CD REVIEW: DR JOHN COOPER CLARKE & HUGH CORNWELL – This Time It’s Personal

Shane | 18 December 2016 | Reply

CD REVIEW: DR JOHN COOPER CLARKE & HUGH CORNWELL – This Time It’s Personal
Sony
October 2016
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 ½ /10

It takes a few listens to this collection of covers from Clarke and Cornwell’s youth before the penny drops – with their reputations (Clarke, the ‘punk poet’ and ‘unofficial poet laureate’, throwing down anti-Thatcherite agit-verse; and Cornwell, the ex-leader of ‘thinking man’s punk’ band The Stranglers) we were expecting some profound statement on modern society: a state of the world address from the punk elders.

It all started, apparently, a few weeks after old friends Cornwell dined with Clarke. A few sheets to the wind, Cornwell listened to MacArthur Park – the Jimmy Webb song made famous by Richard Harris in 1968 – and started wondering how Clarke would sing it. One phone call later and they’d arranged to record it – though the instrumentation for their cover took Cornwell months to work out.

The end result – Clarke half singing, half-intoning in his broad Salford accent over Cornwell’s band tighter than a duck’s butt as they leap from one time signature to another in the multi-sectioned song, whilst Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson contributes psychedelic and dramatic flute – is a tour de force: 7 minutes of madcap pub-punk that inspired the duo to continue through another nine tracks for a full album.

Elsewhere there are vibrant versions of Conway Twitty’s It’s Only Make Believe, Ben E King’s Spanish Harlem, John Leyton’s cowboy lament Johnny Remember Me, Richie Valens’ Donna, The Clovers’ Love Potion No 9 and Ricky Nelson’s Sweeter Than You, amongst others.

The album title says it all: This Time It’s Personal – these are simply songs that matter to Clarke and Cornwell, presented here played by a gritty, real band with style and flair, but little in the way of fanciful accoutrements (and better for it). Once we stopped listening for deeper meaning, it was easy to realise how sweet and meaningful it really it really is – to them, especially, but also to us as fans of rock n’ roll and these two pivotal artists.