TORONTO TIM SAYS: NEW MUSIC: BILL PRITCHARD - A TRIP TO THE COAST ****

Here's where I hand things over to a guest writer; Canada's Tim Patrick.

Bill Pritchard is new to me; I like it. 
He reminds me of Stephen Duffy and the original Miracle Mile singer, Steve Smith of 'Bless This Ship' vintage. 
Steve now lives in LA and records under a moniker or two: 
Deltaboy and Zachary Black, a video of whom you can see below, where Steve seems to be attempting the most unflattering 'selfie' ever filmed. Is he hanging upside down?

Toronto Tim writes:

Released only a couple of weeks ago, I've been keeping an eye open for this album to pop up on Spotify, after stumbling across a track ("Trentham") that caught my attention on Youtube. I managed to sample the entire album before the Spotify police caught up with me and shut down my account that I'd carried back from the States three weeks ago. The CRTC and our Big Brother government in Canada still refuses to allow us Spotify here. Bastards...

Comparisons to Lloyd Cole, Morrissey, Prefab Sprout & the Go-Betweens and an early album produced by Ian Broudie, are what initially grabbed my attention; but after a few listens, I'd have sworn 'A Trip To The Coast' was some "lost" Steven Duffy /Lilac Time album...

Unbeknownst to me, BILL PRITCHARD has apparently been kicking around the music scene since the late 80's, even having a minor MTV moment way back in the day. For some reason, never made a dent in the UK market, but something of a cult hero across the channel in Belgium & France, which he's adopted as a second home. 

Anyway, 'A TRIP TO THE COAST' is a pretty damned good record. 
AllMusic rates it 4 1/2 stars. 
Sophisticated, easy-going, jangly guitar pop tunes mixed with pretty ballads, Pritchard possesses a homely but likeable voice. 

Opener "Trentham" is one helluva catchy pop song, however "Yeah Yeah Girl" is the standout track for me, recalling 'Love Story' era Lloyd Cole, with a pre-chorus lyric worthy of old LC:
"I heard you moved out of that flat in St Denis, Away from the bars and the cars and the sounds of  the city.

So you shop in all those lucrative places where the Sherazar shimmers amongst beautiful faces,

But I sometimes wonder how it could be if I'd been more commercial and you less twee." 

"In June" rocks out suprisingly nicely, whilst slower songs "Truly Blue" & especially "Polly" bring a winsome change of pace... 

“Drifting through the stations in a pacamac with photos she took on the run, from someone, to someone”. 

Finally, the title track recounts a touching story about an afternoon jaunt to spread a deceased friend's ashes... 

"Fancy the idea of a trip to the coast?

Take a trip in a car and under a bridge

And roll over memories drinking pop from the fridge

Let’s do what we planned give him back to the island

The 3 of us now are what we weren’t then

But thanks to those memories we can be again

Let’s do what we planned give him back to the island

Watching the sun leaving the sky"

It's also worth a trawl back into Pritchard's early collaboration with Ian Broudie on the 1991 album "Jolie", which supposedly was a breakthrough in Japan & Canada, which I seemed to have missed. Must've been in bloody Quebec! Sounds a wee bit dated, certainly a Lightning Seeds flavor to it; but holds some excellent tunes nonetheless. I've posted a few tunes below...

I apologize for the lack of video clips from 'A Trip To The Coast', especially disappointed at being unable to find "Yeah Yeah Girl". 
But for those of you blessed with access to the luxury of Spotify, I'd encourage further investigation...

Number Five:

Trentham:

Gustave Cafe:

I'm In Love Forever (w/ Francoise Hardy): 

  Tommy & Co: 

A Trip To The Coast (making of doc):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOdNsoHbPho

Bill Pritchard (Official Site with Soundcloud samples):  http://www.billpritchardmusic.com/#!music-/cp83