FAB CLUB REVIEW
Sunday 19th February
Now firmly established into our second year
the FAB Club started promptly at the new revised times of 2.30 until 5.30 pm in the hope that all performers would be able to play 2 numbers each. But with 20 acts this afternoon we still ran over time.
But who cares?
It was a thoroughly enjoyable session.
Debbie-Ann was our friendly host and compere this afternoon and she kicked off the proceedings with a Joyce Grenfell monologue, ‘Free Activity Period’. I am a great fan of Joyce Grenfell and have quite a number of her books, tapes and videos at home. These monologues are not the easiest to perform as so much depends on timing, tone of the voice and sideways glances. Too often I’ve seen amateur dramatic groups make a real pig’s ear of them, but Debbie-Ann performed this one brilliantly. I hope that she does some more at future sessions.
Rocking Bob Cash was the first singer of the day. Looking quite dapper, Bob must definitely be the most smartly dressed busker around! As usual Bob treated us to a couple of standards from the heyday of popular song.
His first number was “I’m Confessing that I Love You”. Most people associate this song with Frank Ifield in the 60’s but I’m sure that it’s much older than that. No doubt Bob will put me right.
He then performed one of his perennial favourites “Take Good Care of Yourself”.
Gordon Shears was next on. He did a superb soft acoustic version of The Who’s mega-blasting “Don’t Get Fooled Again”.
I would never have believed that a song like this could be adapted to this style, but how wrong could I be!. It just proves that a good song will lend itself to many variations.
Gordon then followed this with a self-penned number about the FAB Club’s live radio show on LinkFM back in December. Very clever lyrics which got very many laughs. A song that Gordon will no doubt be requested to perform many more times over the coming months.
It was Len’s turn next. On his own today. I though that he was about to perform a morris dance as he walked up to the stage area with bells ringing from his legs. But this was his rhythm section, giving us a tambourine percussion effect as he tapped is foot inb his first number, the Beatles classic, “You’ve got to hide your love away”.
I hoped that Bob Cash took notice of this effect as it could come in handy at a busking session, (remember Don Partridge?). Len then followed on with the Tim Harding song “Reason to Believe”. With both numbers he had a lovely full sound with his flat picking arrangement.
Fiona McBain then gave us a superb rendition of the old music hall song “The Old Dun Cow Caught Fire”. I can remember when I was a kid that my father use to sing this song at family parties and get togethers.
Fioana put this across with great gusto and showing us another side to her talents and getting everyone to sing along with great enthusiasm.
It was then my turn. My first song was “Love through the Distance”, a song that I wrote after reading an article written by a man whose wife was in the advanced stages of Alzheimers, and how he was coping each day. I then ended the first half with the old Buddy Holly classic, “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore”.
The Cheeky Gulls, (Claudine and Margaret), opened up the second half with the popular Monnie Aldous song “Clean Knickers Everyday”, which produced a lot of laughs without anybody shouting out, “Get them off!!!”
Barry was next on. This was the first time that I’d seen him here. A fine singer with a warm voice and with a very neat guitar style.
His first song was “Tequilla Sunset” played stylishly on his nylon strung guitar. In complete contrast his second song was the highly amusing “Uncle Victor’s Boa Constrictor”. This song is very reminiscent of the songs that Jake Thackery wrote, also with that style of nifty guitar work.
I’ve heard the song before but don’t know who wrote it. When I asked Barry he said that he didn’t know. It wasn’t a Jake Thackery song, but does anybody out there know who did write it? Anyway, a fine performance.
Maureen came on next, but minus guitar (or Bernard!). She is fast gaining a reputation as a comedienne.
She entertained us today with two hilarious monologues, “The Man with Too Many Buttons”, and (err, hmm!) “The Vicar’s Cock”!!!! I think that I’d better move on to the next review.
Simon Oliver came on with his twelve string guitar. He has a very nice style of playing and I’ve been watching him quite closely of late as I have only recently acquired a twelve string and realise that you must approach a song quite differently with this instrument to get the best out of it.
Simon does this supremely well. His first song, an Australian ballad by John Warner, was “Annie’s Ghost”. I’ve noticed that Simon likes songs with very strong story lines, and this is a song typical of that genre. His next piece was an hilarious variation of the old Percy Grainger song “Country Gardens”. There have been countless parodies of this song, (in fact I wrote one myself many years ago that I still perform occasionally).
It’s one of those tunes that simply cries out to be parodied! Simon’s version, asking why nothing will grow in his garden is extremely funny.
Lydia Mariner was the next performer. This afternoon we had three songwriters present that are all gifted in the skill of good lyric writing.
Tim Almond and Steve O’Kane are two, (more about them later), and Lydia is another. Too often I’ve heard songwriters at folk clubs who can come up with very melodious tunes and very flashy guitar licks, but then fall down with mundane, cliché ridden lyrics.
