Seventies Superstar, Gilbert O’Sullivan revisits his 55-year career and comes up with a few pared-back blinders for our enjoyment.

Release Date:  27^th September 2024

Label: BMG

Formats: CD / Vinyl / Digital

NOTHING RHYMED

In the entire history of popular music, there can be few artists who have polarized opinion more than Gilbert O’Sullivan.  Born Raymond Edward O’Sullivan in Waterford, Ireland, in 1946, his family relocated to England when he was seven years old.  He began his songwriting career in 1967, whilst still a student and was signed as a solo performer by CBS Records later that year.  A string of unsuccessful singles followed but Gilbert’s fortunes changed when he switched to Gordon Mills’ MAM imprint and hit paydirt with his single, Nothing Rhymed, in late 1970.

Nothing Rhymed provided a dramatic and instantly-effective kickstart to Gilbert’s career and, looking back, it’s almost impossible to believe what a huge star he became, as the seventies gathered pace; altogether, he wrote and recorded 16 UK chart hits, most of them during the first four years of the decade, including songs such as No Matter How I Try, Alone Again (Naturally), Ooh-Wakka-Doo-Wakka-Day and number one bullets Clair and Get Down.

On the face of it, Gilbert O’Sullivan was an accomplished singer-songwriter with a knack he shared with contemporaries such as Elton John and Randy Newman for coming up with songs that resonated with swathes of the population.  So why the polarization?

WHY THE POLARIZATION?

Well, maybe that strange 1930s image, complete with pudding basin haircut, flat cap, tweed shorts and army boots (apparently inspired by the appearance of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin in their early silent movies) that he thrust upon us during the early stages of his career didn’t help.  Also, the way he was marketed tended to place him incongruously alongside such lightweights as Suzi Quatro and other members of the hit-making ChinniChap stable in the minds of the more serious seventies music-lovers.  Then, in 1974, many of the naysayers had their doubts confirmed when Gilbert released A Woman’s Place, a single that expressed sentiments that many considered to be distasteful, even by the misogynistic standards of the times.

But, the dislikers were always heavily outnumbered by the multitudes who were ‘on-message’ – the chart performance of his records were testimony to that – and, when Martin Carthy chose to open his 1979 album, Because It’s There, with a version of Nothing Rhymed, many erstwhile cynics were awakened to the quality of Gilbert’s writing.  Carthy even went so far, in his sleevenote to Because It’s There to compare the message of Nothing Rhymed to 1870s US President Calvin Coolidge’s statement that: “Half the world’s problems would be solved if people would just sit down and be still.”

HIGHLY ACCLAIMED

Although his success peaked in the mid-1970s, Gilbert O’Sullivan never went away – indeed, there were many in the crowd at last year’s Cropredy Festival who were willing to testify with regard to Gilbert’s ongoing popularity, as they sang along to hit after hit.  And, as if to prove that his stock is once again on the rise, his last two studio albums – the eponymous Gilbert O’Sullivan (2018) and Driver (2022) were both highly acclaimed in the mainstream UK music press.  With this latest offering, Songbook, Gilbert revisits his extensive back catalogue, strips back eleven of his favourite songs and throws in a new number, written specially for the occasion.

The idea for Songbook arose after O’Sullivan’s 2022 Barbican show (where he was joined by The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess for a duet of Nothing Rhymed).  His record company, BMG, suggested that a selection of songs be revisited in pared-back form in a way that focused upon the interplay between Gilbert and his long-time guitarist, Bill Shanley.  To add to the atmosphere and intimacy of the songs, Gilbert insisted that the songs be recorded at a live music venue (without an audience) rather than in the more conventional surroundings of a recording studio and the sessions duly took place, over a 2-day period, at Lafayette, a favourite, intimate venue beside London’s King’s Cross Station.

The pared-back approach certainly offers a new slant on a whole selection of familiar songs; those who liked the songs first time around will love the new versions and those who were ambivalent (or not around at the time) are likely to be enticed – the lack of ‘frills’ surely helps to present these songs in the way that Gilbert will have first imagined them.  As for those ‘naysayers’… well, maybe they still won’t be converted.  But, perhaps, that’s their loss.

