FAB Club Review Sunday 4th September
After the long summer break the FAB Club was finally back in action. On a sultry warm late summer afternoon it was really grand just sitting there sipping a nice cold beer and listening to some excellent performers. Traditionally, folk club sing-arounds are for all-comers, irrespective of their ability. This is what folk clubs are all about. Some performers are truly outstanding, giving amazing virtuoso performances, while others may struggle with just three chords on the guitar and sing in a very limited range. But this shouldn’t really matter; it’s getting up and having a go that counts. However, I found that every performer at this afternoon’s session was of a very high standard and we had a two hour show of thoroughly good entertainment and superb performances.
John New, of EFN Magazine fame, was our compere for the afternoon and opened up the proceedings with a Pete Cooper parody of the well known Jewish folk song Donna, Donna, Donna. It was an hilarious song detailing the exploits of a man picking up a young lady in a kebab restaurant (hence the Donna connection!), and what happened next in the bedroom and beyond! John says he is known more for his background work on the folk scene, but I think that he is an excellent performer with a great command of timing and expression which is so important when putting over a comedy song.
John New
Dennis Homes
I was the next one to climb aboard. I did two of my own songs. The first one was “Nobody comes to tea”, which deals with the subject of loneliness in old age. Then, going from the sublime to the ridiculous, I did “The Seaside Outing”, which was a true account of what a group of young east end urchins got up to when they went on a day trip to Margate.
Tim Almond was next up. He did two of his own songs that he has played often at other clubs, but never before at The FAB Club. The first one was song loosely based on Caliban, the deformed slave in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Tim usually plays guitar in altered tunings which gives many of his slower songs a model effect, even though they are in a regular major or minor key. There is a great sensitivity in his playing and he always gives a very clear vocal presentation. His second song, which was very different, was a satirical poke a despot tyrants like Mugabe, Saddam and Pinochet. A very funny song, but also with a great deal of truth in it. I often think that satire can have a more effective punch than many serious protest songs. (Remember Country Joe and the Fish?)
Tim Almond
Dennis Barkass
Dennis Barkass was next on stage. This was his first time at The FAB Club, and let’s hope that it won’t be his last. He delighted us with two of his own instrumentals played on a four stringed mandolin. The first one was called Cherry Blossom and the second one is so far untitled. His mandolin was amplified and in a very delicate way he used some most pleasing effects with echo and reverberation, insofar as each motif of the melody was answered by its echo.
Ralph Orme was the next performer. His first song was a Martin Wyndham Reed number which he played with a lovely full guitar picking style. The next song was one about the Diggers which I have heard played on a number of occasions at folk clubs but never actually knew who wrote it. I was informed later by Ralph that it was a Leon Rosselson Song. Ralph played it in a very individual way, tuning both his top and bottom E strings down to D and playing his guitar in a very laid back but intricate style with some very effective hammer-on and pull-offs. A very pleasing performance.
Ralph Orme
Gordon Shears came on next. When I last saw him at the club, before the summer break, he did some songs with some nice guitar work. However, to our great dismay he turned up with his hand in a bandage having had an argument with some computer equipment that he was lifting!!! Sadly, no guitar today! Nevertheless, he delighted us all with a very funny poem about a fish and chip shop based on the well known ‘Green and yellow idol to the east of Kathmandu’.
Gordon Shears
Mikanora followed on. I’ve known them for years and have always found them a sheer delight to listen to. Mick was in his usual summer gear of shorts and sandals, (folk festival garb?) They started off with the Gordon Lightfoot song ‘Edmund Fitzgerald’ with Mick on guitar and Nora on concertina. I’ve always liked their arrangement of this song, particularly Nora’s simple, but highly effective, concertina phrasing. They followed this with the well known hopping song that always gets everyone singing along to the tee-i-oh chorus! A great Sunday afternoon sing-along.
A short break then followed, which allowed folk to fill up their glasses and buy some raffle tickets before John New opened up the proceedings again with the well known Tilbury song ‘Rolling up, Rolling down’. Until John mentioned it, I never realised that this was a Jack Forbes song. I’ve always rated Jack as a writer, particularly as many of his songs are about this part of Essex, (Daytrip to Southend, Churchy Deal, etc).
Either of Us, were next on. Claudine on guitar and vocals and Tim on mandolin.I didn’t catch the title of their first song, but it was one of Tim’s with a really good lyric about a somewhat mysterious and enigmatic lady. Their second song was an Anthony John Clark song called Gloria. The poignant lyrics tell the story of a young homeless girl living on the streets. A situation that shouldn’t be happening these days, but alas is all too frequent. Claudine sang this song with real feeling and Tim did some delicate guitar picking. What I like about Tim’s playing is his sensitive use of dynamics.
Les Elvin was next to perform. Another fine guitar picker. (We were fortunate in having several really good guitar players here this afternoon). His first song I think was called Gypsy Davey, and contained some very neat guitar work played in a drop D tuning. He started off his next number with a slow, soft instrumental version of the old standard ‘Around the Blooming Heather’ which suddenly transformed itself into a lovely song that I’ve never heard before called ‘What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding?’ In a week that has seen the death of nearly a thousand people in a stampede in Iraq, the first anniversary of the massacre at Beslan, and the looting, rape and shooting that took place in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, this song asks a very important question.
Les Elvin
Pete Morton followed with two of his own compositions. The first one was Great, Gold Sun, a very melodic tune with very clever lyrics performed superbly. His second number was Another train, which is a song about new beginnings and hope. Pete is a good songwriter with a warm voice. He also knows instinctively how to put a song over. I’ve found that it’s not just a good voice or musical proficiency on an instrument that marks a good performer. It’s about getting inside the song and knowing how to express it. Like Tim Almond, Pete uses dynamics a lot; knowing when to play loud and when to play really quietly, or even pause. A quality performance.
Dennis Barkass came on again, this time with an instrumental on electric guitar. He described it as a blues for the 21st century and called it The Last Whale. With lots of echo and effects it almost simulated the song of a whale. Very much an impressionist piece of music, it reminded me of the Animals album that Pink Floyd recorded about twenty years ago. Oddly enough Dennis is the first left handed guitarist that I’ve ever seen that plays a right handed guitar the wrong way round. But what a lovely sound he gets!
I came on again next with my song about disastrous barbecues. The song probably explains why I’m a vegetarian!
Ralph Orme was back on again with a Jacques Brel song which I think is called The Port of Amsterdam. I’ve always rated Jacques Brel’s songs. I remember Scott Walker popularising them many years ago. Very theatrical in their content. Ralph performed this song with great eloquence. In many ways the song has a similarity with Gloria that Either of Us performed, insofar as they both seem to highlight human frailty.
Les Elvin then performed the well known Irish song Star of the County Down, but in a very individual and unique way that was so very effective. He played and sang it in a much more mellow and laid back style than is usually heard with some delicate guitar work. He sounded as though he was playing a lot of minor ninths which gave the song a rather unresolving edge and a somewhat modal feel to it. A really tasteful version of an old favourite.
Mikanora returned to get everyone singing the old sea shanty Whip Jamboree. I’ve never understood what the song meant, but who cares? It’s a great song.
Either of Us were next up. Claudine on guitar and Tim on mandolin with Claudine’s song about coming to England ‘The Calling’. Nicely sung with some clever mandolin phrasing from Tim.
To round the afternoon off Pete Morton gave us another of his own songs, The Shepherd Song. The song is based on John Clair, the ploughman’s poet. This song greatly interested me as I’ve always admired John Clair’s work. A great song, sung well and ended the afternoon (of what has been worldwide a disastrous week), on a happy and optimistic note.
Dennis Homes