hissyfit: Albums for Life: 86: David Mead: Mine and Yours

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Albums for Life: 86: David Mead: Mine and Yours

'Mine and Yours' is 'Pop Lite', but pop perfection.
Many have been damned with the 'Macartneyesque' comparison.

It was more than justified by this cracking collection. There are no edges here, nothing to get you rubbing your chin and reaching for the Thesaurus; this is nowt but classic songwriting; fantastic singing, elevated by unchallenging yet perfect arrangements. The songs do exactly what you want them to, but with such winning warmth and big hearted benevolence that you just want to give the speakers a huge hug of gratitude. Sure, there are one or two moments of heartache but that's more than tempered by the bouncy Tin Pan classicism of it all. A winning combination one would have thought; apparently not, as Mead never saw that success that this album suggested was inevitable. I saw him live and solo at the time, with about 100 other folk (half full/empty) at London's Borderline club...

The follow up 'Indiana' was less glossy, a more introspective affair; normally my preferred mood, and it might indeed be a better album for that undercurrent of melancholy, but it was through 'Mine and Yours' that I discovered Mead's penchant for perfect pop.
He's still recording; going the now inevitable route of fan funded recordings. The cap in his hand that should be on his head could be a crown; the man is a prince of pop rendered a pauper by these strange times...
I had trouble finding videos to represent the album so...
First two tracks and the last one are tasters from his new album 'Dudes'.
Then there are some live clips from The Ivy League sessions.
Not knockout (Mead seems kind of weary of it all) but hopefully
enough to guide you to his string of fine albums.

8 comments:

Anonymous5 December 2012 at 10:35
I remember getting this when it first came out but cant really remember much about it. thi sis explained by having had a quick look realising I've carelessly misplaced it somewhere probably during a house move. i only thought there was the one lp so lots to explore. I think i bought it at the same time as Josh Rouse and the the lack of edge meant it lost out in turn table time
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Tim Patrick6 December 2012 at 06:03
I remember picking up 'Luxury Of Time' used for a buck, soley on perusing the liner notes list of stellar backing musicians. Totally repulsed by the Beau Brummelish guy in a suit and tie cover, and a bloody "stylist" in the credits! But the album turned out be a nice surprise, for all the reasons you mention. Mine & Yours has a couple of his hookiest tunes, but for me 'Indiana' tops it by a mile for. Great album. I've tipped my hand, haven't I?
Tangerine was kind of a dud in my book, but the tracks you've posted from 'Dudes' sound like an sweet return to form. Enjoyed the live clips, where he seems less of a dandy, although you'd think he'd give up the Vanilla Ice haircut.
Another to add to my Amazon order...
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Séamus Duggan6 December 2012 at 08:59
Had this album on this morning and it was passing me by a bit until the final track Only in the Movies which ahs made an impression. I'll have to have another listen. Perhaps Indiana.
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Anonymous7 December 2012 at 07:16
Popinjay... I'm reaching for my thesaurus. OK, a woodpecker? No this must be it... a pretentious twat.

No need to justify favorite album picks. First loves are bound to affect objectivity, and a valid basis as any for an opinion. Taste is such a wacky thing anyway! Here's a relevant quote...

"I have opinions of my own... strong opinions... but I don't always agree with them." (George Bush)

TT
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Hissyfit7 December 2012 at 10:56
"Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?"

"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."

"They misunderestimated me."

Ah, George; you could never call him 'pretentious'...

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda."

"There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on --shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again."

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."

And my personal fav: "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
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Tim Patrick8 December 2012 at 05:59
Jeezus, you've had me chuckling all day with these bon mots. A true wordsmith is George. It's no wonder Obama never leaves home without his teleprompter...

