Terry Edwards - Clichés (CD)

Twelve covers in homage to Alex Chilton, from John Peel's signature tune to "Lulu's Back in Town" via Bach & an unhinged version of James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy" Terry Edwards, left-field session musician to the great & the good (including Robyn Hitchcock, Jerry Dammers, Siouxsie, The Duke Spirit and Madness - about whom he has also had a book published), releases his first full album of solo material for 5 years. Although he’s well-known for cover versions, having previously released Jesus & Mary Chain songs as trumpet-led instrumentals, The Fall in a ska style and Miles Davis tunes as speed-metal snapshots, Clichés is something of a departure. The album is respectfully dedicated to Alex Chilton who recorded a covers album with the same title in 1993. Using Chilton’s release as a blueprint, Edwards selected songs that had a personal resonance (e.g. John Peel’s signature tune, Pickin’ the Blues), wallowed in the beauty of heartache (You Won’t See Me, The Very Thought of You) or simply gave him a lust for life (the Mary Chain’s I Love Rock & Roll). Alex included a Bach Gavotte, Terry arranged a Bach Prelude for wind quartet, and so on. The trademark horn-heavy sound is replaced with minimal instrumentation, largely voice and acoustic guitar. Sentimental songs like My Blue Heaven are played straight (as are Chilton’s readings of Time After Time & All Of You etc), but the left-field spirit appears on I’ll Go Crazy (James Chance plays James Brown!) and on the Thelonious Monk-like reading of Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner. Although there’s humour and devilry in the delivery, there is purity and integrity throughout the album - not a single note could be described as ironic, allowing the beauty of the songs to shine through. In researching Clichés, Edwards discovered that Alex’s album was a homage of it’s own - four of the twelve tunes were mainstays of Chet Baker’s recorded output, and Chilton was a great admirer of his. Digging deeper it transpires that Baker had recorded the Boxtops/Chilton hit The Letter on an obscure LP from 1970. The album title itself comes from a description of Baker’s playing by one of his contemporaries - “Chet never played clichés” - taken from the film Let’s Get Lost (a tune which appears on both Alex’s and Terry’s albums). It was only right to include a Chilton song, so there’s a haunting version of Give Me Another Chance from Big Star’s debut LP which follows the life-affirming Dr Feelgood opener Down At The Doctors. Clichés - in fond memory of Alex Chilton and, in turn, his fondness for Chet Baker.

Tracklisting :

1. Down at the Doctors, 2. Give Me Another Chance, 3. My Blue Heaven, 4. Pickin’ The Blues, 5. The Very Thought of You, 6. Let’s Get Lost, 7. I Love Rock & Roll, 8. Prelude in C, 9. You Won’t See Me, 10. Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner, 11. I’ll Go Crazy, 12. Lulu’s Back in Town

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