aaamusic | On 23, Nov 2010

CLICHÉS | TERRY EDWARDS

Terry Edwards, left-field session musician to the great and 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 five years. Although he’s well-known for cover versions, having previously released Jesus and 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 and 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 and 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.

Down at the Doctors | Give Me Another Chance | My Blue Heaven | Pickin’ The Blues
The Very Thought of You | Let’s Get Lost | I Love Rock and Roll | Prelude in C
You Won’t See Me | Maybe It’s Because I’m a Londoner | I’ll Go Crazy | Lulu’s Back in Town

All tunes arranged, played and produced by Terry Edwards. Recorded in London, August 2010

Forthcoming shows:

Dec 04 – Gung Ho! @ The Victoria, 110 Grove Road, London E3 5TH
Dec 10 – Paul Morley presents This time of year @ Purcell Room, Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX

Terry Edwards has been a mainstay of the British Indie scene since the early 80s, having first made a name for himself with John Peel favourites The Higsons (alongside The Fast Show’s Charlie Higson).

After several top-ten indie singles, a contract with Two-Tone Records and tours of the UK, Europe and America the band split, leaving Edwards to concentrate on the twin career paths of solo artist and session brass-player to the great and the good. His credits include work with Madness, Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Cave, Siouxsie Sioux, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols/Rich Kids), Spiritualized, Julian Cope, PJ Harvey, Tindersticks and many others. More recently he’s been playing with Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA, The Blockheads, Faust, Paul Weller and ‘Allo Darling.

Every Indie label worth its salt has at least one act that Edwards has recorded with – Factory, Rough Trade, Mute, Damaged Goods, Creation, Wiiija, Go! Discs, Cherry Red and Perfecto.

Terry regularly plays with Gallon Drunk (he’s been a member since 1993) and Lydia Lunch whom he has worked with for over 12 years and currently collaborates with as Big Sexy Noise (Lunch, Edwards, James Johnston and Ian White).

The diversity of the session work is mirrored in Terry’s solo career – an early flirtation with 50s sax-led Rhythm and Blues in his outfit New York New York, the culmination of which is his soundtrack-style recordings with BUtterfield 8, co-founded with Madness bassist Mark Bedford.

Terry Edwards and the Scapegoats introduced the world to what has become known as ‘jazz-punk’ with their mid-nineties albums My Wife Doesn’t Understand Me and I Didn’t Get Where I Am Today. These were precursed by a series of inventive cover version EPs – The Jesus and Mary Chain (trumpet-led instrumentals), The Fall (in ska style with a few members of Madness giving it authenticity), Miles Davis (speed-metal!) and The Cure (hi-life and dance-floor beats).

The untimely death of John Peel inspired an eponymous CD of improvised music which is echoed in recent performances by The Near Jazz Experience (Edwards, Bedford and Simon Charterton). There’s more – commissions by choreographer Charles Linehan, recordings for the BBC’s Psychoville and the stage-piece The Black Rider created by Tom Waits, William Burroughs and Robert Wilson where Terry got to work with the great Mr Waits (2004-6)

2010’s solo album Clichés sees another departure. Inspired by the Alex Chilton covers album of the same name, Terry pays homage to the Big Star frontman in the same way that Chilton’s record paid homage to his hero Chet Baker.

To paraphrase John Peel’s appraisal of The Fall – Terry Edwards, in a nutshell, is “always different – always the same”.