Search - Pete Atkin :: King at Nightfall / Road of Silk

Just the best there is

Russell Greaves | Wiltshire, England | 12/16/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Pete Atkin is the musician / voice of the Pete Atkin / Clive James song writing partnership. Yes, that Clive James, the Australian polymath, raconteur, hysterically funny commentator and shrewd observer of life in the late 20th / early 21st century. Clive & Pete met at Cambridge University (UK) in the late '60s and recognised how perfectly they complemented each others' talents. Clive has a way with words the way Hitler had a way with bombs i.e. impossible to ignore, devastatingly accurate, once encountered never forgotten 'cos afterwards you're in pieces strewn across the landscape. A bit like Dylan, except in clear, not in code. With Dylan, you take your own meaning from the possibilities on offer. With Clive, you gasp with recognition at your own life accurately laid out before you, wryly smile as you recognise that your tribulations shown here in the music are shared by many more than you, and salute the way that the turmoils and the triumphs, large and small, that keep us going from one disappointing day to the next are catalogued, polished and held up for view, to be shared among all our other fellow-suffers. And that's just the words. Clive applies a fearsome brainpower to the words, but filtered through a very human compassion and a wry observation of the recurring themes that stuff up all our lives. Pete applies an equally fearsome brainpower to the music. It's not until long after the first listening that you realise that no two songs sound the same, each has its own voice, whether that springs from jazz, blues, folk, rock, each distilled so its unique qualities are deployed to serve the words they carry.
Listen to it for the first time & you'll wonder what the fuss is about - a non-descript east English rural accent with surprising intonation. Look, he's just so far ahead of you that you have to trust him and try and keep up. This is music deeper than the Marianas Trench (12,000 or so metres under the Pacific off the Japanese coast in case your geography is a bit rusty). Listen to "Thirty Year Man". Three staccato piano chords repeated, you will know which country and which decade you are in before the words start. "Apparition in Las Vegas". The title tells you where you are, the musical introduction tells you when you are there before Pete even gets to the words. Listen to 'Payday Evening'. You'll recognise the bar, the barmaid, the smell of the place, the sounds ' words and music literally in perfect harmony. Throughout their 8 CD catalogue, mostly written in the '70's, Atkin & James pinion the woes and follies of First World Man with pin-point accuracy. The words skewer you, the music leaves you satisfied at its 'rightness' and sobbing with frustration that something so good (a) exists and (b) is ignored, almost certainly because it is so good. These are songs that were launched on an un-responsive world 30 years ago. They are still relevant, still pertinent, still fresh today. Should you be fortunate enough to see Pete perform, don't be fooled. On stage he is a diffident, understated Englishman quietly crediting Clive with supplying him with words that are treasures beyond price. He is correct in that, but listen, really listen, to the music. Pete has a musical brain to rival Clive's literary one. There is depth here. Switch on your brain, let your mouth hang slack-jawed in admiration and enjoy! And there are still another 6 CDs out there!!
(...) Explore and return here and treat yourself to the best there is."