"...House On The Hill..."
In truth, Derby's Kevin Coyne
with his distinctive in-the-distance nasal-warble voice and disheveled
Joe-Cocker-on-the-lash hair and his tramp/plumber way of dressing - was not for
everyone.
In fact when Virgin Records
released VD 2501 in September 1973, they tempted record buyers with a price-tag
sticker of £2.73 for a 20-Track Double-Album and then backed that up with a
full-page (day of release) trade advert pointing out that such a cheap price
represented only a cost of eleven-pence per song. Not that it seemed anyone
noticed.
But "Marjory Razor
Blade" has always been a cult release, a sort of acquired taste. Musically
this splurge of songs mixed his Slim Chance barrelhouse way of
singing/recording with elements of Acoustic-Blues and Folk-Soul on top of
hurting lyrics. He surrounded himself with fabulous musician back-up from
people like Gordon Smith on Guitars (of Blue Horizon fame) and the Keyboardist
Jean Roussel (of Hanson) with Tony Cousins on Bass (he of Metropolis Studios fame, later
remastered the Genesis Gabriel years catalogue to spectacular effect in 2007)
and Chili Charles on Drums. Dave Clague of Siren also plays guitar on some
tracks.
The US 11-Track album was a truncated single LP and as far as the
artist and players were concerned, a butchered affair best not thought of. Like
I say, "Marjory Razor Blade" is not a well-known release. I remember
when I worked at Reckless Records in our crazy busy Soho shop – the UK
stickered double would turn up only sporadically – and when it did, us of the
older moody git persuasion would look at it with affection and even a wee bit
of wonder.
Well, fast-forward to January
2010 and Virgin are at it again, festooning this 'Expanded Edition' 2CD
Remastered set with a Bonus Cut on Disc 1 and a whopping 16 more on Disc 2. And
the words 'forgotten gem' running alongside 'seriously great value for money'
start to jump to mind. Let's get slashed...
UK released 11 January 2010 -
"Marjory Razor Blade" by KEVIN COYNE on Virgin VDR 2501 (Barcode
5099950372126) is a 2CD 'Expanded Edition' Reissue with One Bonus Track on CD1
and a Further 16 Bonus Tracks on CD2 that plays out as follows:
CD1 "Marjory Razor
Blade" The Original Album (79:04 minutes):
1. Marjory Razor Blade [Side
1]
2. Marlene
3. Talking To No One
4. Eastbourne Ladies
5. Old Soldier
6. I Want My Crown [Side 2]
7. Nasty
8. Lonesome Valley
9. House On The Hill
10. Cheat Me
11. Jackie And Edna [Side 3]
12. Everybody Says
13. Mummy
14. Heaven In My View
15. Karate King
16. Dog Latin [Side 4]
17. This Is Spain
18. Chairman's Ball
19. Good Boy
20. Chicken Wing
BONUS TRACK
21. Eastbourne Ladies (US
7" Single Edit)
CD2 Bonus Tracks (69:28
minutes):
1. Lovesick Fool
2. Sea Of Love
Tracks 1 and 2 are the
A&B-sides of a November 1973 UK 7" single on Virgin VS 104
3. Breathe In Deep
4. Jackie And Edna (Take One)
5. Pretty Park
Tracks 3 to 5 recorded at
Manor Studios in July 1973, outtakes, PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
6. I Want My Crown
Track 6 recorded for BBC TV's
"The Old Grey Whistle Test" transmitted 30 October 1973, PREVIOUSLY
UNRELEASED
7. Eastbourne Ladies
8. House On The Hill
9. Chicken Wing
Tracks 7 to 9 recorded for
Bob Harris' BBC Radio 1 Show, recorded 24 Oct 1973, transmitted 12 Nov 1973
Produced by JEFF GRIFFIN -
PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
10. Poor Swine
11. Need Somebody
12. Araby
13. Do Not Shout At Me Father
Tracks 10 to 13 recorded for
John Peel's BBC Radio 1 Show
Recorded 24 January 1974,
Transmitted 31 January 1974
14. Marjory Razorblade Suite
Originally released on the
Virgin Records 2LP Label Sampler "V" in July 1975 on VD 2502
PREVIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE on CD
15. House On The Hill
16. Boogie Chillun [John Lee
Hooker cover]
Tracks 15 and 16 live at The
100 Club in London, 1974 - PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Although its only an 8-page
booklet, with interviews culled from Bassist and Mastering Engineer Tony
Cousins, Blues Guitarist Gordon Smith and Coyne’s own recollections - the liner
notes are an informative affair. But it’s the PASHAL BYRNE and BEN WISEMAN
Remasters that are thrilling. I remember the original vinyl was good but never
quite great. Well here it feels released – the band’s Americana Acoustic Blues
alchemy making it feel we all missed a trick when it comes to this double. A
properly great job done.
