Before We Go To Paradise

Phil Martin steps out from his 'day job' with the Bitter Springs, where he's the musical foil to the ever-prolific songwriting of Simon Rivers to deliver a really enjoyable & original album. The ten tracks here divide into three & a half of his own songs, & six & a half well chosen covers. Don't expect to hear Phil doing "My Way" or "Stairway to Heaven"!

Musically, it's based around his acoustic guitar, but with some subtle embellishments scattered throughout the album - whether seagulls on one track, or hints of keyboards or percussion elsewhere. The way that Matt Roy's sax nudges its way into the last few tracks gives a nice live, natural feel to proceedings.

The cover versions are poems set to music rather than familiar songs. I wasn't too sure about the Shakespeare sonnet ("Shall I Compare Thee") when I saw it in the track-list, but it works - mainly because Phil doesn't succumb to being over-reverent or precious with the words of the Bard. I'm always up for anyone promoting the Romantics, & again Phil avoids the obvious, sonorous approach & delivers a positively jaunty version of Blake's "Tyger Tyger" & a cool rendition of Coleridge's "Kubla Khan", with some nice stretched-out sax echoes.

But for me the most interesting aspect of the record are the songs written by the man himself. If you're wondering about the 3.5/6.5 split, it's down to one of the strongest tracks here, "Rainy Night in Brentford", relocating Tony Joe White's great song from Georgia to the West London suburb where Phil lives. It's always a risk to adapt a well-known, classic song with your own lyrics, & the title risks bathos (but why is it that American place names are always deemed automatically cool compared to ours?). This version really carries it off tho, evoking the watery atmosphere of a riverside suburb, steeped in the history of a once thriving & vibrant waterside scene of docks, jetties, warehouses, lightermen & all the associated river trades - now mostly replaced by the M4 & empty office blocks. He even makes the local football team sound poignant, evoking the cheers ringing through the rain at Griffin Park.

"Open Mic" is a sharply observed account of the life of a jobbing musician, & a perceptive take on the reality of most musical lives that never get within a million miles of stardom, the charts or tv - "Elvis died on the toilet/ I die up here every week". "Carless Love" is one of the best tracks here, a humorous but bittersweet take on the life of a cyclist, & as you'd expect "Coda" brings it all home at the end with more cool sax touches.

This is a really good set that has plenty of variety - but always a distinct character of its own - and doesn't outstay its welcome. I'd suggest its an ideal accomaniment to the night's second or third glass of wine. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to the next instalment - the Phil Martin songs here are up against some pretty heavyweight lyrical company but easily hold their own. So I'm hoping that he'll have the confidence & the material to provide the majority of songs himself on the next one.