Project Description

THE SHADOW CLUB

Peter Ronald Brown was a poet. All his life he worked miracles with words and brought magic to songs that might otherwise have been rock riffs less distinguished. Great riffs of course, like ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘I Feel Free’ or ‘White Room’ that became Cream classics. But it was the strange brew of ideas, insight, fantasies and imagery that set such compositions apart from the mainstream.

All the more tragic then, that his death on May 19, 2023 came just days after he finished writing and recording tracks for his final album ‘The Shadow Club’ that in retrospect, proves one of his best and proudest achievements.

During his lifetime Pete developed a career as a lyricist, singer, band leader and producer with roots in his early adventures as a jazz poet with Michael Horovitz in the 1960s. He came to wider attention when writing lyrics alongside Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton for some of Cream’s biggest hits.

Then came his own bands notably Battered Ornaments and Piblokto! when he began to develop his abilities as a singer. He once told me: “I was a good front man and began taking singing lessons and things started to come together. Before that I relied on arrogance and fear.”

He could also rely on grabbing the attention of listeners with songs full of personal messages, thoughts and dark humour of a kind that pervade this remarkable album. He is backed in his endeavours by a team of superb musicians and singers, inspired to play on Pete’s behalf while adding their own special qualities to the final product.

The album produced by Rob Cass and John Donaldson grabs our attention from the opening number, the strangely menacing ‘Psychological Dog.’ It tells the story of Pete being physically threatened one day by a gang of punks who call him ‘An old freak.’

This alarming encounter encouraged an angry Pete to buy a guard dog fierce enough to deter to any more street thugs. It was expensive but had: ‘The strength of a rhino and fangs like a croc…best friend I’ve got.’ No one would ever come near him again he proclaims, adding triumphantly: “Now I’ve got all the security that I never had. I’m feeling really good like a big man should”.

His band rally round with a funky groove powered up by drummer Richard Bailey joined at the hip with Malcolm Bruce (bass) and Mo Nazam (guitar). With backing vocals from Chantelle Duncan, Helen Hardy and Jackie Rowe I’m tempted to say this is a ‘Hot Dog!’

Pete steps out of the shadows again with title track ‘The Shadow Club’ where he engages in a heartfelt bout of nostalgia for past youth. Memories of the turbulent but fun and inspiring Sixties are celebrated in a song that imagines a club where all the survivors once played and made love. It was a place where ‘All the hip used to hang and drink music…and dance. It’s where I met my baby… generations ago when we were 25’.

 

THE BEST R&B IN THE LAND

In a roll call of honour Pete lauds such emotive names as Alexis Korner, John Mayall, Eric Clapton, Graham Bond and Brian Auger who were at the vanguard of ‘The best R&B in the land.’ He adds jazz heroes Joe Harriott, Stan Tracey, Phil Seamen and Tubby Hayes to the list, who he admired ‘In those long gone bebop days.’

He also celebrates Zoot Money of Big Roll Band fame (who left us just a year after Pete) and it’s nice to hear a young (in spirit!) Eric Clapton joining in the shadow play and offering suitably nostalgic guitar accompaniment.

The album sustains its thoughtful, dreamy tone with ‘The Sound Of A Drum’ that intriguingly lacks a drummer but does have Abass Dodoo on percussion and Joe Bonamassa and Clem Clempson on guitars. Pete is in pensive mood as he tells how the sound of a drum ‘Used to keep me sane…and made me come in out of the rain’.

The true sound of the drum kicks in on ‘Whenever I Try To Sell Out’ with Richard Bailey delivering a spritely reggae beat. Pete recalls his post-school days when he was expected to take on day jobs and ‘working for the man.’ And then comes those moments during his musical career when he says ruefully ‘When I Try to Sell Out it never works’. A highlight is Joe Bonamassa’s extended guitar solo that really works.

‘It’s A Long Road Brother’ is one of Pete’s best vocal performances. A ballad with a moving melody.  he gives advice and consolation to a brother about travelling on long roads that go nowhere. Bonamassa excels himself again on the journey, with an emotional guitar outburst.

BLACK CAT

Equally heartfelt is the sustained exercise in remorse that is ‘Everything You Said’ during which the band and guitarist Matt Schofield give Pete sympathetic support much needed during ‘Phantom Cheer’ where the composer sounds at the end of his tether.

A beefy brass section brightens the mood on the upbeat ‘With My Black Cat By My Side’. We hope the moggie wasn’t too disturbed by the psychological dog arriving in the Brown household.

Sometimes a songwriter will conceal the true intentions of his lyrics in verbosity and delicate innuendo. No such tactics are employed on the strident, forceful ‘No You Can’t Have That Money.’ The message is clear. Need we say more? No!

The grand climax comes with the extraordinary ‘Whodunit’ in which Agatha Christie meets Pete Brown and an old friend, the God of Hellfire himself Arthur Brown. Here the lyrics read like a well- thumbed paper back as the detective firm of Brown & Brown ask themselves who was the murderer? ‘Was it the girl with the slinky slit skirt with the journalist boyfriend digging dirt?’ Or was it ‘The Major with the Prosthetic Arm or the Rambling Gambler oozing charm’.

We are left guessing as the piece dissolves into a studio rap between the two veteran members of The Shadow Club. We are left imagining them relaxing into leather chairs, ringing a bell and ordering the waiter to bring a glass or two of brandy. Well, they deserved it. CHRIS WELCH

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