WARM PIANO TONE

It’s that first hit – and, arguably, Gilbert’s greatest song – Nothing Rhymed, that gets Songbook underway and Bill’s guitar licks, Gilbert’s warm piano tone and his world-weary vocal provide the perfect setting for the song’s lyrical content.  Clair was Gilbert’s first Number One hit but I have to admit that I always found the song’s lyrics a bit disturbing (I’m not alone in that respect – I have a friend who still can’t bear to listen to the song), but that’s more my problem than it is Gilbert’s.  This time around, it’s faster and lighter than the original version, and it works well.

A top-twenty hit for Gilbert in 1971, We Will is a song with the type of intimacy that other singer-songwriters of the period managed to turn into a stock-in-trade, but reactions to Gilbert coming up with such a song were typically mixed.  The pared-back Songbook version goes some way to readdressing any doubts, with a sharp, intimate production in which Gilbert’s piano and Bill’s tasteful slide guitar are accompanied by the subtlest of string arrangements.  Next, Gilbert reworks Blue Anchor Bay, a song from the Driven album that evokes wistful memories of summers at the Somerset seaside.  There’s humour in the lyrics, which manage to offer the rhyming advice to “take a vest” if the “weather isn’t the best,”  although he reference to “snogging on the bus” is a bit cringeworthy…

The intent and spirit of these re-recordings is captured perfectly in the version of Happiness in Me and You, another top-twenty hit, this time from 1974.  It’s one of Gilbert’s most charming songs and it’s shown off to best effect here, sung to the sole accompaniment of Bill’s acoustic guitar; soothing and intimate as, I suspect, nature intended.  And the hits continue to rain down; this time it’s Alone Again (Naturally) that gets the pared back treatment.  It’s probably one of the most desolate songs ever to be written – you’d find it on the same page as Richard Thompson’s End of the Rainbow in the Suicide Almanac – yet, here, it’s quite jaunty and doesn’t seem to ooze the self-pity of the original version.

WHAT’S IN A KISS?

I was never really a fan of Gilbert’s 1980 ‘comeback’ single, What’s in a Kiss, but the Songbook reworking certainly has the song’s merits proudly on display.  Gavin Goldberg’s bass gives the production a richer feel than elsewhere on the album, Gilbert demonstrates how his voice has matured and the bright optimism of the 1980 original is still there.  There’s a baroque feel, embellished by Bill’s light-touch guitar licks, to I’ll Never Love Again, another of the newer songs, this time from the eponymous 2018 album.  Gilbert strains a bit when he’s reaching for the higher notes, but that only adds emphasis to the ‘live’ sound of the recording.

It reached the heady heights of number six on the UK singles chart back in 1973, but I’d almost forgotten about Why O Why O Why.  It’s presented here as a bouncy, poppy, singalong, brought vividly to life by Gilbert’s strident piano – and there’s yet another of Bill’s well-placed guitar solos to enjoy.  And, talking about revitalizing makeovers, No Matter How I Try, originally Gilbert’s hit follow-up to Nothing Rhymed, with Bill’s slinky guitar right upfront in the mix, is so sparky that I almost missed the “It’s easy to see why, she’s over six feet five” line that has always been a source of bemusement.

DANSETTE DREAMS & 45S

Perhaps my pick of this bunch of reworks is the country-flavoured Dansette Dreams and 45s, another track from the 2018 album.  There’s a nice mix of piano and guitar and Gilbert delivers what is, arguably, his best vocal performance (ever?).  He is, of course a performer who is expected to revisit his past and, with this song, he takes us all along with him as he recollects treasured memories from his youth and uses them to offset the disappointments of modern-day life, especially when he sings: “Don’t tell me the future is looking at a phone…”

Songbook is wrapped up with A Kiss is a Kiss, the sole new song of the collection.  It’s a tad schmaltzy and sentimental, but it’s comforting, nevertheless, and it’s exactly the sort of song that you’d expect Gilbert to come up with to round off a comprehensive and satisfying delve amongst his past glories.

The enjoyment that Gilbert and Bill experienced as they reworked these songs comes over plainly throughout every song and, unless you still haven’t moved from your anti-Gilbert position, that’s an enjoyment that I’m sure you’ll feel, too.  There are some pared-back blinders in here!

Watch Gilbert O’Sullivan and Bill Shanley perform the pared-back Songbook version of Alone Again (Naturally) here:

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