Mark Harrison: bluesman, bandleader, songwriter, singer and guitarist. He’s supported by regular sidesmen, multi-instrumentalist Charles Benfield and drummer Ben Welburn, with extra guitar and keyboards from Guy Bennett. So if you’ve never heard Mark before what can you expect from Fools & Clowns? A big power trio, perhaps? Some cool laid-back blues? You’ll be surprised – the material is all original but the music has its roots somewhere down the Mississippi with an excursion to London. And it’s a knockout album.
The opening track, ‘House Rent Party’ is typical. It’s up-tempo and bouncy but then the lyrics start to register and it turns out to be a – relatively gentle – protest on behalf of generation rent with a party feel thanks to Mark’s National guitar. With ‘Them And Us’ the gloves come off. It’s about the haves and the have-nots but with a sense of resignation which carries over into ‘Small Deals’.
‘More Fool Me’ and ‘All My Days’ sound autobiographical if Mark is a man who is lost in life but he strikes me as someone who is rather more in control. The latter has Charles on mandolin and what sounds like milk bottle percussion. ‘The Great Stink’ has a historical root in the cholera and typhoid outbreaks of a century or more ago. Now, according to Mark, it’s back but this is a political stink. At the halfway point of the record is a jolly instrumental, ‘The Rocket’, all shuffling percussion and ringing guitar. Time to relax. Actually no, as ‘The Wild West’ explains.
‘Road Ahead Closed’ is a description of a situation we’ve all been in – I still shudder at what should have been a short drive home late at night – but I suspect that this road is rather more metaphorical. ‘Fancy Hotel’ tells of an interview, presumably by a journalist, with Blind Willie McTell who didn’t tell the story that the writer wanted. A wonderful song with a theme that carries over into ‘The Onliest One’ – lots of inventive percussion here.
‘Sonny Boys’ tells of the impersonation of Sonny Boy Williamson by Aleck Miller. “Can’t be but one”, sings Mark as the original Williamson. Finally, ‘Ricky’ is a song for every wannabe Elvis who just needed a slice of luck but ended up playing dives – a legend in his own mind.
The inhabitants of this album may well be Fools & Clowns but as I’ve already said, it’s a knockout record. The songwriting is clever and the arrangements are spot on.
Dai Jeffries
Artists’ website: www.markharrisonrootsmusic.com
‘The Wild West’ – live:
We all give our spare time to run folking.com. Our aim has always been to keep folking a free service for our visitors, artists, PR agencies and tour promoters. If you wish help out and donate something (running costs currently funded by Paul Miles), please click the PayPal link below to send us a small one off payment or a monthly contribution.
Thanks for stopping by. Please help us continue and support us by tipping/donating to folking.com via
You must be logged in to post a comment.