VELVET THUNDER

Andy Bown? Well, ‘the man on the Clapham Omnibus’ may not know the name, but the reality of it is very different. He has always been a musician who, despite his achievements has remained low-key in his own public image, but that is far from the end of it. As a certain TV show once had it, the truth is Out There..

Now, let’s get right to it: the first question that a lot of people will be asking is ‘Who? I’ve never heard of him’ – which is not only unfortunate but actually very unfair. The man in the street may well not have heard of Andy Bown, but he will almost certainly have heard and/or seen him. First off, he has played keyboards with Status Quo since 1973, joining as a full member just after the Rockin’ All Over The World album in 1977 – that’s just the five decades then. He also co-wrote the huge hit Whatever You Want, which even undiscovered villages in Africa have probably heard. Not only that, however. He was a member of The Herd in the ’60s, and helped discover a young Peter Frampton, who of course went on to Come Alive a few years later and never looked back. He was later a member of the band Judas Jump, who may be all but forgotten now, but they had the distinction of opening the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival, just as Quo did for Live Aid – so Andy has the unique honour of opening two of the most celebrated festivals in rock history. He also appeared as a solo artist on the Reading 73 album showcasing highlights from that festival, performing Long Legged Linda which went on to be recorded by Quo some five years or so later. Finally, there’s the small matter of Pink Floyd. Andy was the Roger Waters figure in the ‘surrogate band’ in the original run of The Wall shows. Not bad for somebody nobody has heard of! Some might recall a 1983 Woody Allen film called Zelig, wherein the title character ends up present at one historic event after another simply by blending in likje a ‘human chameleon’. Andy Bown could well be dubbed ‘The Rock And Roll Zelig’. Unknown? One would hardly think so!

He has released several solo albums over the years alongside his Quo tenure (the excellent Unfinished Business springs to mind), and this one is particularly interesting from a conceptual sense. Some years ago, in fact back in the 1990s, he collaborated with celebrated sci-fi author Russell Hoban on a series of tracks written by the pair, based on a story which Hoban wrote. This is, as the title suggests, ‘an intergalactic love story’, which is summarised concisely and informatively in the package to go along with the lyrics – which are often fascinating and sometimes bizarre! In 2011, Hoban passed away, and quite recently Andy had his attention drawn to a surviving cassette of the original recordings, found them to be far better than simply throwaway demos, and set about working on getting them ready for release with musical collaborator Mike Paxman – which is what we have here. These songs don’t tell the whole story, being instead more of a series of snapshots from the tale, with Andy stating that it is a sampler for a future multi million dollar blockbuster movie – if only he can get Steven Spielberg’s number! So if anyone is on Spielberg’s Christmas Card list, you know what to do!

The music across the eight tracks here runs a very wide spectrum of influences, from the proggy, Pink Floyd touches of the opening title track through to the almost ambient and reflective Deep Space Freighter closing proceedings. Along the way there are the sprightly and almosy funky Flick And Fade and Flicker Freako – which is one of the points where Hoban’s lyrics get strange! Boondocks 3, about a planet of that name, is a strong effort with a nice hook, while the strangeness reaches its zenith with the surreal Frogs And Owls, in which the music matches the words for playful eccentricity. Perhaps the strongest moments here are the two emotional ballads; There’s A Deep Hole Called Regret is as mournfully emotional as you would expect from its self-explanatory title, while City Of Love shines with a superb guest lead vocal from Judie Tzuke lifting it to another level – it’s easy to forget just what a great voice she has always had, and this track brings it into sharp focus. In fact, the most frustrating part of this matrial is that there isn’t more of it – if it had been completed to a greater degree when recorded, with the whole story told in ‘rock opera’ fashion across more material, with maybe even some inter-song narration, it would be a double disc major event. As it is, what we have gives us a glimpse, but we have to extrapolate the whole picture in our imagination. Still, what we have is still something we should be thankful for, as it would be a real shame, not least to the legacy of Hoban, for this to have remained unheard.

Andy Bown? Well, ‘the man on the Clapham Omnibus’ may not know the name, but the reality of it is very different. He has always been a musician who, despite his achievements has remained low-key in his own public image, but that is far from the end of it. As a certain TV show once had it, The Truth Is Out There…