TOO GONE TO EVEN KNOW THE WORDS

(second edition containing hitherto unpublished items)

LYRICS 1972 – 2022

by

ALAN CLAYSON

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AETHERIA PUBLISHING   116 pages   ISBN 978-1-84240-537-6  £9/$15 (inc p&p)

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TOO GONE TO EVEN KNOW THE WORDS contains original lyrics committed to paper by ALAN CLAYSON between 1972 and 2022. These include discographical items recorded solo; with ALAN CLAYSON AND THE ARGONAUTS - and by other artists, among them Dave Berry, Stairway, Jane Relf and The Electronic Males.

Prior to his renown as a music historian, ALAN CLAYSON was spoken of and written about in the same paragraphs as Wreckless Eric, John Otway, Tom Robinson and Elvis Costello – for, while Melody Maker decided that ‘Clayson occupies a premier position on rock's Lunatic Fringe’, his compositions were (and are) melodically sturdy, and he was (and is) acknowledged as a gifted, if quirky, wordsmith. Moreover, there are people around today who'll tell you that (ALAN) CLAYSON AND THE ARGONAUTS were the greatest group ever formed – such as the Rock 'N' Reel [R2] critic who, in 2007, estimated that ‘somewhere there is a parallel universe where they are bigger than The Beatles’.

This judgement is traceable to the late 1970s and a concert itinerary that embraced more dates across Britain and overseas than could possibly be kept. If the van had drawn up outside a ballroom on Pluto, it mightn't have seemed all that odd. En route, ‘Landwaster’, a 1978 B-side, entered Belgium's Top Twenty after a radio broadcaster in the Netherlands began spinning it by mistake.                                                                                                            

The CLAYSON AND THE ARGONAUTS saga climaxed in 1985 with the release of the valedictory What A Difference A Decade Made long-player, a critical cause célèbre, earning rave coverage in such disparate journals as Folk Roots (‘Alan Clayson's original songs are utterly delightful in their individuality’) and The Observer (‘the greatest Sixties album of the Eighties’). Since then, CLAYSON solo recitals - which defy succinct description – have prompted recognition as ‘one of the more extraordinary figures to emerge from rock 'n' roll’ (The Independent), and comparison to Peter Hammill and Robyn Hitchcock.  More recently, media comment has been fulsome with phrases like ‘mesmerising’, ‘a man possessed’ and ‘a wonderful evening by a master raconteur at the top of his game’.

 ALAN CLAYSON also presents CLAYSON SINGS CHANSON, a show on the road since 2011, initially to tie-in with the most recent edition of his Jacques Brel biography, La Vie Bohème – and he is once again fronting CLAYSON AND THE ARGONAUTS, reformed in 2005 following the release of Sunset On A Legend, a double-CD retrospective.

Feedback from recent CLAYSON engagements - in all three manifestations - on both sides of the Atlantic and the formation of a US fan club (stemming from a remarkable performance in Chicago) would suggest that he has become more than a mere cult celebrity. Moreover, One Dover Soul, a latest solo album – produced by Wreckless Eric - might stand as ALAN CLAYSON's artistic apotheosis were it not for the promise of surprises yet to come.

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‘His delivery and performance style has led to a deserved cult status’ (Time Out)

‘Definitely more than a performance - an experience!’ (New York Village Voice)

‘Everything here is equal to the doomed romanticism that was Brel’s trademark’ (Record Collector)

‘You just couldn’t keep your eyes off the stage - though sometimes you watched between the cracks in your fingers’ - Resonance FM

‘Incredibly strange and strangely incredible’ - Ugly Things

‘By turns absurd and entrancing, if you’re prepared to stay on the bus, it makes for an exhilarating ride’ - Rock ‘N’ Reel [R2]

‘A complex emotional landscape of understated dynamics and dark aesthetics’ (Folk On Tap)

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