MICHAEL CHAPMAN – Party Pieces (Live in Bremen 1975) (Made In Germany Music)

Party PiecesMichael Chapman’s posthumous Party Pieces (Live In Bremen 1975) is a very good recording that is, thankfully, “Still Making Rain”, as it features his acoustic guitar wizardry, wonderfully gruff vocals, incidental humour, and superb songwriting.

For the initiate: Michael Chapman was a Yorkshire singer-songwriter who wandered through life’s playing cards with brilliant guitar dexterity, a rough poet’s lyrical eye, a good taste for wine, and an eternal love of dogs. His first four Harvest albums were beautifully idiosyncratic recordings that rivaled the genius of (the great) Roy Harper. He recorded more great albums for Decca and then made great records with a maverick’s chord until he died in 2021.

His music is a legacy that still spins with the sound of melodic rain as it “patterns the verandah” that will forever be “Among The Trees”.

Granted this live recording is for the fan. But for the (before-mentioned) initiate, Rainmaker, Fully Qualified Survivor, The Man Who Hated Mornings, and his latest, 50 are great entry doors to MC’s talents.

This is a solo show. ‘Party Pieces’ opens with a strident strummed cuff and swirling Michael Chapman acoustic guitar magic with his confessed preference for “especially the wine”. This is rough melodic folk music. Next, ‘Wellington The Skellington’ is unbelievable instrumental fun as MC pauses here and there to crack a comment or three. This is followed by the eleven-plus ‘New York Ladies’, which gives space galore for more wonderfully gruff vocals and an extended journey into a glorious labyrinth of an Eastern-vibed and star-constellated forever and a day gorgeous acoustic guitar workout. The great Richard Thompson often touched a similar inner sacred soul.

There’s an Earthly touchdown: First, a cover of King Of The Hobos Jimmy Rogers’ ‘Waiting For A Train’ rekindles the British blues 60s memory. Then the (sort of) country blues ‘Deal Gone Down’ evokes the sound of early Ralph McTell. Nice.

And there are great tunes. ‘Firewater Dreams’ is a reminder, amid all the guitar virtuoso praise, that Michael Chapman is an excellent songwriter, as it captures a languid day as “the clouds roll by” in his beloved Yorkshire. The same is true for the self-deprecating, ‘Wrecked Again’, which swirls with a melodic lament (with a great chorus!) that finds the confessional folk singer “Lost out on the highway/Trying to find my way to you”. And then there’s a brief impromptu acoustic rendition of Ralph McTell’s ‘Streets Of London’. Nice, once again.

The instrumental ‘Polar Bear Fandango’ defies guitar-playing gravity. It recalls the brilliant ‘Naked Ladies & Electric Ragtime’ from (the before-mentioned) Fully Qualified Survivor album. But the live format gives MC a chance for humour, mentioning Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Alvin Lee, and the difficulty in teaching dogs and bears to walk – but not necessarily in that order!

Then, ‘Not So Much A Garden (More Like A Maze)’ captures the ethos of the late 60s British folk artist, as it bends its horizon over blues, psych, an Eastern drone, and manages to (almost) quote The Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’, yet it lives to “Ramble On”, and then morph into a ‘Tribute To Bo Diddley’ that shreds the known universe with a ‘Road Runner’ acoustic rock ‘n’ roll Vamp’, which, indeed, ends the evening with a “Savage Amusement” exclamation mark!

Michael Chapman once observed, “Dogs got more sense than to sleep in the rain but they can’t play rock ‘n’ roll”. Well sure. But these songs can weather a night or two with a Rainmaker, and they play through “Millstone Grit”, with a stone mason’s attentive touch on the rough-cut limestone that’s always a melodic glance into a “deal gone down”.

Bill Golembeski

Artist’s website: http://www.michaelchapman.co.uk/

‘Deal Gone Down’ – live:

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