If quirky, observational lyrics and music with a Neil Innes-Bonzo twist is the kind of thing that floats your boat, you’ll love Freedom Of The City . It’s the new album from Whitby-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Phil Martin.
Release Date: 1st May 2025
Label: Self Release
Format: CD / Digital
A VERY BUSY MAN
Whitby-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Phil Martin has been involved in music for over 35 years. In his time, he’s worked with multiple bands. His current ventures are The Age Of Reason, The Cute Hoors and The Rough Cuts. He’s supported Blur (on their Parklife tour), played with The Men They Couldn’t Hang and has shared stages with the likes of The Pogues, Tom Robinson., Nick Lowe and Ian McNabb. As if all that lot wasn’t enough to keep him occupied, he also teaches violin and guitar, has written a musical based upon the nativity and played fiddle in a barn dance band.
OBSERVATION LYRICISM
Freedom Of The City is Phil’s third solo album and his first since his 2013 offering, don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark. If it’s quirky, observational lyricism that you’re after, or the Beatle-ish jazz-pop that was a specialism of Neil Innes in The Bonzos floats your boat, then you’re gonna love Freedom Of The City.
Freedom Of The City is one of those albums with a reassuringly home-made feel about it. Having said that, I’ll have to clarify that it’s a particularly rich variety of home cooking. Phil plays guitar and takes the lead vocal on every track, and he supplements those contributions with dashes of violin and keyboard whenever the situation merits. To flesh things out, he’s joined by Mark Huggett (drums), Paul ‘Wiz’ Baker (keyboards), Bob Butterfield (sax), Steve Parry (guitar backing vocals, percussion), Tony Barnard (bass) and the combined talents of Anne Gravett, Prue Fox and Philippa Brown The latter trio who add their lush backing vocals at well-chosen strategic intervals.
THE SPACE BETWEEN JAZZ AND BRITPOP
Phil’s propensity for observation is present from the outset on the title track, which gets Freedom Of The City underway. His lyrics tell the oft-repeated story of travelling to the big city in the hope of a better future. The song is a bright, breezy affair that sits comfortably in the space between jazz and Britpop. With Proud, Phil ponders the conflict faced by many who accept that their life partner is impossible to live with, but who they wouldn’t wish to change. It’s punchy, and lyrics like: “It took five policemen to hold you down…” get right to the point of story. The tune is slightly wistful, driven along by jangling guitars.
Left-field ballad, Children Of The Stars, considers the challenges faced by the offspring of celebrities. Children forced to search for their places in the world in different ways to most of us. Bob Butterfield’s sax is deliciously sleazy and the ladies’ delightful backing vocals add a richness to Phil’s knowingly off-key vocals.
THE LOST WORLD OF A MUSICAL APPRENTICESHIP
The inspiration for Phil’s lyrics to Frost At Midnight came from the Samuel Taylor Coleridge poem of that name. Phil’s commentary on the tribulations of insomnia are accompanied, principally, by Mark’s crashing drums. The song would have a nightmarish quality if it wasn’t for Phil’s charmingly irreverent tones.
Phil has described the excellent Down The Toilet as: “…an elegy to the lost world of my musical apprenticeship.” He goes on to elaborate: “Many of the venues that I played in, which we hilariously dubbed ‘toilets’ have closed and continue to close. It’s tempting to think everything is ‘going down the toilet,’ but we soldier on.” It’s a scenario that will be all-too-familiar to regular gig-goers (like ourselves). Phil’s opening lines: “One more look in the mirror, trousers getting kinda tight. Take the stage in the clothes that I work in; gonna break some hearts tonight” hits the nail squarely on the head. The tune – a chunk of pulsing, grinding, rock – is pretty neat, too.
AUTHENTIC DISCO SOUNDS
The story of the bits of a motorist’s car being melted by light reflected from London’s ‘Walkie-Talkie’ building is referenced in Glittery Dick. There’s a real Bonzo feel to this one and Phil delivers a ‘big’ vocal. The ladies add drama with their backing vocals, Paul Baker’s organ simmers nicely and it’s all very sublime. All apart from the occasionally daft observations in the lyrics and the efforts to squeeze the words “Glittery Dick” into a chorus line that’s only just big enough to accommodate them…
Phil’s lyrics to I Never Know (When People Are Joking) were written for “…all socially awkward people – [it’s] a plea for tolerance.” It comes dressed as an authentic slice of 70s disco, complete with Nile Rodgers guitar licks, well-placed swoops of backing vocals, DJ jabber and – best of all- loads of “poaw” noises. From disco, we move on to reggae for Gain The World, a song in which Phil challenges those with material wealth to consider whether they’re really happy. With a delightfully discordant vocal, Phil asks the question: “Don’t you know it’s a fool who gains the world only to lose his soul?” Wise advice that’s – sadly – seldom heeded.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION…
The happy pop of From A Train is characterized by the song’s train-wheel rhythm and some nice calypso guitar. Fevertree Towers, Phil’s contemplation of life in a gated community, has a comforting 1930s jazz appeal. Phil then hits the observational bullseye once again with the excellent Standing Still All Day. It’s one of those songs that used to make me feel envious but I which I can now comfortably inhabit. Phil’s lyrics describe exactly what it feels like to watch other people rushing around with no apparent purpose. The jazzy tune gets more and more psychedelic the longer the song goes on until everything comes to rest in a soft, fuzzy, climax.
This excellent, intriguing, album is brought to its close by a reprise of I Never Know (When People Are Looking). This time, Phil eschews the 70s soul of the earlier version in favour of a lounge jazz style. “This is how it sounds when I play it solo, live,” explains Phil. He adds that: “On a good night, the audience do the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs!” Now THAT’s a scenario that I can well imagine!
Watch Phil Martin and his band perform Down The Toilet – a track from the album – below:
Phil Martin online: Official Website
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