After an Acapella bitter
diatribe about "Marjory Razor Blade", other Side 1 winners includes
the poppy "Marlene", the sad beauty of "Old Soldier" and
the done-the-best-I-can acoustic-Bluesy "I Want My Crown". The song
that was chosen for a US 45 was "Eastbourne Ladies" (Virgin 13-106) –
reduced from its LP timings of 5:57 minutes to 4:35 minutes – is featured here
as the Bonus Track tail-ending CD1. Never thought it was good choice, surely
the more Blues-Boogie feel to "I Want My Crown" that opens Side 2
would have worked better – a sound that was sort of akin to Bryn Haworth and
the Slide Guitar stuff he did on his fab 1974 LP "Let The Days Go By"
on Island Records.
Gordon Smith plays lovely
slide acoustic on the acidic "Nasty" while Coyne gets almost
childishly scathing as he sings. "Lonesome Valley" is a Carter Family
cover and comes on like a Countrified Slim Chance washboard and kazoo folk
boogie session - all rattling guitar strings and doubled vocals - fantastic
stuff where the whole band make a fab ruckus. That's followed by one of the
album's loveliest songs "House On The Hill" and again Gordon Smith's
electric slide alongside Roussel on piano both add hugely, Cone even sounding a
little like early David Gray. Side 2 ends on a slide-guitar boogie romp called
"Cheat Me" where Gordon Smith and band really get to stretch out as
they give it a bit of The Allman Brothers.
Side 3 opens with the 'why
can't we go on like we did before' song "Jackie And Edna" - a lonely
acoustic tune with his voice and lyrics almost too much on the open sleeve for
comfort. Gorgeous flicking harmonics guitar work on "Everybody Says"
- a song that feels like Roy Harper at his curmudgeonly best. Both
"Mummy" and the dancing "Heaven In My View" gives us more
rambunctious Slim Chance doing Americana, huge Kettle Drums keeping a beat as
Acoustic and Mandolin guitars slip and slide across the speakers – Coyne’s
vocals echoed like a circus tent compare while Mama plays the upright Joanna.
Chopping kids down like trees, going chop-chop, down in the gymnasium – Coyne
sings with his lone acoustic guitar on "Karate Kid" – snarling out
the lyrics like he’s angling for a barroom brawl with an egotist in his sights.
Side 4 kicks in with
"Dog Latin" and the muscle-bound storybook that is "This Is
Spain" back in a time when a holiday in the sun must have felt like
handling the crown jewels. We then go slightly Mungo Jerry with the mandolin
poppy "Chairman’s Ball" – get your ticket and go. Far better is the
drumming-it-into-their-dim-minds "Good Boy" where Coyne sounds like
an Establishment teacher rapping his student on the knuckles with ‘well done’
and ‘good boy’ repeats as he strums down aggressive. We boogie with the band
for the final splash – how do you do that thing – bought a "Chicken
Wing".
CD2 opens with the rare
stand-alone single of "Lovesick Fool" on Virgin VS 104 (from November
1973) which was paired on the flipside with a cover of "Sea Of Love"-
the 1959 Vocal Group smoocher made famous by Phil Phillips and The Twilights on
Mercury Records. Many will recall the song from the sideways Led Zeppelin
project that Jimmy Page and Robert Plant put together as The Honeydrippers in
1984. Both tracks are winners and genuine bonuses – in fact you can’t help
think that Coyne doing an entire album of R&B and Vocal Group tunes would
have been something extraordinary.
Other goodies are the two and
half minutes of the previously unreleased "Breathe In Deep" where
some conversation in the studio about Dr. Who and The Daleks precedes another
washboard sliding acoustic ditty. Same goes for "Pretty Park" –
probably dropped from the final double because it sounded too much like other
Americana-ish tracks on the album (but what a thrill to hear both of these
quality outtakes all these years later). The Old Grey Whistle Test recordings
are in fantastic shape - "I Want My Crown" amped up with a Tabla
rhythm section. Keyboards slink in for "House On The Hill" where the
band sounds like a languid Pink Floyd circa 1971 with a strangulated vocalist
at the microphone. More washboard stomping with "Poor Swine" – a
genuinely cool find - and eight-minutes of the "Marjory Razorblade
Suite" recorded live at Hyde Park in June 1974 and only available on the
Virgin "V" double-album sampler - is the kind of tune I'd forgotten
about for over three decades. It all comes to an end with six minutes of John
Lee Hooker and his classic "Boogie Chillun" done live at the 100 Club
with Gordon Smith on Guitar, Rick Dodd on Saxophone, Terry Slade on Bass and
Tony Williams on Drums – great audio too as the band builds the stomp and Coyne
gives the crowd some 'Derby City' name-checking Rock and Roll.
The double-album is something
of a lost classic and the plethora of Bonus Tracks is not just worth owning –
but makes the whole shebang feel like a dip-in and discover treasure trove all
the way from start to finish.
The sort of British-Washboard-Acoustic-Blues-Americana
that is "Marjory Razor Blade" is a footnote in Rock's history now and
I suspect despite glowing reviews - it won't be for everyone either. But for me
- this fantastic 2CD Remaster has turned it into a Bobby Dazzler. And the
brilliant underdog Kevin Coyne (Derby's finest) and his complementing musical buddies deserved no less…
