End Of The Middle by Richard Dawson

Sorry I haven’t written anything for ages. I guess I just lost interest for a while, and I don’t know why. I have had tickets to go to various events that I was meaning to tell you about, but when the days came to go to them, I just couldn’t be bothered going. For instance, I had a ticket for a talk by legendary record producer Joe Boyd at Toppings bookshop in Bath, but I never went. They were kind enough to send me a signed copy of his book though. It is about 920 pages. I have read the first chapter but doubt if I’ll ever get through the whole thing. I also had a ticket to see one of my favourite bands of the 1970s which is Lindisfarne, but when the night arrived it just seemed easier to just stay in by the fire. A couple of months ago I was in the kitchen doing the washing up and this amazing guitar music came on the radio, probably BBC6 Music and I thought, “Brilliant, that’s John Fahey”. But when it ended the radio presenter said that it was Gwennifer Raymond. I had never heard of her, so looked her up on the internet. 

I discovered that she was playing in Bradford On Avon on a double bill with Richard Dawson. I also hadn’t heard of him but after reading about him on Wikipedia and hearing a couple of songs on youtube I bought a ticket for the gig and ordered a copy of his latest album. I didn't go to that gig either which I regret now because I love his album. A few days ago I read that one of the music magazines, I think it is Uncut placed it at number 14 of their top 50 albums of the year. (Van Morrison’s Remembering Now was placed at number 25 by the way) Anyway; to pass the time on this cold November afternoon I thought I’d make the supreme effort to overcome my lethargy and tell you about End Of The Middle by Richard Dawson. Richard’s music is very hard to describe. Quirky might be a word people could use on first listen. It is very experimental, like taking folk music apart and reassembling it with some free jazz added to the mix.  

I think people who enjoy English freak folk music would like this album. I was reminded once or twice of Jake Thackray because of the storytelling elements of the songs. There is a lot of humour, but also bleakness and sadness in the lives of the people he depicts. It is a very simple recording with just Richard on guitar and vocals, Andrew Cheetham on drums, Faye MacCalman on clarinet, and his partner Sally Pilkington on synths and vocals on one song. The opening song Bolt is about a true-life incident which happened when Richard was a kid. The roof of their house was hit by lightning which ran down the phone line from room to room before vanishing with a deafening boom. Daytime television like Good Morning Britain and Deal Or No Deal is mentioned in many of the songs such as Gondola which concerns the lost dreams of an ageing lady who always wanted to go to Venice. 

Bullies’ concerns being beaten up at school by Anthony Pape who gets expelled for something else entirely, then the same kind of behaviour is repeated by the next generation. The Question is about a girl called Elsie who has an apparition of a railway worker who committed suicide. Boxing Day Sales is a bleak tale of post-Christmas shopping in bad weather for stuff that people don’t need. Knot concerns a drive to an awful wedding which is the height of bad taste. Richard’s lyrics say, ‘my soul is sick, a herring gull in an oil slick’. Polytunnel is my favourite track on the album (See video below). Richard is obviously very fond of gardening, and his allotment is his ‘happy place’. I read on Wikipedia that his allotment shed where he does all his work was blown over during last year’s Storm Jocelyn. Removals Van is about domestic turmoil of two generations and having to move house due to being made redundant from work.  More Than Real is co-written and sung with his partner Sally Pilkington and would appear to be about not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the past. It brings the album to an end on an upbeat optimistic note. I have enjoyed listening to this music again this afternoon, and I hope I feel inspired to tell you about something else soon. Cheers.