Lest you think clever oratory limited to Bush... Here's one of Canada's finest. He makes W seem positively articulate:

"A proof is a proof. What kind of proof? It's a proof. A proof is a proof. And when you have a good proof, it's because it's proven." (Jean Chretien - Primeminister of Canada 1993-2003)

Proof he said it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSXO_UKU9po
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‘Jones’ is Trevor Jones; principle songwriter with the critically acclaimed duo Miracle Mile, where he works alongside collaborator, arranger and musical partner Marcus Cliffe. Together they have produced nine albums, the latest of which was 2012’s ‘In Cassidy’s Care’, rated ‘Album of the Month’ by HiFi News, with respected journalist Johnny Black noting that Miracle Mile were “far and away the most unfairly unsung musical wizards ever to emerge from this sceptered isle. Big on memorable tunes wrapped around honest-to-goodness emotionally involving lyrics.”

Trevor Jones has also previously produced four solo albums: ‘Hopeland’ (2009), ‘Keepers’, (2010), ‘To the Bone’ (2014) and ‘Happy Blue’ (2016). Co-produced again with Marcus Cliffe, ‘Carver’s Law is another triumph of intimacy.
Previous critical acclaim for Trevor Jones:

“Gorgeous, as ever. Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; gently beautiful and genuinely moving. You may cry.” The Sunday Times

“Masterpieces of subtlety and observation clothed in sumptuous, lush melodies.” R2

“Jones is in a class of one. Near-perfect explorations of the human heart. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me.” Americana UK

“Achingly tender.” Folk Radio UK

“Intellectually as well as emotionally engaging.” MOJO

"Meticulously orchestrated, careful and complex, this is canny songwriting leavened by bona fide humanity." Q

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.” Maverick

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard.” Uncut

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised. Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving” The Times

Miracle Mile: A User's Guide by Johnny Black

Despite being based in a home studio in a rural backwater on the outskirts of West London, Miracle Mile chose to name themselves after a fictional gold rush main street half a world away where, according to adventure yarn spinner Jack London, ragged 49ers would blow their hard-won nuggets on booze and broads.
They apply a similarly unorthodox approach to their career in general. The band’s core duo of singer/guitarist Trevor Jones and multi-instrumentalist/arranger Marcus Cliffe have been relentless in their pursuit of the perfect song. Not the fastest, the gnarliest or the loudest, not even the most instantly commercial, but the song whose melody, lyrics, arrangement, performance and spirit might stand the test of time, giving pleasure to listeners not just for years but centuries.
They’d be the first to admit they haven’t yet found that perfect song and maybe never will, but I’d argue that their albums — the documentary evidence of that search — deserve a place alongside the best work of time-tested tunesmiths as elevated as Randy Newman, Elvis Costello or Tom Waits.

Marcus Cliffe wasn’t yet on board when the first album, Bicycle Thieves, arrived in 1997 but already it was evident that frontman Jones didn’t fit in with the prevailing mode. There was no rage, bitterness or self-loathing in his songs and nothing at all turned up to eleven. Instead, he offered meticulously orchestrated slices of ordinary human life, transforming the mundane into the marvellous with carefully crafted lyrics sincerely delivered. Even here, though, the hypnotic sample-based "Recycletwo" revealed a willingness to experiment that marked Jones out as more than just a pop craftsman in the vein of Crowded House or Aztec Camera.

What had started essentially as a recording project had become a five-piece live band by the time the follow-up, Candids, was released in 1998. Loaded with nagging guitar hooks and dynamic vocal interplay, it included one particularly affecting piece, "Small Ad," which featured just one line of lyric, the heart-rending couplet, "Baby’s shoes, never used." With those four words, Jones conjured up a yawning abyss of grief that other writers might struggle to evoke in an entire album.

