Where have you been all my life, David McWilliams?
Jun 24, 2019 5:41:12 GMT
loveless, DarknessFish, and 1 more like this
Post by toomanyhatz on Jun 24, 2019 5:41:12 GMT
Occasionally I will hear an artist that was active many years ago that is so me that I'm downright amazed I've never explored them thoroughly before. So in the first of a hopefully continuing series, I will concentrate on County Antrim's own Troubadour.
I'm sure most everyone here has heard his biggest hit, "The Days of Pearly Spencer." A huge hit everywhere in Europe other than the UK (thanks to being banned from BBC play due to his label's connection with Radio Caroline), it was covered (very badly, imo) by Marc Almond in the 90s. I had heard it at some point and made a mental note that it was a pleasant but dated period piece. But the more other stuff by him I hear, the more I realize it was not one of his top dozen songs, let alone his best.
The story is that McWilliams was signed by former Them manager and impresario Phil Solomon for his Major Minor label and hooked up with, in due order, Solomon's good friend Dominic Behan (who encouraged his songwriting and tutored him on stage presence - apparently they remained friends until Behan's death) and then Mike Leander, who produced and arranged his first three albums.
tDoPS was his only big hit, but there were a few minor ones, and the albums all did well in the UK charts. He was often compared to Donovan, which I find, while not totally inaccurate, a bit facile. He didn't have Donovan's connection to, or affinity with, the pop culture at the time, and didn't have as developed a musical sensibility, but as a pure songwriter, I think he might be at least his equal.
This, for example, is a much superior song to me to the hit (though it lacked a similar gimmick):
Unfortunately, when he couldn't repeat the hit, he was dropped by Major Minor and came to London to start the second phase of his career.
The second phase - documented in three albums on Dawn Records in the UK - is probably my favorite. The songs are if anything even more in the troubadour tradition, like this one (covered by the Dubliners), a variation of "Raggle Taggle Gypsies" in which the Lady doth NOT wish to run off with the gypsy, so the gypsy steals her riches and moves on:
Yet lest you think it was all dweedly-dee from there on, the same album featured some very mature love songs, like this one that, for me, verges into Leonard Cohen territory:
The other albums from the period are diverse, but almost every song is a good one. Like this one, that to me would fit comfortably on No Other:
Nothing at all like his more baroque stuff, but a great arrangement of a great song. If he had been an American, or maybe had better luck, I could see him being huge, or at least a heavily covered songwriter. But basically, he's a true rarity - a one-hit-wonder that had a little-known, but mostly very satisfying, career arc.
Attempted comebacks in the ensuing decades failed for the most part, though his 1977 self-titled album (the start of what I think of as the third of four phases in his career) featured this throwback to his baroque sound, which certainly should have been a hit:
The 4th phase took place in the 80s and 90s and features low budget albums that are mostly dull musically (one of them even includes a slowed down remake of "Pearly Spencer"), though the songs are still mostly pretty good. Sadly, he died in 2004 of a heart attack, though he did at least enjoy significant royalties from Almond's hit. (He's on record as not thinking much of it, which makes sense, and is probably a relief.)
Probably not a "Preludin" artist ultimately, but maybe somebody will find something of interest here?
Next up: Mike Condello.
I'm sure most everyone here has heard his biggest hit, "The Days of Pearly Spencer." A huge hit everywhere in Europe other than the UK (thanks to being banned from BBC play due to his label's connection with Radio Caroline), it was covered (very badly, imo) by Marc Almond in the 90s. I had heard it at some point and made a mental note that it was a pleasant but dated period piece. But the more other stuff by him I hear, the more I realize it was not one of his top dozen songs, let alone his best.
The story is that McWilliams was signed by former Them manager and impresario Phil Solomon for his Major Minor label and hooked up with, in due order, Solomon's good friend Dominic Behan (who encouraged his songwriting and tutored him on stage presence - apparently they remained friends until Behan's death) and then Mike Leander, who produced and arranged his first three albums.
tDoPS was his only big hit, but there were a few minor ones, and the albums all did well in the UK charts. He was often compared to Donovan, which I find, while not totally inaccurate, a bit facile. He didn't have Donovan's connection to, or affinity with, the pop culture at the time, and didn't have as developed a musical sensibility, but as a pure songwriter, I think he might be at least his equal.
This, for example, is a much superior song to me to the hit (though it lacked a similar gimmick):
Unfortunately, when he couldn't repeat the hit, he was dropped by Major Minor and came to London to start the second phase of his career.
The second phase - documented in three albums on Dawn Records in the UK - is probably my favorite. The songs are if anything even more in the troubadour tradition, like this one (covered by the Dubliners), a variation of "Raggle Taggle Gypsies" in which the Lady doth NOT wish to run off with the gypsy, so the gypsy steals her riches and moves on:
Yet lest you think it was all dweedly-dee from there on, the same album featured some very mature love songs, like this one that, for me, verges into Leonard Cohen territory:
The other albums from the period are diverse, but almost every song is a good one. Like this one, that to me would fit comfortably on No Other:
Nothing at all like his more baroque stuff, but a great arrangement of a great song. If he had been an American, or maybe had better luck, I could see him being huge, or at least a heavily covered songwriter. But basically, he's a true rarity - a one-hit-wonder that had a little-known, but mostly very satisfying, career arc.
Attempted comebacks in the ensuing decades failed for the most part, though his 1977 self-titled album (the start of what I think of as the third of four phases in his career) featured this throwback to his baroque sound, which certainly should have been a hit:
The 4th phase took place in the 80s and 90s and features low budget albums that are mostly dull musically (one of them even includes a slowed down remake of "Pearly Spencer"), though the songs are still mostly pretty good. Sadly, he died in 2004 of a heart attack, though he did at least enjoy significant royalties from Almond's hit. (He's on record as not thinking much of it, which makes sense, and is probably a relief.)
Probably not a "Preludin" artist ultimately, but maybe somebody will find something of interest here?
Next up: Mike Condello.
