special. I have shared a video of Keith singing the song below if you would like to hear it. I would love to see Keith perform this song actually at the stones or Avebury or even at the stone circle on the Glastonbury Festival site. That would make a great video. The eponymous title track Life Life is next. It is a life affirming song about how we have minor misfortunes but soon get over it and can even use it to our advantage. I like how the lyrics are reflected in the artwork with the open window and the litter of hedgehogs. Love In The Gold is a very touching love song about ageing and how love doesn’t care about a few grey hairs and being forgetful. Wonderful Ride is another optimistic song which makes you feel grateful to be alive.

Keith recently at Beckenham Bandstand.

A Gun In His Hand by contrast is a much darker angry anti-war song which warns that people who experience the horrors of war never get over it. The sentiment of the lyrics reminded me of Dylan’s Masters Of War. I think Travelling Blues is a quasi-autobiographical song about life on the road for a musician. Trouble Trouble  might be a warning about pride coming before a fall and some pompous people who think the laws of karma don’t apply to them should learn some humility. You only have to watch the news to think that. I haven’t mentioned what a great guitarist Keith is. I don’t play the guitar so I can’t really comment on his technical virtuosity. I just know what I like, and I don’t think there are many acoustic guitar players these days more skillful than Keith. His great guitar playing is amply demonstrated on Who’s Going To Save You?

Glastonbury 1970 (Keith in afghan jacket)

The Love That Surrounds You is a wonderful emotive song which I think might be about giving advice to a friend who could be suffering with depression. As well as Keith’s guitar playing the other thing I like about him is his very distinctive singing voice. Keith conveys emotion in his voice very well and you believe that he means every word. Ruled By The Tide is a story of a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the seaside town when he was born. In the lyrics it mentions a Nottage Institute which I had never heard of, so I looked it up. It is a maritime charity named after Captain Charles G. Nottage. It is a great song.

Born Of God takes its inspiration from the signing of the Magna Carta at Runnymede. It is a song that I think is very relevant to this country today. I like the line ‘For We’ll never follow a leader with no honour, it will come to no good in the end’, so, listen up Boris Johnson! The final song is Book Of Magic which is a charming song about having an idea for a book, being rejected but still persevering. I think the answer is to self-publish. It is a very nice song with which to end this most enjoyable album.

Captain Charles G. Nottage.

Keith Christmas played on David Bowie’s Space Oddity album and recently played in Beckenham for the 50^th anniversary of a concert where he played on the same bill as Bowie in 1969. It was the gig that Bowie immortalised in Memory Of a Free Festival. He also played at the first Glastonbury Festival in 1970 and I think Michael Eavis should book him for the 50^th anniversary festival next year. If you want to learn more about Keith Christmas you can visit his website here- https://www.becn.co.uk

Keith Christmas: ROUND THE STONES, Live In Frome 2019

Dogrel By Fontaines D.C.

We seem to be having a bit of an Indian summer at the moment. It was so nice on Friday I thought I’d go over to Warminster and meet a friend in ‘Spoons. That is the name we give to Wetherspoons. I don’t really like going in there because the owner is a big Brexiteer and is always gobbing off about it on the telly. She likes it though and it has a garden out the back where we sat in the sunshine. Also, you can get a bottle of chardonnay in an ice bucket for less than ten quid, which isn’t bad.

I thought I would treat myself to a new CD and nipped across the road to Raves From The Grave. We are lucky to have a music shop in a little town like Warminster, so I like to support them. I didn’t know what to buy though. In the new releases I was surprised to see a new album by The Subhumans. They are a local band who we used to follow about 35 years ago. They had a huge cult following at the time. It is good to see they are still going, but I don’t think I could listen to it at home these days. I had a good mooch through all the folky type music which is what I mainly listen to these days, but I couldn’t find anything that took my fancy.

Me in Spoons with Dogrel.

Then I remembered a band that I discovered recently called Fontaines D.C. and found their debut album in the section devoted to the Mercury Prize nominees. The album is called Dogrel which is a play on words of doggerel, a type of poetry with irregular rhythms. The band come from Dublin and I think they are the best new Irish band to emerge in years. I don’t listen to many groups these days. If you look back through my blogs you will see that it is nearly all singer-songwriters and solo artists. I think the last Irish band I really followed and bought several albums by were the Saw Doctors and that was a long time ago now. I could have seen Fontaines D.C. this year at Glastonbury when they played the John Peel Stage but I hadn’t heard of them then. It was only when a friend mentioned that they saw them on the BBC coverage that I looked them up on Youtube. If you are wondering about their name, they originally called themselves The Fontaines after a character in The Godfather, but then discovered there was an American band of the same name, so added D.C. meaning Dublin City.

When I got home, I put the CD in the machine and I haven’t stopped playing it since. As soon as I heard the first track Big I thought of another Irish singer I like called Damien Dempsey. That is probably because of the Dublin accent. The singer Grian Chatten should be complimented for keeping his accent and not singing in a mock-American voice which a lot of singers do. This helps the band to have their distinctive sound. He has a great speaking voice as well as on such tracks as Hurricane Laughter. The twin guitar sound is great as well. There are several songs that would have been hits in the old days. I particularly like Roy’s Song which did actually remind me a bit of the Saw Doctors. Every track on the album is worthy but the last three songs are outstanding. Liberty Belle is a tribute to the area of Dublin where they lived called The Liberties. Boys In The Better Land is a post-punk classic which must send the audience wild when performed live. Dublin City Sky is like a cross between The Velvet Underground and The Pogues. I think the great Shane Macgowan would be proud of this song if he had written it. I have shared a video of the band performing this song below if you want to hear it. I think you should.

