Wednesday 5 May 2010

OF DIRTY WEEKENDS AND MYSTICAL UNIONS


I had never heard of them, I was intrigued that the album had to be played at the usual single spinning setting of 45rpm, I had never heard of Special Delivery Records and was also strangely moved by the thought that if my cousin Olly Pearson and I had made the record we used to fantasize about cutting when we were wide eyed, guitar strumming, harmony hurling teens, the cover would have probably looked a bit like this one (cheap, slightly awkward and totally Everly Brothers obsessed.) All of these things and more, conspired to make me take the platter to the nonchalant, nail painting girl behind the charity shoppe counter and part with the paltry £1.99.

I get back home, I slip unnoticed into the listening cave. I look at the back of the record sleeve. I recognize the producer's name. The older you get, the more stuff lingers on your neurological hard-drive. The Panic Brothers are produced here by Clive Gregson, he sounded familiar, hailing back to my days as a folk club kid, sitting with my uncle and his musician friends, usually in Hitchin Folk Club, Hertfordshire. I'm sure I'd seen Clive do his thing down there on more than one occasion. The record collectors' world truly is the smallest of worlds (and it spins and spins and spins.)

BIVOUAC Think Everly Brothers singing “Lucille” yet belting their lungs out about the negative aspects of cramped living accommodation. I was primed to mock it, but the enthusiasm and clever machine gun lyric spitting of the pair makes for an invigorating album opener. Ace twangy Duane Eddy style guitar, and vibrant rockabilly backing.

No News Kicks off the with the best Everly Brothers riff that never was. There’s more of an Elvis Costello/ Nick Lowe atmosphere on this one. And that’s good from where I sit. All finishes with the intro riff again, making everything right in this curious late 80s/ late 50s time warp.

I Made A Mess Of A Dirty Weekend What a title, what a song.

“A seaside town is the last resort

When you mess up a dirty weekend.”

Anybody ever heard the Everly tune “Poor Jenny.” Well this is like a dirty redux of that joyous romp through teenage misadventures. Musically, there is an authentic country/hillbilly stomp adding an insanely festive feel to this hymn dedicated to emphatically NOT scoring. If I ever have cause to DJ, (I can’t imagine anybody ever asking me) this will be one of the tunes I’ll cue at the end of the evening-and I’ll dedicate it to all the guys and gals who came to pull, but didn’t quite manage it

Repo Man

“Run if you can,

From the repo man.”

A more direct, less tongue- in- cheek approach here, all well played and performed. Fine folkie fiddle from Ed Korolyk, and more of that lovely twangy guitar from Clive Gregson. Nothing mind boggling though.

Almost As Blue As Hank Williams A pastiche cod country weepy, and to my mind the only weak moment on side 1. I can imagine it raising loads of laughter in some humour starved singer songwriter night, but not one that I’ll listen to for kicks again. Well sung, and well crafted however, as is pretty much everything on this forgotten long player.

Side 2:

In Debt A wee bit too similar to Bivouac, really fast lyrics and brisk acoustic guitars. The chorus is a sly borrowing of Roy Orbison’s Claudette (itself an Everly Brothers hit.) No doubt this one really cooked live, but it underwhelms a little in this recorded guise.

Later Than You Think More substance here. Again shades of Elvis Costello, intelligent lyrics, and an honest, 'played less for the laughs' quality to the voices

I’m Broke In Everything But My Heart It might just be me, but I’m beginning to get a tiny bit bored of the frequency of matters fiscal, debt and ruin. Compared to the glory of “I Made A Mess Of A Dirty Weekend” this is half -baked. Pleasant, but totally forgettable.

The Late Night Picture Show A more mellow intro, aside from the annoying wood block, a welcome change of pace. I feel we’re back on track here. Perhaps a little redolent of “Labeled With Love” from Squeeze, a fine, wordy, mid tempo piece. Nice accordion, fine double bass, reassuring melodic progressions and, we can take this much for granted by now, really well honed vocals.

I’ve Forgotten What It Is That I Was Drinking To Forget A real corker to finish this little gem of an album with. Just piano, the Panic siblings, a lovely tune and some awesome, heartfelt words

“I’ve been talking to myself ever since the day I was born.”

God, the harmonies here are just stunning, I hate to keep harping back to the Everly clan but that’s the easiest, and closest point of reference. I like this album a lot, and there are a couple of tracks here that I will most certainly seek out again, and herein lies the bewitchery of claiming someone else's discarded old records; we can only speculate as to what drew the original owner to possess the vinyl specimen in the first instance, yet we have a mystical union with them the moment the needle hits the groove, and just for a moment, we here, and them there, are united in listening.

The Panic Brothers were Reg Meuross and Richard Morton

Details:

Artist: The Panic Brothers

Album: In The Red

Label: Special Delivery SPM 1003

Year: 1987


No comments:

Post a Comment