Malcolm Morley - Lost and Found
(Hux)
Malcolm has the unfortunate knack of being in the right place at the wrong time. His first solo album to be released was an upbeat, white disco/techno monster that was perfect for the 80s—unfortunately it was released last year. Now his first solo album to be recorded (back in 1976) is finally seeing the light of day, having been quashed at the time because of the anti-hippie backlash that was brewing just as the shit hit the fans and the Sex Pistols took over the front pages of every music magazine in Britain, and Help Yourself, Malc's band at the time, were nothing if not a bunch of hippies.
So now, 25 years later, we can once again groove to that pre-punk, West Coast, singer/songwriter, country rock vibe that was all the rage back in the early '70s from artists such as Jackson Browne, Dan Fogelberg, Poco, Pure Prairie League, The Flying Burritos, and countless others. The funky, bluesy beat of "Burning Love" is also reminiscent of early Elton John (ca. Tumbleweed Connection/Madman Across The Water/Honky Chateau), as is "Honey Please," a boogie-woogie, New Orleans rag that would also be the perfect accompaniment to night tripping with Dr. John.
"All That I Need" finds Billy Joel back at the piano bar, as does the melancholic ballad, "Grace," but I can also buy liner notes author Nigel Cross' contention that the former would sound just as nice with Tom Waits' throat wrapped around it. I also enjoyed the shuck and jive of "Ruby," which nicely weds Johnny Rivers' "Rockin' Penumonia..." piano histrionics to a hard-driving, Chuck Berry catwalk.
Now I don't mean to imply that all these comparisons to other styles and singers is a bad thing on Morley's part or laziness on mine... I just believe that it's impossible to discuss these "lost recordings" without putting them into the historical context in which they were composed and recorded. So growing my hair about six inches, donning my old "bells," and setting Mr. Peobody's Wabac machine for the early 70s, I asked myself what was I listening to back then and sat down crosslegged on the floor and listened to this in that frame of mind. I can hear remnants of the early work of Jesse Colin Young[bloods], Ian Matthews [Southern Comfort], Tom Rush, John Kongos, Tom Rapp's Reprise years, and John Prine (particularly on "Naked As The Night") all swirling around in my head while digging Lost and Found. Many of the songs are indeed "of the time" in which they were written and would probably have been compared quite favorably to the above-mentioned artists if the album were originally issued upon completion.
But sour grapes make horrible w(h)ines, so just sit back and enjoy the warmth of nostalgia that Lost and Found conjures up. For example, there isn't a British music fan alive that isn't familiar with The Bonzo's Can Blue Men Sing The Whites, and even Lou Reed told us "I Want To Be Black," so Malc's entry into transpigmentation is in heady company, but "Whiteman's Blues" is one of the catchiest of the lot. (Granted, Sir Henry Over-The-Deep-End's butchering of his track is an obvious answer to the titular query, but I still like Morley's song better, and in retrospect, the best thing about the Bonzo's track was the title—good for a few larfs and then back into the record jacket.) On the other hand, "Fish and Chips" is one of the least derivative tracks on the album and, consequently, one of the best.
So, rewire your grey matter and get that early-mid '70s musical headset working...it will set the stage for you to receive and accept Lost and Found, not forlornly questioning what might have been, but raising a glass on high to Hux Records and thanking them for what now is. Put simply, one of the finest archival releases of the year. Now if we can hear Malc and the Help's "lost fifth album," we can close the book on Morley's "seventies period" and move along to something fresh and exciting from one of England's finest songwriters and criminally underrated musical treasures.
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