I think Fontaines D.C. are going to be huge and I will follow their future career with interest. The Mercury Prize is announced this week and I hope they win it.

Fontaines D.C. - Dublin City Sky

Pauline Boty, The Only Blonde In The World

It is quite educational doing this blogging thing. A couple of days ago when I was researching Adrian Mitchell I read that he and his wife had adopted a child who was the daughter of their friends the artist Pauline Boty and Clive Goodwin. This aroused my curiosity because I hadn’t heard of Pauline Boty before, so I looked her up as well.

What I found was quite fascinating for me because I have always been interested in people who had a brief flirtation with fame and then disappeared into obscurity or made an important contribution to the arts and have been unfairly overlooked. Pauline was one of the founders of the British Pop Art movement along with the likes of David Hockney and Peter Blake. They went on to be world famous, but Pauline has been largely forgotten. Another thing I have noticed about Pauline is that she was a very beautiful woman. This might have been to her detriment because she might have only been noticed for her looks and not for her work.

Pauline was born in 1938 and after attending art school in Wimbledon where her classmates called her ‘The Wimbledon Bardot’ because of her looks, she studied stained glass design at the Royal College Of Art. She wanted to study painting but couldn’t because admissions for women to that course were limited due to the institutionalised sexism of the times. That didn’t stop her painting in her spare time though. She was a bit of a polymath. As well as painting, Pauline also published poetry, acted, and also was a leading light in a group called the Anti-Uglies who protested against the brutalism of post-war British architecture. Pauline was one of the artists featured in a TV programme directed by Ken Russell in 1962 called Pop Goes The Easel. She acted at the Royal Court Theatre, appeared in Armchair Theatre on the telly, danced on Ready Steady Go and was one of Michael Caine’s girlfriends in the film Alfie. When Bob Dylan first visited Britain in 1963 it was Pauline who showed him around London.

Colour Her Gone.

It should be for her art that Pauline is remembered. I have looked at her work on the internet and am most impressed. Her paintings are bright and exuberant, erotic and sensual. There are two pictures featuring Marilyn Monroe called The Only Blonde In The World and Colour Her Gone which particularly caught my eye. There is another one as well called ironically, It’s A Man’s World which celebrates her femininity. I also liked a picture called 5 4 3 2 1 which took its title from a song by Manfred Mann. If there was an exhibition of her work near me, I would certainly go along and see it.

Pauline’s life ended tragically young. After a whirlwind romance she married Clive Goodwin. In 1965 she became pregnant. During a pre-natal test it was discovered that she had leukemia. She refused chemotherapy because it would harm her child and she died at the age of only 28 just a few months after the birth of her daughter.  Her daughter also died tragically from a heroin overdose in 1995.

After she died Pauline’s paintings were stored away in a barn on her brother’s farm where they remained, gathering dust for over thirty years. Pauline’s place in British art was largely forgotten until recent years. In 2013 a retrospective exhibition of her work was finally held in Wolverhampton and later Chichester. It is due to the sexism in British art that she has been overlooked for so long. The same applies to literature. The leading figures in British writing in the 50’s were called The Angry Young Men, what about the angry young women?. Also, the other day I looked in a poetry anthology I have called Children Of Albion published in 1969 which features 65 poets of the era. There are only five female poets in it, what a disgrace.

 In the 1960’s, because of her looks everyone was in love with Pauline Boty. I read this by Sabine Durrant who said in 1993, “Even now, grown men with grey hair in dark houses in Notting Hill cry at the sound of Pauline Boty’s name.”

The Only Blonde In The World.

If You See Me Comin'

I had a bit of a frustrating morning, but it all ended ok in the end. I had sold a couple of books over the weekend, but I had no jiffy bags to post them off in. I went uptown and no shop had any jiffy bags. I like to send off my books as quickly as possible so in the end I caught the bus over to Trowbridge. I managed to find what I needed in Poundland. I had a look around the charity shops while I was there. I found a nice book about Jimi Hendrix, but even better than that, I found a book by Adrian Mitchell.

It is a hardback first edition of the first book he ever published called If You See Me Comin’ from 1962. I was pleased to find this book because I like that era of the late 50’s & pre Beatles 60’s. It was the era of the Beatniks and protest and the beginnings of Pop Art and all that sort of thing. One thing I like about Adrian Mitchell is his poem To Whom It May Concern with the famous line Tell Me Lies About Vietnam which he performed live at the Royal Albert Hall in 1965 which you can see below if you want. Allen Ginsberg was also there on that memorable evening. Later in his career he wrote a poem about Victor Jara who was murdered by the Pinochet regime in Chile. It was set to music by Arlo Guthrie and has become a favourite song of mine, especially the version by Christy Moore.

Adrian died in 2008 aged 76. I looked him up on Wikipedia and found this tribute, "Adrian, said fellow poet Michael Rosen, "was a socialist and a pacifist who believed, like William Blake, that everything human was holy. That's to say he celebrated a love of life with the same fervour that he attacked those who crushed life. He did this through his poetry, his plays, his song lyrics and his own performances. Through this huge body of work, he was able to raise the spirits of his audiences, in turn exciting, inspiring, saddening and enthusing them.... He has sung, chanted, whispered and shouted his poems in every kind of place imaginable, urging us to love our lives, love our minds and bodies and to fight against tyranny, oppression and exploitation”.

I think in these days of Brexit & Trump, with the rain forests burning and shifts to the right all over the world and people forgetting the lessons of history and the dangers of fascism we need more people like Adrian Mitchell who weren’t afraid to stand up and be counted.