WILD BILLY CHILDISH & THE CHATHAM SINGER
- STEP OUT! CD (2024)
Label: Spinout Nuggets
Duration: 37 Minutes 12 Seconds
Tracklist:
1. Step Out
2. Fine and Mellow
3. I Can Tell
4. Beneath the Midnight Tree
5. Rollin' and Tumblin'
6. The Same Tree (Blues)
7. Upside Mine
8. I Love My Woman
9. I Just Want to Make Love to You
10. King Bee
11. Meet Me at the Bottom
12. I've Got Everything Indeed
Band:
Billy Childish on Vocals/Guitar
Juju on Vocals/Bass
Wolf Howard on Drums/Percussion
'Bludy' Jim Riley on Harp.
Synopsis: Wild Billy Childish has been recording and performing since the 1977 punk explosion. The Pop Rivets, Thee Milkshakes, The Headcoats and The Buff Medways being just a few outfits that Billy has run into the ground. But all that is just a hobby gone out of control - his day job is being an internationally exhibited artist, writer and vermin poet. Specializing in Chicago style Blues, The Chatham Singers have released five albums since 2005, via Hangman Records and Damaged Goods, and over a dozen 7" singles, some rarer than others, some worse than others. The Chatham Singers are Billy Childish on Vocals/Guitar, Juju on Vocals/Bass, Wolf Howard on Drums/Percussion and 'Bludy' Jim Riley on Harp. Here we have a full long player, which includes some of the songs from records only available as limited 45's, free at their sell-out shows. some of them recorded by The Hangman Field Recording Unit, and others at Bludy Jim's Ranscombe shack. Get Hip and Boogie Chillin'!
Back in the day I loved me some Thee Headcoats, a formidable Brit garage band fronted by Billy Childish, notable for their lo-fi albums with raucous tunes including some choice covers, including the Son House songs "John the Revelator" and "Death Letter Blues" years before The White Stripes got ahold of them. Childish's post-Thee Headcoats career is pretty fucking prolific, and I am ashamed to say that I have largely not kept up with his career, I had kid and got lame (sorry), at least until this new release from Spinout Nuggets arrived in my mailbox.
Quite a treat indeed are these 12 tracks of stripped down Chicago style blues, five Childish originals and seven tasty Childish-ized covers of traditional blues tunes, including both Billie Holiday's "Fine and Mellow" and the plaintive "I Love My Woman", Howlin' Wolf's "Meet Me at the Bottom", Slim Harpo's "I'm a King Bee", Willie Dixon's "I Just Want To make Love To You", Muddy Waters' "Rollin' and Tumblin'", and a take on Bo Diddley's "I Can Tell", some of which look to have only been previously available on hard to find 45s. The arrangements are sparse and direct, sounding like a terrific live in the studio, which I am sure they are, sounding slightly shambolic in the best sort of rough-hewn way. Childish's raspy yowl and twangy guitar intonations combined with the minimalist bottom end beat courtesy Juju on bass and drummer Wolf Howard, but I gotta say the secret ingredient here for me is the fantastic harmonica courtesy of 'Bludy' Jim Riley, often a haunting presence on tunes like the Childish penned "The Same Tree (Blues)", and the perfect accent on something like Howlin' Wolf's "Meet Me at the Bottom". This is the sort of album I can dig into when I'm sippin' lemonade o the back porch or getting rowdy on the weekend with a few brews - it's just got a terrific lo-fi bluesy vibe that I love, offering plenty of blues-drenched melancholic delirium.
The 12-song CD arrives in a Digipack CD sleeve from Spinout Nuggetss, and is also available on vinyl LP for the cool kids.
Buy It!
Amazon - CD
Amazon - Vinyl
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