Rab Noakes – Welcome to Anniversaryville
Neon Records – 13 July 2018
Surely only a curmudgeonly old grump would deny someone celebrating not only their 70th year on the planet, but also their 50th as a performing artist? Much to my children’s suprise, I am not about to do so here.
St. Andrews, Fife, born Rab Noakes reached that milestone in 2017, and following a highly praised concert at Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket as part of Celtic Connections, with his appropriately named 70/50 in 2017 band, what I calculate is his 20th album, Welcome to Anniversaryville, is a studio recording reflecting that concert and subsequent live shows.
The 17 tracks, surely another nod to the auspicious year, are thus a culmination of new material, interpretations of the work of others and reworkings from his considerable back catalogue. Within the extensive sleeve notes, we learn that 15 of the 17 tracks were recorded immediately after the aforementioned Celtic Connections gig, whilst the musicians were ‘rehearsed and fleet of foot’, over a weekend which coincided with the 58th anniversary of the death of Buddy Holly and the 50th of Joe Meek‘s.
In addition to Rab’s guitar, handclaps and singing, the musicians in question from The 70/50 in 2017 Band are Stuart Brown drums, Christine Hanson cello, Jill Jackson guitar, harmonica, singing, Kathleen MacInnes singing, Una McGlone double bass, Lisbee Stainton 8-string guitar, banjo, singing and Innes Watson guitar, fiddle, singing. Following this, and over a fairly lengthy time-span, further recordings, involving both these musicians and others, 11 in total, under the careful eye of producers John Cavanagh and Stephy Pordage, took place, resulting in what Rab describes as ‘the tarted-up version’.
It would be churlish not to mention, again, the quality of the sleevenotes. Rab explains why each song was chosen in great detail, giving not only an insight into their significance to him, but also, at times, providing wonderful potted histories, indeed mini-biographies of some of his contemporaries. Whilst this additional information adds greatly to the overall package, what makes this release so pleasurable is the sheer quality of the music presented. Ranging from folk-tinged melodies, through bluegrass-esque offerings and diverting via skiffle-infused tunes and age-old ballads, this is a joyful album which oozes class.
The opening track, Let The Show Begin, one of the 10 tracks on the release written or co-written by Rab, sets down a feisty marker for what is to follow, with its ‘there’s no stoppin’ now’ line helping to establish that this is an appropriate song with which to start.
It All Joins Up (In The End) is a prime example of what a fine song-writer Noakes can be. The anniversary in question here relates to Rab outliving the age at which his father died, with all the potential that this might offer, therefore, for a self-indulgent, introspective and melancholic piece. None of it, the line taken is positive, of ‘a celebration of a Rock ‘n’ Roll lifespan’ with the writer urging us to make the most of our lives in the short time that we have to live them. Musically, the track chugs along behind Watson’s violin lead and delightful harmonies.
Together Forever, a song written in 1969 and recorded by Rab proponents Lindisfarne on 1971’s The Fog On The Tyne, is given a new lease of life here, but there is no escaping the optimism of the original…
Ah, looks like we’re sticking together
Ah, looks like lasting forever
Rab remembers late friends on two poignant tracks. Gently Does It, a tribute to Alex Campbell, is a delicate song written in Denmark in 1985 when Rab saw Alex for the first time in several years at a stage when Alex’s health had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer sing. A Voice Over My Shoulder recalls long-time musical associate Robin McKidd, who played with Rab on his first paid gig in 1967 and also appeared on his first two albums. Fiddle and banjo to the fore, this celebration of Robin’s life comes across as a heartfelt epitaph to a good friend.
Politics and social comment feature in several of Rab’s own compositions on the CD. TCB (Working Man and Working Woman), a song influenced by a visit to the Nashville studio where Elvis Presley recorded, (TCB being his catchphrase Taking Care of Business), both a celebration of the working class and a critique of politicians and the British class-system, is somewhat appropriately delivered in a rockabilly style.
The Handwash Feein’ Mairket, meanwhile, a song commissioned for a community choir project, was inspired by the hiring, and indeed firing, process at Rab’s local car-wash, which, to him, resonated with the archaic agricultural feeing markets. A revisit to the magnificent Jackson Greyhound highlights the continuing struggle against racism in the US by referencing the 1961 Civil Rights Movement Freedom Riders.
Other tracks on this release include some quite outstanding interpretations, across a range of perceived genres, although as the mantra goes ‘a great song is a great song, regardless’. Continuing in the political vein, Tramps And Immigrants is presented as a medley comprising Tramps And Hawkers, delivered by Rab in broad Scots, and Bob Dylan‘s melodically very similar I Pity The Poor Immigrant¸ beautifully sung by Kathleen MacInnes.
A further nod to tradition sees him singing with Kathleen on a synthesis of the ghoulish ballad The Twa Corbies, with Rab taking the lead, with An Da Fheannaig¸ a version translated into Scots Gaelic by Seonaidh MacIlleathain, and set to a traditional air, being impeccably interpreted by MacInnes. Chilling stuff indeed.
The range and diversity on offer includes some wonderful harmonies on Just One Look, written by Doris Troy & Gregory Carroll, and a Number 2 hit for The Hollies in 1964, an imposing country ballad by way of Long Black Veil, a version of which appears on The Band‘s Music From Big Pink and a majestic rendition of country classic Still In Town, written by Hank Cochran & Harlan Howard.
This excellent album closes with two waltzes. For the penultimate track, Rab has chosen the number one song in the sheet music charts for his birthday in 1947; in a joyous example of synchronicity that no scriptwriter could have bettered, this just happens to be Anniversary Song, written by Al Jolson & Saul Chaplin with a tune by Romanian Military band leader Iosif Ivanovici, and performed way back then by The Billy Cotton Band & Alan Breeze – Wakey Wak..ay indeed!
On the final song, Kathleen MacInnes takes the lead vocal on the Pee Wee King classic Tennesse Waltz, beginning in Gaelic before reverting to English in as fine an interpretation of the song as you could wish to imagine.
When a musician is at the top of their game, as Rab so clearly is here, the results can be compelling; Welcome to Anniversaryville is an album of pure delight and marks Noakes out as a continuing force for musical good in a sometimes all too cynical and depressing world. Watch out for the sequel – 80/60.
Order via Bandcamp (Digital | CD) https://rabnoakes.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-to-anniversaryville