BEAU – Palace Of Light (Cherry Red BEAUPOL1)With near thirty albums to his name, it’s fair to say that as long as there’s self-important self-interested arseholes, social iniquities, political buffoons and popular discontent in the world, there’ll always be fuel and a place for another from Beau’s witty, sardonic, ironic and provocative pen. Musically, the tunes may not greatly depart from a basic melody, but you can always guarantee the words and the subject matter are fresh and inventive.We’re used to hearing of contemporary musicians being accused of ripping off other artists, but Palace Of Light opens with the scurrying strum ‘I Plagiarise Beethoven’, an amusingly tart reminder that it’s been going on for centuries (“not the odd note here and there/But line on glorious line”) encapsulated in its catchy chorus “I plagiarise Beethoven/And lean on J.S.Bach/I’ve stolen from Vivaldi/And knocked them out the park/I’ve pirated Debussy/And lifted from Ravel/And so far no one’s noticed/As far as I can tell”. See if you can spot the way he uses the opening notes to Beethoven’s 5th.That’s followed by ‘Twenty-Twenty Vision’, an observation on how the distortion of reality by social media eventually becomes accepted as the norm (“The few who fearlessly alight upon a different point of view/Are vilified, their reputations roundly pummelled black and blue/By legions of the paranoid”) while, nothing to do with the Northampton alt-rock band, ‘Glimpse Of Venus’ charts the comeback album launch gig of fictional female punk-metal rocker Venus Flytrap and her aged backing band The Suiciders (“the drummer,always manic, now approaching seventy-five; the breathing apparatus that was keeping him alive/Was perilously wedged between his tom toms and his snare”).Continuing on, the fingerpicked Black-referencing ‘Green Hill’ takes a suitably cynical view of those who sell you the idea of greener pastures to boost their own vested interests and all hopes of a New Jerusalem dashed, a similar theme extending into the nimbly picked clouds of ‘Cuckoo Land’ (“I am, you see, a devotee of blatant, narcissistic motifs/Of wishful thoughts, and litanies of self-delusory beliefs/My country is, I can confirm and with much confidence declare/The envy of the universe and everybody else out there”), with a swipe about colonialism’s cuckoos coming home to roost.The recent rapid turnover of Conservative party leaders affords the inspiration for ‘Opportunity Knocks’ and those keeping an eye on the prize (“One has to be somewhat adept/At hiding ambition; except/When one has, one contends/Been persuaded by friends/One reluctantly has to accept”) while cancel culture and political correctness comes under the hammer with ‘The Joke’ (“A solitary complainant claimed the man had gone too far…custodians of conscience automatically proclaim/A victim list disciples must demolish and defame”) as the hangman prepares to string up the comedian, giving rise to the wincing word play “we have no wish to see the arty choke”.Without dissecting all of the album’s 15 tracks, suffice to say each of them skewers its chosen topic, ranging from a homage to those who stand up for what is as opposed to what a minority would have them be (‘A Target On Your Back’), the self-explanatory ‘Cultural Appropriation Blues’ which, referencing Janis Joplin, tells of fictional Stoke Poges blues singer Chiquenena Basquet who met the Devil “at the crossroads on the A4130” and wrote the celebrated titular number, to seeking validation and acceptance on social media (‘Epigram’), the way the media distort reality through trite euphemistic language (“Lost For A Cliché”), and Orwellian attacks on free speech (‘The Worshipful Company of New April Fools’).Palace Of Light ends with three music related songs, the role of the protest singer in the ‘Ballad Of The Rowdy Knave’ where a dodgy politician complains “my career is reduced to a song”, the marketing of pop culture (‘Celebrity Memorabilia’) and, in ‘The Song’, its power to keep ideas and memories alive and touch our souls (“I know we’ll never comprehend, or even come to grips/Why certain kinds of music bring a quiver to the lips…A song will sometimes strike a chord when everything aligns/One perfect place where words and note and sentiment combines”). Those are the songs Beau makes.Mike Davies
Beau – Palace of Light
Cherry Red Records
Format CD Download and streaming on all platforms
Just a year ago I reviewed the album, Confessions of a Saboteur and here I am again, new music from Beau, Palace of Light for release on CD and all the usual streaming platforms April 25th.
I mentioned in the previous review how I came across Beau for the first time in 1972. The album Creation issued on the John Peel label Dandelion. I collect vinyl records and just a few weeks ago in the vinyl shop in Cardiff, (CARDIFF RECORD EXCHANGE Whitchurch Road), a superb shop, and there was a copy of Creation from 1972, at £60. Made me wish I’d bought two copies!
There is a lot to say for musicians who made music in the seventies, and earlier, and are still making great records 50+ years later. Two examples, though there are others, but Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones come to mind. They are as relevant today as they were earlier in their careers.
This applies to Beau as well. I listen to Creation often, just as I will his new one, Palace of Light. In common on both, Beau plays the same 12 string guitar from 1968. And what a guitarist he is. Beau plays 12 string guitar, and I compare him favourably to the late Mississippi John Hurt who was a master of the instrument. The acoustic resonance of the 12 string, giving depth, sound and echo matched perfectly Beau’s performance of the songs which in themselves lyrically are quite perfect for the sound.
There is no other accompaniment and no other is needed. This is a very brave decision from Beau. It would be tempting to put into the mix even a stand up bass, and sparse drum but even such little would add nothing.
Beau is a poet. Rather like Paul Simon’s lyrics are as poetry, Beau is. Lyrics can read as very different from poetry. Even Bob Dylan’s lyrics, for me, do not stand alone as poetry. Not Beau, his words are poetry.
Particularly for lovers of the folk idiom, Palace of Light is a must for their collection. However, those who really appreciate music and words of quality, this is music from one the greats from the seventies to the present day, a part of quality musical history that should be heard.
