Cult figure of punk’s golden age, dr.John Cooper Clarke, recently refreshed his discography with a little bit of help from Hugh Cornwell from The Stranglers. Initiator of the whole project was actually Cornwell, who not only produced the album but also played all of the guitars. Still, Clarke didn’t use his strongest weapon – punk poetry.
Clarke can not be perceived through a lenses of a typical musician. He is more of a true punk poet whose grit is bigger than his vocal. As such, Clark released six albums during the end of 70s and the beginning of the 80s. The last collection of the punk poetry dropped in 1982 and was titled Zip Style Mode. Meaning, This Time It’s Personal comes 25 years later. What a postponed comeback!
The album comprises of pop and rock ‘n’ roll evergreen covers from the likes of Conway Twitty, Ben E. King, John Leyton, Richie Valens, Richard Harris and others. These songs were originally recorded in the period from 1992 to 1968. Duo Cornwell\Clarke enriched every melody with its personal mark, so that the whole piece sounds like a brand new material.
With his authentic voice, Clarke has succeeded to make this ten superhits sound like his own. In some alternative reality, this really could have been his original recordings. Apropos his voice, I must mention that he reminds me of Frank Sinatra, If only Sinatra had that punk attitude (or got high on his grandpa’s medication for cough).
In Clark’s interpretation, this type of nostalgic evergreens sound like a soundtrack for hangover mornings. The charm peaks in the first seconds of the intro It’s Only Make Believe, and it persists until the very end.
Way Down Yonder In New Orleans and Johnny Remember Me might be the most interesting moments of the record. They are not even close to the original, but the creative twist makes it up for it. They sound retro and modern at the same time, flirting with nostalgia.
The biggest advantage of the release is it’s ability to reincarnate evergreens. The biggest flaw is MacArthur Park, a malfunction of Richard Harris’ original.
However, fans of dr.John Cooper Clark and Hugh Cornwell can easily be head over heels with this release. And they should.
