I love my iPod. It is beatufil and clever and has reunited me with music. But it has changed the way people buy and listen to music. You skip from artist to artist, from album to album and you can ignore altogether the less immediately winning tracks in favour of the more winsome. The sheer depth of the portable catalogue produces a perversely shallow listenership. The process started by CD's usurping of vinyl has been completed. Gone are the ceremonials of handling, cleaning and playing vinyl. I'll tell you what I also miss - my lovingly acquired hi-fi separates: Technics deck, JVC receiver and graphic equalizer, Pioneer cassette deck and, pride of them all, the Mission 710 speakers. Those speakers were a bargain - I bought them off Dale Mathers when he was short of money in our final year. Perhaps this callous opportunistic bastardy foreshadowed my success as a lawyer.
None of which is the point of this post, which is to tell you about Pete Atkin's third album (his first for RCA - RCA Victor SF8836) A King At Nightfall. Recorded in 1973 this is the apogee of the collaboration between Atkin and his lyricist, Clive James - yes that Clive James. For more history of this partnership have a look at the very swish http://www.clivejames.com/ or the nerdier (and nicer) http://www.peteatkin.com/ , this latter maintained by fans even more partial than I.
Now the first thing to say is that the lyrics are quite simply stunning. James is a very good poet but those 1970's lyrics are the best things he ever did. And Atkin creates melodies which do them justice and let them free to cast their spell. All put together (apparently in four one hour sessions) with an array of musicians reading like a Who's Who of seventies session men - Clive Baker, Ray Cooper, Herbie Flowers, Bill Geldard, Chris Spedding etc.
Listen to the My Lai Massacre inspired All The Dead Were Strangers, then try the effortless iambs of The Hypertension Kid ( 'Last night I met the Hypertension Kid/ Grimly chasing shorts with halves of bitter/ In a Mayfair club they call the Early Quitter/ He met my eyes and hit me for a quid.' ) and by the end you will have joined the select few of us who know that the only wrist-watch for a drummer is the Omega Incabloc Oyster Accutron 72.
PS. just found a link to a cracking interview with Atkin and James which explains the history of their music - http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/new-backstage-podcast-featuring-clive-james-and-pete-atkin
None of which is the point of this post, which is to tell you about Pete Atkin's third album (his first for RCA - RCA Victor SF8836) A King At Nightfall. Recorded in 1973 this is the apogee of the collaboration between Atkin and his lyricist, Clive James - yes that Clive James. For more history of this partnership have a look at the very swish http://www.clivejames.com/ or the nerdier (and nicer) http://www.peteatkin.com/ , this latter maintained by fans even more partial than I.
Now the first thing to say is that the lyrics are quite simply stunning. James is a very good poet but those 1970's lyrics are the best things he ever did. And Atkin creates melodies which do them justice and let them free to cast their spell. All put together (apparently in four one hour sessions) with an array of musicians reading like a Who's Who of seventies session men - Clive Baker, Ray Cooper, Herbie Flowers, Bill Geldard, Chris Spedding etc.
Listen to the My Lai Massacre inspired All The Dead Were Strangers, then try the effortless iambs of The Hypertension Kid ( 'Last night I met the Hypertension Kid/ Grimly chasing shorts with halves of bitter/ In a Mayfair club they call the Early Quitter/ He met my eyes and hit me for a quid.' ) and by the end you will have joined the select few of us who know that the only wrist-watch for a drummer is the Omega Incabloc Oyster Accutron 72.
PS. just found a link to a cracking interview with Atkin and James which explains the history of their music - http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/new-backstage-podcast-featuring-clive-james-and-pete-atkin
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