poured a bit more

 

I wrote earlier that I had forgotten what else I got in the mail but now I remember - this. Now, here's a weird thing. I really like Jowe, he's actually probably my favourite songwriter in Swell Maps, because even though he didn't write nearly as many songs as Nikki, he obviously put some work into his, whereas Nikki I'm going to say often just bashed them out half-considered. It's funny how there are people like that. JH is a really interesting figure and in a way you can imagine he would have come to some kind of prominence if he hadn't been a member of Swell Maps (and then the Television Personalities - I saw him play with them in, um, actually I don't remember when at all but I think it was at New Cross - wherever that is - probably in around 1990). 

So I had bought a copy of this record when it came out and somewhere along the way I lost track of it - it's been 40 years - and I was keen to replace my copy, to sit in with the recent Swell Maps compilation (put together by JH from his own tapes) and the Richard Earl album I got last year. It's weird though to listen to something that is very familiar, but nowhere near as good as you remember it. It's a queer fish on the whole because it sounds really good - and some of the songs (I'll say about three of the originals, and both covers) are great - but the rest is fill-in comedy dross, it just doesn't make for worthwhile listening any more. So throwaway, and not in a good way, probably the result of a lack of confidence which I'm sure he has dispensed with along the way. By the end you really feel he's throwing in any old cobblers to ensure it's being stretched out to album length. No wonder he re-recorded (?) (or just rehashed) the best tracks alongside some new ones, a few years later. 

I do still really like the cover though, and his ethos. And the good tracks are really good. I think I should pick up some more recent material.