4 Rather Tasty Tracks

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Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0604388692651 Format: EP Label: Chic Ken Manufacturer: Chic Ken Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Chic Ken Release Date: 2007-06-11 Studio: Chic Ken
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Better and better (oof!) Comment: How on earth to explain the appeal of John Shuttleworth songs? Graham Fellow's "John Shuttleworth" first appeared as part of a wave of "character" comedy in the late 80s and early 90s ("Loadsamoney", "Mrs Merton" "Alan Partridge" etc etc) and is still going strong. He was always different from the other creations in that he was always much more than just a figure of fun. There's a real pathos to John and a deeply surreal element; something that's always appealed to me. Not to mention the fully realised Shuttleworth Universe with agent ("sole agent and next-door neighbour") Ken Worthington, Wife Mary, Joan Chitty and a social stratum that is perfectly caught, namely "genteel working class" (think doillies, salad cream and the couples on Derek Batey's "Mr and Mrs") In fact if you ever really think about how the whole thing is put together with one person doing all the voices and lots of multi-tracking then it is even a little bit scary. I suppose everyone will have their own take on John. At one level these are just mad, catchy songs about daft things. What I Iike though is how the whole thing is a sort of a critique of celebrity and pop. Whatever it is that we can be said to value in our gilded ones (youth, talent, wealth, glamour, looks, style) John is not. He is an unemployed, uneducated, styleless, deeply conventional man from South Yorkshire. And yet...John is a singer-song writer and he has to write about something so he puts into his lyrics the things that excite him: going to the restaurant in the garden centre, being served a cappucino ("campacino"), noticing a new variety of breakfast cereal for sale. I suppose the point is why are these things any less suitable as subjects for songs than anything else? I suspect too that many of us have our own inner John Shuttleworth (well, many men anyway): some desperately inner naffness that draws us to look at phono leads and Tandy catalogues. The songs are also wonderful pop parodies. There is something especially mad about the production; these are fully fledged pop songs with middle eights, key changes, hooks, choruses, multi-tracking, effects. there's something funny about the yawning gap between the ambition (massive) and the acheivement (terrible). Something too about the failure to appreciate genre. Serial Cereal Eater on this disc is a perfect recreation of late 80s Stock Aitken and Waterman style Hi NRG together with vocodorised effects and "let's go" beginning. It's so funny:John has chosen an out of date form, for a totally inappropriate subject of no general interest (except that we do all like cereal after all, who doesn't refill the bowl?) and created this pefect little pop song (and take it from me: you can really bop about to this one, but you'll have to do it in the privacy of your own homes). I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now is the power ballad to end all power ballads. At one level you're thinking "this is barmy", at another "oh yes, been there", and at another "this is a good song, Dusty Springfield would've given her false eyelashes to cover this one" Just inspired! Customer Rating: Summary: Yummy Comment: Only 4 tracks so more of a snack than a meal. 2 margarines is a supremely catchy ditty about the sheer horror of having 2 tubs of margarine open at the same time (we've all been there!). Serial Cereal Eater is a disco classic and one of the few songs to mention the criminally underrated Optivita. Tummy Trouble is the weakest track but does feature John's trademark elephant trump noise. I Can't Go Back to Savoury Now is possibly the best song he ever recorded - a masterpiece about the sickening dilemma of seeing good food wasted. It has one of John's best ever rhymes - "Dog's Dish" and "God's Wish" which for my money is close to genius. I heard this song for the first time at a live gig and was singing it for weeks. Trust me, it is one of the catchiest songs you will ever hear and you get the lyrics too so no excuse for not singing along. It is also one of John's most empassioned performances and you really feel his pain as the stunning shepherd's pie is slopped into the dog's bowl. To quote young Oliver - Please sir I want some more! Customer Rating: Summary: A Tantalising Aural Feast Comment: Once again, Mr John Shuttleworth comes up with the treats, and very tasty they are too. In fact, they are so morish that you will find that one listen at one sitting is not enough. Just put it on repeat (ooof, pardon!) and let the dulcet tones, honeyed rhythms and wise words sate you. Mr Shuttleworth is such a keen observer of the minutiae of life, of the everyday things that are important to him and my word, to us. Oh, we've all suffered the terrible anxiety of having "Two margarines on the go, it's a nightmare scenario..." I bet most of us know a "Serial Cereal Eater" and to hear the good advice that Mr Shuttleworth gives out on "Tummy Trouble" is worth the price of this disc alone. Jamie Oliver didn't do that in his recent campaigns. These three songs are upbeat, classic punch-the-air ditties, but John did not want to leave us with indigestion so the last track "I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now" is a sublimely moving and truthful ballad (to paraphrase John, you can't go back to savoury after eating sweet, can you?). The latter track has found Mr Shuttleworth compared to Robbie Williams and "Angels" but I think this is a huge slight on Mr Shuttleworth's talents. Surely Mr Shuttleworth is actually the UK's answer to Bob Dylan - why have the 2 great men not been compared before? BUY THIS - you won't regret it. Customer Rating: Summary: Very tasty John! Comment: Hello pop pickers, Kenny here! In my (admittedly biased) view, these four tracks are John's finest work to date. There's no filler here, but what there is is very satisfying! The stunning power ballad 'I Can't Go Back To Savoury Now' headlines this super song selection, but 'Two Margarines', Serial Cereal Eater' and 'Tummy Trouble' really bring home the bacon as well. Buy it now, (don't be put off by that 4-6 weeks nonsense) and let's get John chart-bound! More Reviews