After a successful support spot last October Mark Wainwright was invited back to keep the spirit of the enigmatic Jake Thackery alive.
ALAN…
First off, another recruit from the singabout nights, Alan, performed a handful of his reflective original songs mainly influenced from his personal and family life – What’s It To You, 20th Century Dinosaur, All Seems Such A Long Time Ago and Life Don’t You Know – and also people he has met (Picture In The Magazine). His only cover Down Below, appealed to those local connected to coal mining. It is one thing to come from the sing around sessions with a fistful of cover songs but he deserves credit for performing a set full of his original material.
His plan to gig regularly with his excellent renditions may have been temporarily put on hold by his running of a sound studio and gigging with his partner but clearly the muse has not left him. Amongst his selection, all of which are his favourites, he not only included some of Jake’s better known quirky songs like Sister Josephine, La-di-dah, On Again but he also delved into his lesser known songs. Although he had a reputation for the comical off beat issues there were serenading love songs too like To Do With You and an expression of love for rural life showing his close affinity to rural Yorkshire. The personification of a Country bus with lyrics like rusty, busty and impetuous was pure joy.
MARK / JAKE…
After having roots in punk rock Mark admits he was a late comer to Jake Thackery’s unique musical style but even as a 12 year old he remembered On Again as being a standout moment.
Like all good comedians their observation of life events are funny when looked at from different angles that make them stand out from the rest. Songs about a clueless dog, (Our Dog), a clumsy relation wreaking havoc (Leopold Alcocks) and the nifty short ditty about Isobella and a cosh were added to his repertoire. Telling a good joke is not all about repeating the words. If you don’t have the right timing or enunciation then it doesn’t work but Mark has this down to a ’t’….a capital T too. He captures the nuances of JT songs admirably especially with the patter- like style of singing.
Wisely he doesn’t use Jake’s plummy vocal delivery, although in real life he was far from posh, but he is spot on in his missionary work delivering the gospel according to Jake. He has a willingness to try out new material too with Famous People which he says sounds a bit French but to be fair most of the songs and particularly the intricate guitar work have a French flavour which he carries off with aplomb. This is no surprise as JT was much influenced by Georges Brassens, Charles Trenet and Jacques Brel.
A SOMBRE SIDE
There was a sombre side too with a rendition of Remembrance expressing the futility of war from the viewpoint of a soldier who lost his life, but it is the off the wall humour that these songs are mainly remembered. The exploits of getting a finger stuck in a hole, a sea captain with marital issues and oversexed gorillas all had the audiences’ rapt attention.
Given the choice of a final number – either Bull or Last Will And Testament – the audience chose the former but after a popular request for more he did both anyway. Mark is the eternal crowdpleaser and one hopes that the opportunity for him to mix nights like tonight amongst his other ventures comes to fruition. Mark is not a Jake Thackery impersonator but more a purveyor of his music. Although billed as Fake Jackery, Mark is far from fake yet there is plenty of jokery!!
Sadly we are unable to have a clip of Mark performing but here is footage of the master himself.
The concert folk club evening take a summer break now but but will return in the autumn with Wet The Tea, followed by ex spikiness Norrie MacIver, then Corrie Shelley and then concluding year with Paper Boats.
Over Hulton Folk Club: Website