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REVIEW
OF THE CD OF THE SHOW:
ALAN CLAYSON
AND THE ARGONAUTS - Sunset Of A Legend (Damaged Goods)
Alan Clayson is one of those uniquely British musical eccentrics a’la
Syd Barrett, Neil Innes, Kevin Ayers or post-punk oddities like John
Otway, Wreckless Eric or Mark Astronaut. For over three decades
Clayson has ploughed his own unique furrow, enlisting around 60 willing
(and sometimes unwilling!) Argonauts along the way. Many of
his fellow travelers went on to fame and fortune, whilst
Clayson, who worked with and shared the stage with the likes
of The Jam, The Tourists, The Nashville Teens, Dave Berry and many
many more has remained in that CD section forever entitled ‘cult
artiste’. Musically Clayson has always been far too clever,
adventurous and mischievous to sit happily in any musical
box, instead interpreting with his inimitable twist folk-rock,
pop-rock, psychedelia, glam-rock, soul, classical and punk.
Although comparisons to the Bonzos and Zappa are at times obvious,
Clayson is most definitely an English experience, and like so many
from the pre-punk period who absorbed and rode the punk tide,
surfed the savage waters and still managed to hit the ground
running, Clayson is most worthy of further investigation. 4 out of
5
Review by Sean McGhee
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Too hyper to go to bed...the buzz
didn't wear off even slightly until late this afternoon.
It was such a brilliant evening - J*** has
been
telling me about you for years, (we met through
O****), but unfortunately for
me, I didn't live in this country so I missed out on
an awful lot that was happening. Just sad that it
took me so long to get to experience 'the legend'. I know it sounds rather 'over the top', but
I
was totally transported to another realm - thank you
for a wonderful evening.
P***
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Alan, I just wanted to thank you for a
fabulous gig last night. I had to admit that, as I was digging out my
old Clayson and The Argonauts T-shirt (which sadly only fits my 11-year old
son these days - was I EVER really
that skinny?), I was feeling a little nervous. Clayson and The
Argonauts played such a huge role in my late teens/early 20's - would you
live up to my expectations? I'd hyped you up to my friend Patsy -
would she be disappointed? I should NEVER have doubted you! You
more than delivered. Patsy and my whole family came away on a high -
they loved it and so, of course did I.
When I heard the first few notes to the
opening theme, and then the sirens
started up, I went all shivery and a little tear came to my eyes and a lump
rose in my throat. I'd almost all about forgotten that opening - but
subconsciously obviously I hadn't - because it all came flooding back and
this plump 49 year old was transported back in time to that skinny 19 year
old who first saw you at the Red Cow in Hammersmith in (I think) December
1975. I was as hooked now as I was then.
Many of my old favourites made their
appearances (some didn't - I used to love The Ham and Sweeney Todd The
Barber) - especially Pagan Mercia, which I always considered to be one of
your best compositions, and which was one of the highlights of the evening
as far as I was concerned. My friend Patsy - a Clayson virgin - turned to
me in the middle of Superman 42 and said "I love him!". She
had nothing but praise for your performance, and the children have been
saying all morning how much they enjoyed themselves. The Argonauts played a really tight set - and
are obviously all superb musicians who were thoroughly
enjoying themselves. I loved the violin too - which added a certain
something to the performance.
I had been sitting at home most of
yesterday remembering little details about the many gigs I went to and the
props and costumes you would
wear, and knowing that it was probably not dignified for a person in their
50s to do all that -wondering if you would don the laurel wreath one last
time. But I didn't miss them at all. Your performance stood up
by itself - you didn't need them.
I sincerely hope that this WASN'T the final
sunset of the Argonauts, and that we will see the odd occasional outing even
if it's not viable to do it on
a more regular basis.
It was great to see such a large crowd there -
including a few familiar faces - and looking around, you had everyone in the
palm of your hands! Now I'm off to play the CD and to bemoan the
fact that I missed the Roundhouse gig (possibly one of
the few major gigs I did miss) as I was away working in Germany at the
time..... But thank you Alan, for a wonderful evening.
J*** xx
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