Lydia is a superb lyricist. When I’ve seen her before I’ve always been highly impressed with her songs. Both songs, “Self Defence” and “The Mute” have well crafted, poetic lyrics, (reminding me somewhat of the symbolism used by Sylvia Plath, although Lydia herself may disagree!).
In a previous review on this site someone said that her style can be likened somewhat to Carol king and Joan Armatrading, and I can definitely see why. Check out her website www.lydiamariner.com
JoJo came on next, and for a brief moment I thought that she was pregnant!!!
She came on with a cushion or something tucked under her jumper to perform “Seven Long Years, (I’ve not seen my Willy!)”, a very funny song written by Lynne Heraud and loosely based on the famous Donald McGill postcard.
With all the actions JoJo had everyone in stitches, and like Maureen, is also gaining a reputation as a comedienne.
Two newcomers to the FAB Club were
Charlie Skelton and Pete Dunhill. Two highly skilled musicians who performed a rip-roaring version of the old Copper family classic “Adieu Sweet Nancy”, with some strong fiddle playing from Pete and great guitar phrasing from Charlie.
Pete then changed to Irish pipes for the next number, “High Germany”, which broke into some nice rousing instrumental work.
I do hope that we see this duo at the FAB Club again fairly soon.
We then had our second break to recharge our glasses and hold the raffle.
Margaret (Lady Formby) then opened up the final section with one of her old favourites “When I’m Cleaning Windows”. She then switched ukelele-banjos to a slightly smaller and more mellow toned instrument to get us to sing along with her in “I’ll See You in my Dreams”.
It was then Mark’s turn. He informed us that he had a gig the previous night and therefore wished to give his voice a rest so therefore treated us to two instruments played on a nylon strung guitar. The first was a self-penned piece called “Parallel Jig” which he’d written about eight years ago and had previously released on a CD. The second tune was based loosely on the old classic “In the Mood” and contained some very clever guitar work that mixed together a whole range of styles from jazz, blues and rock licks plus the occasional jig-like phrase.
Mike Parrott is a man of many talents. Actor, radio presenter, synth player and electronic music exponent, singer/songwriter/guitarist and writer of the FAB Club anthem.
Today we saw another side of this many faceted man. . . the stand-up (or should I say sit-down) comic! A very slick routine of nicely timed gags. Mike also informed us that LinkFM has now been given a five year licence. Which earned a big cheer.
Tim Almond was the next performer. As I said earlier, Tim is a great lyric writer and today he performed a new song called “War”. It tells the story of how young kids are press ganged into becoming boy soldiers in Uganda. A very poignant song with stark imagery but, as usual with Tim, he usues some beautiful guitar phrasing to move the strong storyline song along.
Then going from the sublime to the ridiculous he did an unaccompanied version of Hamlet, Hamlet. This is another song that I’m anxious to find out who wrote it. It’s very much in the style of Tom Lehra (but it wasn’t he who wrote the song), using lots of clever three syllable rhymes. Not an easy song to sing,Tim put this number over extremely well.
FAB Club favourite Mikanora were the next to perform. Mick on guitar and Nora on concertina. They started off with the great Ewan McColl favourite “The Shoals of Herring” and then carried on with the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Edmund Fitzgerald”.
I’ve always liked the way that they perform this song, they have definitely got their own slant on the song. I particularly like the simple but highly effective phrasing that Nora uses on the concertina which really gives the song a lift.
Now it was the turn of Steve and Fiona. I’ve long been a fan of this duo. They started off with an unaccompanied version of “The Wassailing Song”. This is probably the first time that I’d ever heard this song sung in February!!! And they indeed gave it the full bodied treatment.
Steve then informed us that they will be performing at the Orpington Folk Club on May 12th. Unfortunately I’ll be in Italy on that date, but those of you who can make it please note the date in your diary. Also check out Steve’s web page attached to this site. He then performed a recently written song called “As Beautiful as You”. As one would expect from Steve, it’s a highly crafted melodic song with some lovely guitar work, (reminding me of Jim Croche’s style, which I’ve always admired).
Love songs, I find, are some of the hardest songs to write as you can so easily slip into clichés and corny sentimentality. But, like Lydia, Steve is a great craftsman at using poetic imagery. A really nice song.
Tone Deaf Leopard were the final act of the day. And what can I say about them that has not already been said by previous reviewers!!!. Surprisingly they started off with a serious song, Marty Robbins’ “Devil Woman”.
But we all knew that tey could not be serious for too long as they ended the afternoon’s session with “I’m a Rebel, with No Bladder Control”!! I think that I’d now better go to the Gents!!
Dennis Homes