By Henry Lipput
The Beautiful Music, the Canadian label run by Wally Salem, recently released James Clarke Five's Parlour Sounds and Armstrong's Under Blue Skies, two albums of wonderful pop music in new formats. Salem liked these albums so much that he wanted to put them out as physical and full-color CDs.
In the press release for Parlour Sounds, Wally wrote, "One of the greatest things about running a label is getting to share with the world some of your favorite artists and digging up treasures that are sometimes lost in the mists of time."
James Clarke Five, Parlour Sounds
James Clarke Five is the brainchild of keyboardist / singer Jimmy Hughes. Hughes played in the short-lived 80s Liverpool band, The Cherry Boys, who only released a handful of singles and broke up before releasing a full album.
Parlour Sounds was originally released in a digital format on Amazon and iTunes in June 2018. But, because no physical format was available, Wally got in touch with Hughes who sent him the album files so it could be released by The Beautiful Music.
Parlour Sounds is full of the sounds of other albums but all of the songs are given a unique spin by Hughes and company. For example, "Rock and Roll (Took Me To The River)," with its nod in the title to both Al Green and Talking Heads, recalls the sounds of XTC's Colin Moulding, especially on albums like Mummer and The Big Express.
"Under My Skin" lifts the beat from The Rolling Stones' "Under My Thumb;" but, instead of putting down a woman, Hughes's take on it involves a woman who's getting to him, but in a good way. And maybe it's love: "She's under my skin / And she's welcome to it."
"Someone Out There Somewhere" is a funk-fest with groovy guitar licks, a terrific guitar solo, and some Stevie Wonder-like electric piano riffs.
"Mairead" is a melancholy gem. The lyrics are a letter from a young soldier to his girlfriend as he waits for the fighting to resume during World War I. There are some lovely and sad horns, and I really like the wordplay of "You can rain (reign) over my parade anytime you like."
Parlour Sounds is out now on The Beautiful Music.
Armstrong, Under Blue Skies
Armstrong is Julian Pitt, and Under Blue Skies was originally self-released in very limited quantities on CDr in a photocopied black and white cover. The Beautiful Music decided to give the album a proper release and added demos and otherwise lost tracks. The album is a true find, and the songs on Under Blue Skies are, as The Chills said of one of their own tunes, heavenly pop hits.
One of the things that attracted me to Under Blue Skies was its comparison to the work of the great David Scott and The Pearlfishers. It's fantastic company to be in, and the melodies and harmonies of Under Blue Skies' "Crazy World" and "Baby You Just Don't Care" are definitely in that rarefied class. The absolutely gorgeous "Sorry About Lately" has more than a little early Pernice Brothers sound to it.
The musical touchstones of Under Blue Skies also include the mid-60s work of Ray Davies of The Kinks. Imagine if Ray, leaving behind his satirical edge, wrote more songs like "Waterloo Sunset" for other groups like The Hollies, and you might end up with Armstrong's "September Skies." "Try And Find The Answers" sounds like a bonus track from Lloyd Cole and the Commotions' Rattlesnakes album.
Under Blue Skies is out now and is a joint release by The Beautiful Music and Country Mile Records.
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