Ezra Furman

The shortlist for my 20 favourite albums of 2013 currently runs to a hefty 53 titles and so, in an effort to trim down the numbers, I'm diligently spending a bit of quality time with each one of the lucky blighters. Among them is Ezra Furman, who recently reappeared in my collection after a gap of five years. I lost touch with his output after his second LP, 2008's 'Inside the Human Body', but 'Day of the Dog', his fifth, is a very fine piece of work that had me scuttling off to catch up with what I've been missing.

Stirring Up Memories

Consciously and unconsciously, Dad taught me a lot of important stuff during his life, including the value of respect, a love of music and the joy of laughter. To my eternal regret, however, one thing I never did learn from him was his own unique bread recipe, which he'd perfected after many years of tweaking. He tried to share this secret with me on a couple of occasions, but my mind was elsewhere and as he never wrote it down, it's now gone forever. He did teach me his method for making good porridge though. I guess the time that it took was about perfect for my attention span. Now that the porridge season is upon us, I often find myself, early in the morning, coffee in hand, standing over a steaming saucepan of oats, with Dad's voice echoing down the years, '...stir, stir, stir, stir......keep stirring.....don't stop stirring.....it's very important that you keep stirring.....that's the secret of good porridge....never stop stirring.....' Not so much a method as a mantra. I stir Dad, I stir, but it never tastes as good as yours did.

On the subject of oats, I found this old sheet music in a charity shop last week and it sparked a warm glow of recognition. I became aware of 'Mairzy Doats' at 7 or 8 years of age via BBC Radio's Junior Choice, where 'Stewpot' played the contemporary version by The Innocence, while Dad, of course, was already familiar with the song from previous recordings dating back to his own childhood in the 1940's. Together he and I would sing this silly little song ad infinitum, much to Mum's bemusement. That's another thing Dad taught me - there's nothing wrong with a little silliness every now and then.

Roy Orbison

Regrets, I've had a few...and many of them concern artists I never got to see in concert. Roy Orbison is a prime example. Thanks to Dad's record collection, I'd been listening to Roy Orbison since before I could walk - to this day 'Running Scared' can reduce me to tears. By June 1985, however, neither Dad or I gave serious consideration to travelling the barely one mile from home to see him onstage at the Ipswich Gaumont. Dad's tastes had moved away from 'pop' towards the classics and I was concerned that, by now, Orbison's performance would be a pale, embarrassing, showbizzy, shadow of its former glory, replete with lazy vocals and greatest hit medleys.

A week later, I ran into a friend who'd attended the concert. My heart sank as he raved about the show, confirming what is now commonly known to be the case, that Roy Orbison never 'phoned in' a performance in his life, not even in the lean years. His voice, a magnificent mystery, hit every glorious note and continued to do so, right up to his untimely death in 1988, 25 years ago today.

Jonathan Wilson - Live in Concert

How many artists, touring in support of only their second album, have the confidence and ability to play a set of over two hours in length, including a sprinkling of unreleased material, which has no dips, lulls, or wristwatch-checking moments? Step forward Jonathan Wilson, who, with his superb band, had the audience in Norwich agog from the get-go on Monday evening. A lesser band would doubtless have saved material as strong as the opening salvo of 'Lovestrong', 'Illumination' and 'Fazon' for their encores, but Wilson has considerable strength in depth, there are few weak-links in his catalogue. In fact he elected not to play one of his very best songs, 'Cecil Taylor', at all.

Jonathan Wilson's sound is past-acknowledging and forward-looking, musically rich and subtly complex, where time signatures shift and solos go off at unexpected tangents. Grandstanding is not his style, but it's quietly intricate, frequently breathtaking stuff all the same. Touchstones include everything from CSN&Y (collectively and individually) to elements of progressive rock, Pink Floyd in particular. One gets the impression that he is only just beginning to flex his musical muscles. Miss him at your peril.

Saturday Scratch #32: Special Edition - R.I.P. Junior Murvin

Very sad to hear of the passing of the legendary Junior Murvin at the age of 64 (or 67 depending on which report you believe). Murvin recorded with a clutch of great Jamaican producers over the years, but it's his work with Lee Perry on 1977's seminal 'Police & Thieves' LP for which he'll inevitably be best remembered. Here, from those sessions, is 'Memories', the b-side of the album's second single, 'Tedious'.

'You Old Rascal...' - Bob Dylan Live at the Royal Albert Hall

There's Bob, clear focused all around, moving between centre stage and the shadows of his keyboard retreat. After a strong opening, I'm mentally prepping for the 'Tempest' fest to come, first though, 'Beyond Here Lies Nothin''. Dylan, concentrating on one of those repeated piano phrases that he likes to lose himself in, suddenly stops playing and gazes out into the audience, all pursed lips and hand on hip (a favoured pose these days) as if to say '...did you hear that...?' I laugh out loud. Tension and release.

'Duquesne Whistle' and 'Pay in Blood' knock their recorded counterparts into a cocked hat, but it's 'Love Sick' that stops me in my tracks. A towering performance. The audience seems caught off guard by this one and there's a micro-silence between the end of the song and the explosion of applause, no-one wishing to break the spell we're under. 'Forgetful Heart', if anything, is even more intense. This is masterful stuff. I guess I must have breathed at some point during the song, but I don't remember doing so.


All too soon we're in 'Scarlet Town', knowing the end is near, but first, 'Long And Wasted Years', undoubtedly the song of the tour. Dylan as grizzled narrator and his band at their best. No 'Roll On John' for us tonight. Not a song I'm overly fond of, though I nevertheless welled-up on hearing the Blackpool rendition. 'Watchtower' and 'Blowin'' allow us all to kick back and let our hair down - we're in familiar territory. Bob high-fives some lucky front rowers, takes a last long look around and is gone.

(Stockholm, October 13th)

Version City #21 - Bruce Springsteen sings Suicide

I'm delighted to note the inclusion of 'Dream Baby Dream' in the tracklisting of Bruce Springsteen's new studio LP, 'High Hopes', which is slated for release in January. Springsteen performed his interpretation of the 1979 Suicide single on over 60 occasions in 2005, releasing one of those live versions as a limited edition 10" single in 2008.



A few years ago there were a large number of audience recordings of the song floating about on YouTube, all taped throughout 2005, though many have disappeared in the interim. A few still cling on, however, and I'd recommend checking out the whole lot. From the early tentative run-throughs, to the glorious, epic performances towards the tour's conclusion, Springsteen's take on 'Dream Baby Dream' rarely fails to floor me and I'm pleased that it'll now gain the wider recognition it deserves.