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Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 23 January 2021 CE
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Fitter Stoke
Fitter Stoke
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Re: Soundtracks of Our Lives week ending 23 January 2021 CE
Jan 25, 2021, 19:17
[quote="keith a"

Snap Crackle & Bop – John Cooper Clarke
I recently read I Wanna Be Yours, the autobiography of the talented poet and very funny performer that is John Cooper Clarke - a one-off who I have been fortunate to see live a couple of times (first time supporting Elvis Costello & the Attractions in 1979 at the Manchester Free Trade Hall with the mighty Richard Hell & the Voidoids on the same bill - wow! - and then supporting The Fall in more recent years where he was more stand-up comedian than poet). So I obviously had very high hopes for this autobiography. It almost lived up to them, but just...not quite. Nonetheless, there is so much to enjoy. Anyway, I decided to dig out my old copy of SN&B for the first time in years and was surprised to hear how drowned out some of the lyrics are are at times. Beasley Street still sounds magnificent though.

[/quote]

I saw JCC on that same Costello tour, at Newcastle City Hall. I managed to get backstage afterwards and met him. He was shy, affable and happy to sign autographs for a starstruck 18 year old! (I also met Richard Hell and Elvis Costello and the Attractions, but that's a different story.) Like you, I've spun JCC's first two Epic albums for the first time in years and have been a little underwhelmed. I agree with you that there's too much going on and much of the music just seems to get in the way, 'Beasley Street' being an honourable exception. I seem to recall a 10" LP from around the same time which featured the man in a live context with no extras: wish I'd bought it. Thanks for the book summary by the way - I think I'll give that autobiography a read.
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