Jones quickly realised that live performance was not his forte and retired to the womb of the studio for 1999’s third album, Slow Fade, which also saw the birth of the partnership that would lift Miracle Mile higher still above the norm. Marcus Cliffe, in demand as a player for Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois, Mark Knopfler and others, was drafted in on upright bass.
Immediately the music took a more intimate turn, with Jones exploring the little things that illuminate the big things. Almost every song offers up at least one unforgettable line, like "I'd rather be ashes than dust" in "Everybody Loved You," or the concept of filling the void left by his loss of faith "with despair and metalware" in "Starwatching."
Slow Fade was further enhanced by the delicately filigreed swirls and swoops of England’s finest steel guitar maestro, B.J. Cole, whose style sat so well with Jones and Cliffe that he has become virtually a full-time member of the band.

And then, out of nowhere, catastrophe struck. Trevor Jones’ beloved sister died in tragic circumstances. It’s typical of the man that, rather than wallowing in his grief as he had every right to do, he dealt with his loss in the quiet, honest dignity of "Sister Song," the achingly lovely tribute that concludes the fourth album, Alaska. It can’t have been coincidence that the album, despite its meltingly beautiful musical landscape, was named for one of the coldest places on earth.

By the time of Stories We Could Tell in 2004, Miracle Mile were drawing critical plaudits in every significant British magazine and newspaper, along with comparisons to such pop pluperfectionists as Prefab Sprout and the Blue Nile. Critics were noting that Miracle Mile was fast becoming a repository of timelessly romantic music fueled by the same shamelessly emotional human concerns that inspired the great standards. More than this, it was being noticed that while most bands go into decline after two or three albums, Miracle Mile were getting better, perhaps because they’d avoided the trap of trying to be contemporary, and had no need to be more outrageous than the competition, largely because they didn’t see music as a competitor sport.

The sixth album, Glow, showed up in 2005 and found Jones and Cliffe further expanding their musical palette mixing Celtic folksiness with slow, semi-industrial percussion on the inspirational "An Average Sadness," blending Badalamenti guitars with Bacharach horns on "What Kate Did Next," and opening "Strange Sympathy" with a beautifully synthesised string orchestration before letting the song melt seamlessly into a laid-back country-rock rumination on the gap between aspiration and acquisition. Glow was also their most lavishly packaged disc, gorgeously presented at no small cost to themselves.

Album No. 7, Limbo, offered fifteen songs overflowing with sensitively wrought melodies and heart-fluttering lyricism. If it’s not a contradiction in terms, Limbo was even more quietly passionate than usual, deliciously understated and, at times, devastatingly tear-jerking.

‘Cassidy’s Care’ followed in 2012 and received similar critical acclaim.
Miracle Mile may just be too concerned with timeless quality for their own short-term commercial good. They’ll never sink a fang into the jugular when they can plant a whisper of a kiss on that sensitive spot at the nape of the neck and set off a tiny ripple that will, in the fullness of time, explode in the heart. I, for one, wouldn’t want it any other way.
Johnny Black

“Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; Marcus Cliffe anchors it in the sweetest pop. Gorgeous as ever. You may cry.”
Sunday Times

"Gentle enchantment. The loveliest melodies you've ever heard."
UNCUT

“Gorgeous melodies, hooks galore, intelligent lyrics that demand and repay careful listening, beautifully produced instrumentation, and an overall effect that combines poignancy and joy in equal measure. Music and words come together in a state as close to perfection as makes no difference, and leaves you with a delicious ache that makes you hug yourself with the sheer overwhelming joy of hearing such wonderful music. The beauty on offer here is enough to make you weep. It did me."
Americana UK

“A little oasis illuminated by musical creativity, glimpsed like a lovely mirage. Intelligent tunefulness that doesn’t kowtow to passing trends has always been as rare as fish fingernails, but it’s here.” Mojo

“Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised” The Times

“Moves you to tears and refreshes the soul. Scintillating.”
Maverick

“A tender sadness. Songs that have universal resonance.”
Netrhythms

"Trevor Jones has produced a gorgeous pop album that few will hear — unless there’s justice in the world.’ The Wall Street Journal

“Jones has compiled possibly the finest catalogue of adult pop. Gently beautiful and genuinely moving”
The Sunday Times