Description
With lyrics by Clive James and music by Pete Atkin, these are all new recordings of nearly all new songs. Clive and Pete have been writing songs together - and Pete has been recording them - since the late 1960s, but Clive's health is fragile now, and this will be the last collection of new songs by them.
As Clive says "writing song lyrics is my favourite form of writing anything. Lyricists wouldn't be trying such a second-fiddle thing unless they found it so satisfactory to get right.... the thrill of hearing a set of syllables being absorbed by a row of notes, in a kind of mid-air mating dance that transmits a new emotion."
Pete has chosen a musical style for each song which presents it in the best way possible. And so there are "echoes of folk and rock, of showtunes and music hall, and jazz," helped along by some superb musicianship from pianist/organist Simon Wallace, bassist Steve Pearce, and drummer Ian Thomas, with outstanding contributions from guitarist Chris Spedding and saxophonist Alan Barnes.
Fitting Clive's and Pete's songs into any of the usual categories has never been easy, and it still isn't. But Clive says: "It doesn't matter what category our songs fall into, as long as people listen. The trick is to make sure nothing gets between the songs and the listeners." The result is a collection of songs that will stay with you.
The CD booklet includes all lyrics, full personnels, and notes on each song by Clive and Pete themselves.