This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 6/06
I write this review from my home in Britain. And I write as someone old enough to remember Potger the first time around.
In the mid 1960s to late 1960s, the Australian group The Seekers made a
massive impact on the music scene in virtually all English speaking
countries.
True they had a vocalist in a million in Judith Durham, but the three
male members of the quartet were hardly fifth wheels on the wagon. They
were all talented instrumentalists and very tuneful singers: all adept
at choosing just the right harmonic line to frame Durham’s fantastic
purity of tone.
But that was 35 years ago. And then they disappeared off my radar. I sort of missed all the Seekers' reunions.
But now amazingly, Keith Potger reappears in my life in 2006. Singing
as well as ever. But what is more disturbing, looking just as handsome
as when he was in his heyday. (I speak has someone who has gone-to-seed
BIGTIME.)
He is performing a collection of nineteen of his wholly self-penned and
co-written songs. And pretty good they are. And nobody can accuse him
of giving you reduced portions! At one hour 13 minutes and 40 seconds,
this is the longest album I have reviewed in ages.
Yet, when you listen to it, the time goes so quickly. No longueurs whatsoever.
He has an ear for melody, and so none of the songs are
less-than-pleasing on the ear. The songs run the gamut: mainly
personal, but sometimes opening the world of Australian life to our
non-Aussie ears and eyes as with Track 3 “An Extraordinary Way”, his
salute to Eddie Koiki Mabo.
Added to this songwriting subject-matter skill, he has a real ability to compress some BIG subjects into three or four stanzas.
This reaches its apogee with Track 9, “The Matriarch”. Don’t let the
pleasant almost jolly tune fool you: this is a deeply serious song on
the subject of the sheer ephemeral nature of our existence.
Other songs worthy of real acclaim are “Island Nights” (I could feel
the sand in my toes, and almost hear the waves lap the shore); “Friend
Like You” (an anthem for people like me who married relatively late in
life and are so relieved that one has found the perfect partner, and
can thus save the energy one always expended on the Search For
Perfection); and the instrumental coda “Denmark Sunset” (truly Gustav
Mahler meets Edward Elgar, with an electric storm that suggests that
both of them are applauding in the heavens).
But I have left the song that moved me most till last. “Kathleen” is a remarkable track. Let me try and tell you why.
On the surface, it is a well written narrative song written with “a/a/b/b” line endings. But that is just the surface.
Below it, you have a heartfelt paean of praise to Kathleen the love of
his life, and the memories she has left him. A song that makes demands
on one’s vocal range, it is quite beautifully sung, with every note
pitch perfect. And a glorious hook.
He starts it a cappella, until Michael Cristian’s accordion comes in. And “comes in” so very effectively.
And by mentioning multi-instrumentalist Cristian, I have come to my
only beef about the album. Oh, don’t get me wrong: it is not with
Cristian!
Au contraire, he bestrides this album like a colossus. His
musical fingerprints are everywhere, and the man just EXUDES good
musical taste.
No my complaint is this: sure Keith thanks him in his liner notes, but you need a magnifying glass to read his thanks.
No, what I want to insist on is this. Should there be a second pressing
of this album, then the artiste’s name be shown as follows:
“Keith Potger (with Michael Cristian)”.
That is the very least Keith can do to ensure that Michael gets his truly deserved artistic rewards.
But don’t wait for a second pressing: the first one is there to be bought by you. Go for it. You won’t be disappointed.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England.
daigress@hotmail.com
Ownership, copyright and title of this folk music CD review belongs to me, Dai Woosnam. Ownership, copyright and title are not transferable or assignable to you or other parties regardless of how or if you or other parties use, copy, save, backup, store, retrieve, transmit, display, publish, modify or share the CD review in whole or in part. Please read the "Terms, Conditions and Disclaimer" section on my web site for additional information about using, quoting, or reprinting this CD review.
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