Kevin Coyne with Jon Langford & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts – One Day In Chicago (Buried Treasure Records).
This is Kevin Coyne’s last, and ironically a comeback, album; he died on 02/12/2004 after having a long and eccentric career in the music business. All 15 of the albums tracks were recorded within a few hours and it is reputed that he made up at least 10 of them on the spot. The opener, Monkeyheart is a fractured blues with Coyne’s distinctive moaning vocal. This shows that he is no respecter of musical genre. Britischer Cowboy is a waltz, in parts, Americana in others and comic in the lyric. He was certainly his own man, often acclaimed as the British Captain Beefheart. Over Land And Sea is Asian influenced with the wailing vocal now the norm. Songs like this show why he was regarded as the antithesis of pop. Money Like Water is in a country style but also has echoes of Blur’s Parklife and Ian Dury. Way Of The World is dreamy and blues influenced. The acoustic Happy Island Girl has a childlike lyric, “zoom zoom goes the plane and I’m on my way” being a good example of this happy song. By the time I reach Scene Of The Crime I’m scouring my memory to find who his voice is reminiscent of. Cracked it – Alex Harvey. This is another bluesy song but one of his more conformist.
She’s Not There is pub rock with a country bent, English style of course – a rollicking good ride. You You You! keeps up the standard and Harvey, Blur and Dury come to mind again. I’m sorry that I never got into Kevin Coyne in earlier years and I am sure that he is sadly missed by many. However, he is musically survived by his son, Robert, who released his first solo album in April this year. I’ve not tracked it down yet but I’m intrigued to hear if he has taken on any of his fathers attributes. There’s a bit of Van Morrison in Angel, another great song sung with so much feeling. Saviour, the standout amongst standouts, is a rhythmic, pulsating rock track; why he was never a big star I do not know. It is said that he was offered the chance to be Jim Morrison’s replacement in The Doors but turned it down as he didn’t fancy having to wear leather trousers. There is also the tale that he refused the offer to write lyrics for Tubular Bells, now I wish that I could have heard the result of that collaboration if it had ever come off. There are four live bonus tracks, the first of which is Blame It On The Night. This is just guitar and voice and Coyne gives a passionate performance. Fat Girl is blues influenced with Coyne’s twist and black lyrics. Money Like Water (version) is better than the studio version and is altogether impassioned and surrealistic. The last of the live tracks is Karate King and it is here that you can hear how ill he was at the time. His breathlessness comes over very strongly. There is a short précis about how the song is dedicated to a bully called Denis and his acerbic lyric is a fine testament to his writing talent.
Kevin Coyne is the type of artist that probably only Britain can produce but I fear we may never see his like again.
http://www.kevincoyne.de/
http://www.buriedtreasurerecords.com/
David Blue.
This is Kevin Coyne’s last, and ironically a comeback, album; he died on 02/12/2004 after having a long and eccentric career in the music business. All 15 of the albums tracks were recorded within a few hours and it is reputed that he made up at least 10 of them on the spot. The opener, Monkeyheart is a fractured blues with Coyne’s distinctive moaning vocal. This shows that he is no respecter of musical genre. Britischer Cowboy is a waltz, in parts, Americana in others and comic in the lyric. He was certainly his own man, often acclaimed as the British Captain Beefheart. Over Land And Sea is Asian influenced with the wailing vocal now the norm. Songs like this show why he was regarded as the antithesis of pop. Money Like Water is in a country style but also has echoes of Blur’s Parklife and Ian Dury. Way Of The World is dreamy and blues influenced. The acoustic Happy Island Girl has a childlike lyric, “zoom zoom goes the plane and I’m on my way” being a good example of this happy song. By the time I reach Scene Of The Crime I’m scouring my memory to find who his voice is reminiscent of. Cracked it – Alex Harvey. This is another bluesy song but one of his more conformist.
She’s Not There is pub rock with a country bent, English style of course – a rollicking good ride. You You You! keeps up the standard and Harvey, Blur and Dury come to mind again. I’m sorry that I never got into Kevin Coyne in earlier years and I am sure that he is sadly missed by many. However, he is musically survived by his son, Robert, who released his first solo album in April this year. I’ve not tracked it down yet but I’m intrigued to hear if he has taken on any of his fathers attributes. There’s a bit of Van Morrison in Angel, another great song sung with so much feeling. Saviour, the standout amongst standouts, is a rhythmic, pulsating rock track; why he was never a big star I do not know. It is said that he was offered the chance to be Jim Morrison’s replacement in The Doors but turned it down as he didn’t fancy having to wear leather trousers. There is also the tale that he refused the offer to write lyrics for Tubular Bells, now I wish that I could have heard the result of that collaboration if it had ever come off. There are four live bonus tracks, the first of which is Blame It On The Night. This is just guitar and voice and Coyne gives a passionate performance. Fat Girl is blues influenced with Coyne’s twist and black lyrics. Money Like Water (version) is better than the studio version and is altogether impassioned and surrealistic. The last of the live tracks is Karate King and it is here that you can hear how ill he was at the time. His breathlessness comes over very strongly. There is a short précis about how the song is dedicated to a bully called Denis and his acerbic lyric is a fine testament to his writing talent.
Kevin Coyne is the type of artist that probably only Britain can produce but I fear we may never see his like again.
http://www.kevincoyne.de/
http://www.buriedtreasurerecords.com/
David Blue.
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