Tag: James Grant

Joe McMahon is a Clydesider and from his PR photograph you’d think he was actually built there. When Adam Was A Boy is his second album, all original songs, nicely packaged and he’s supported by a core band of Angus Lyon, Anna Massie and Susy Wall with contributions from James and Ursula Grant, Findlay Napier, Scott MacLeod, Pete Fletcher, Willie Campbell, Peter McGinty and DC MacMillan.

The first track, the upbeat ‘Open Stage’, compares life to an open mic gig. “Get out there and give it all you got” no matter how much or how little, is the key message. Joe dedicates the album to his late mother who worked as a stewardess on ‘The SS Orontes’ between Liverpool and Australia and said that it was her favourite ship. Joe’s song turns it into a ship plying a route between Earth and Heaven, carrying “the righteous home to the Lord”. Nothing is said about the rest of us.

In the title track, Joe recalls his childhood in Greenock with a huge heap of nostalgia about how much better things were back in simpler times decorated with lovely guitar by James Grant. ‘Trouble’ started out as an exercise in writing about a puddle and finished up as a song about his wife – I hope he cleared it with her in advance. Findlay Napier and Scott MacLeod provide the guitars and Angus Lyon lays down a retro Hammond organ. ‘Rocking Chair’ is a motif often used and Joe twists it to compare worrying to a rocking chair in that it will “keep you occupied; it won’t take you anywhere”. This is one of the tracks on which Anna Massie wields her banjo to good effect.

‘Far Away’ is about the restless commitment phobic with a country vibe that moves it from Glasgow to somewhere out west. ‘The Frog And The Scorpion’ retells the fable and “it’s my nature” is the take home message. ‘Uncomfortable Silence’ is a story of determination in the face of disapproval while ‘The Winter Fire’ takes an opposite view as a straightforward love song. ‘Mask No Fear’ was written for a dystopian film and is the only song that seems out of place.

‘In Her Time’ brings us back to the album’s dedication as Joe attempts to sum up his mother’s life in a few verses beginning with her in WWII aged ten followed by her shipboard adventures and ending with him hoping that, should he reach his mother’s great age, people will wonder about his life the way he thinks back in this song.

When Adam Was A Boy is a collection of songs rooted in Joe McMahon’s life; charming and personal but without undue sentiment. You can listen and think ‘yes, that could have been me’ even though you’ve never been to Greenock in your life.

Dai Jeffries

Artist’s website: https://joemcmahon1.bandcamp.com/album/when-adam-was-a-boy

‘Rocking Chair’ – live: