John
Cunningham - Happy-Go-Unlucky
"With his...baroque production
touches, Cunningham hews closely and superbly to the balladic
side of Revolver-era
Fabs."-UNCUT, Jim Allen
"One of the best pure pop records of 2002."-MAGNET, Patrick
Berkerey
"Happy Go-Unlucky is a rainy-day album for pop dreamers who are chasing
that elusive smile through strawberry fields (forever)."-SOUND & VISION,
Parke Puterbaugh
"(John Cunningham's) Homeless House was my record of the year for 1998.
It was my record of the year for 1999, and 2000. If you're lucky enough to own
a
copy, hide it from your thieving bastard friends."-Joe Pernice
"There
is a train leaving Penn Station at 10:00 in the morning and
I'm on it, I think. I am the guy slouched over in his seat,
as defeated as a lower case question mark. This
could be exactly the wrong time to start a business or family
or a relationship with any kind of legs. Could be the right
time. The world is coming apart like a disgustingly ornate
wedding cake gone stale, and here I am, seated backwards
and hung over on good booze, escaping to Massachusetts in
first class.
An undeniable sense of real lossmuch greater than that
associated with our failure to get the girl or house or job,
if you can believe
it is the conductor of this train. The train with its
cars barreling into the crocodile enriched water like antelope
made stupid by the clock's tick. What right do I have to
hope there is a meal of grilled duck and fish soup waiting
at the table of my host? Is it simply because I am
hungry? Maybe.
Like
I said, I'm seated backwards, and from this angle, yes, John,
everyone is getting young. People left standing on the platforms
shrink in the distance like New York City. And you're absolutely
goddamn
right, even from the other side of the ocean, that the memories
fade like rainfall after snow, whether we want them to or not.
That's precisely how they go. When I was more afraid I would
have looked you in the eyes and said, "You're full of shit." But
things are in fact as delicate as you make them out to be, and
I'd turn around and face forward if there were
a seat.
We
are cursed with opportunity, so much so that we screw the pooch
harder daily and without permission, and it's taking the place
of
love. Things could be so good, and life be what it should:
A sentiment so simple, you'd think we'd get it."
- Joe Pernice, NYC, Feb. 11, 2003
(from the liner notes to the British edition of Happy-Go-Unlucky)
Click here
for the NPR’s All Songs Considered feature on “Happy
Go-Unlucky”
Overcast, bittersweet, spectacularly English pastoral pop from UK native John
Cunningham. An unconsciously cosmic sense of songcraft riding the delicate swells
of inconsolable melodies, dreamy chords and fragile finger-picked guitars, lush
strings, weeping organs and subtle woodwinds, led by a frail but magically warm
voice. Akin to the esteemed work of artists like Nick Drake, Robert Wyatt, Mark
Hollis (Talk Talk), Kevin Ayers, The Beatles, and those sad, sad Beach Boys ballads
from the late 60s/early 70s. Moody and often morose but with a newfound gleam
of hope, 'Happy-Go-Unlucky' will beckon to fans of modern-day troubadours like
Richard Davies, Elliott Smith, Joe Pernice, and Kevin Tihista. In 1998 the delicate
and discreet mini-album 'Homeless House' (Les Disque Mange-Tout) garnered rave
reviews. In the States "Homeless House' saw limited distribution but attracted
a faithful following, the general
consensus was that John's "next" album would be the breakthrough. Here
you are then…
Press for John Cunningham's "Homeless
House":
"Fourth album from neglected Brighton singer-songwriter… Luminous voice,
effortless band, and a short but sweetly melancholy collection of understated
pop pitched somewhere between Robert Wyatt at his most accessibly fragile and
The Beatles at their most quietly winsome." Sylvie Simmons
for MOJO Magazine
"This one comes to us on the recommendation of former Scud Mountain Boy
and current Pernice Brother, Joe Pernice. Although this is Cunningham's fourth
album, the Brighton artist is a complete unknown both here and in the UK but
not so in France, where the influential magazine Les Inrocktuptibles has called
him England's most neglected singer songwriter. "Homeless House" is
the work of a man whose time in the spotlight might well be approaching. With
an ostensibly delicate voice, Cunningham's vocals are most reminiscent of Robert
Wyatt and Sean O'Hagan of The High Llamas. On two tracks in particular, the backing
borrows heavily from The Beatles "Abbey Road". Paul Potinari's drum
roll on "Imitation Time" is a steal from "Something" while
the guitars on the title track had me searching for the name George Harrison
on the credits. Throughout, the trumpet of Sam Hayden adds wonderful splashes
of colour while Cunningham's lyrical ability is not dissimilar to that of Elliott
Smith. If only to give you a recommendation of its quality, fans of Pernice,
Wyatt, The Beatles, Nick Drake, O'Hagan and Smith will fall in love with this,
while we hope that his next album is the one that
finally takes Cunningham overground." Dave Roberts for MUSE/Tower
Records
"This 8 song EP struck me hard. As I described to a few people, Mr. C reminds
me of a very depressed Paul McCartney if he decided to write very
literate, poetic, "heavy meaning" lyrics. Sounds like a CD you would
buy? Well, I would. The songs are melodic, patient tapestries of sound with deep
meaning. Homeless House is strong. "Taming the Family" is one of the
best songs I've heard this year. The vocal is very personal, and Cunningham waits
in the structure of the song, creating a very push-pull affect, releasing us
in the end. The outro goes: "...oh, look what you've done to me, I'm dyin'
for dispossession." It repeats over and over. I'm not sure what the song
is about, but if you read the lyrics and listen to the song, it might give you
chills. I know I'm still shivering. Artists to whom I might compare Cunningham,
in addition to McCartney, are Emitt Rhodes (who released a great debut CD on
Dunhill in the early '70s) or post-Raspberries Eric Carmen (All By Myself-yes;
Hungry Eyes-no). He also has a bit of an Elliott Smith feel, although Elliott
really is on another level than the pack right now with his latest release Figure
8. He even approaches a Chris Bell (of the great '70s
band Big Star) vibe." David Fufkin for POPMATTERS
"A couple of years back, Joe Pernice bent my ear about Cunningham being
the freshest blast of pop air he'd heard in aeons. On his fifth album it's easy
to see why. Those his early-90s career was kickstarted by ex-Housemartin Stan
Cullimore, 1998's beautiful Homeless House was the first inkling of star-on-the-up.
Happy-Go-Unlucky come similarly draped in velvety pop smarts, those this time
fuller and tonally richer. Set atop woodwinds, gently dipping strings, stabbing
pianos and reedy guitars, JC's voice owes as much to McCartney as contemporaries
Kevin Tihista and Richard Davies, with arrangements worthy of Curt Boettcher.
A latterday chaser to Emitt Rhodes' eponymous 1970 debut." -UNCUT |
