Mark Morriss - Look Up

Mark Morriss releases his 4th solo album ‘Look Up’ on 20th September via Reckless Yes Records. The Bluetones frontman is relentless on the live circuit but, four years since his last album (The Taste of Mark Morris), is the magic still there?

Fortunately for Morriss, the world flipped upside down politically and served his muse well. The Stevie Wonder-inspired ‘All The Wrong People’, hilariously bashes the insane machinations of Trump aka the “big blonde hippopotamus”.

Live favourites ‘Rimini’ and ‘Roll Away’ follow similar paths. The former, written the day of the Brexit result, ended a year-long bout of writer’s block. Full of sci-fi charm, Morriss deals with the shock of the referendum result. His ability to get across the aching feeling of loss in your homeland is remarkable.

‘Roll Away’ though, is another animal. Morriss, returning home from a Bluetones rehearsal, heard Anais Mitchell and Martin Green’s song on the radio. Struck by its message about refugee’s plight, re-recorded with stunning effects. With the Today Programme reporting daily on migrants crossing in dinghy’s, Morriss’ vocal brings home the haunting tragedy of those without.

Unsurprisingly, the record is littered with pop instincts, a hallmark of The Bluetones and his solo career. ‘Holiday of a Lifetime’, written by a campfire with his children, contains an elegant simplicity and beauty reflecting those surroundings. All the while, a nagging sense of a forlorn reality awaiting end feels inevitable.  

The wholesomeness fades on ‘The Beans’. Morriss’ lyrical wit and savagery take aim at a tumultuous relationship. Meanwhile, on opener ‘Adventures’, Morriss twists and turns from country-folk to Roxy Music and Dexys via the sublime Saxophone work. Again, Morriss deals with the Brexit conundrum: examining the isolation it caused so many reasonable-minded folks to endure.

Not only is the magic still prevalent, but it’s also flourishing. ‘Science and Nature’ is, for our money, Morriss’ pinnacle. ‘Look Up’ is full of creative risk-taking which rivals

*Image courtesy of Ben Meadows

The Bluetones: Water Rats, London

When big bands come to small gig venues, it’s invariably a great night and, The Bluetones at Water Rats was just that. Filmed for Vintage TV, the Hounslow massive rattle through an hour of their greatest hits.

Any Rik Mayall fan will tell you that, the best things about their live shows were the cock-ups. Mayall’s wit and charm would shine brighter in these mercurial moments than during anything scripted. For this reason, we hope Adam Devlin’s guitar failure makes Vintage’s edit. It showcased frontman Mark Morriss in all his comedic glory.

It’s striking just how many charting singles they play tonight (and how many they don’t). Especially in Water Rats, a venue synonymous with This Feeling and their new music nights. So many new acts walk through these doors with great tunes and attitude, but, in the long run, to no avail.

Radio and TV outlets need to wake up to the new talent available. The indomitable Caffy St Luce and Heather Ferguson are here tonight, they dedicate their lives to breaking bands, these outlets should be trusting them (among others) as they did with The Bluetones in the 90s. Otherwise, they are denying generations of music lovers a chance to go on journeys with their favourite bands. The highs of the top 10, the lows of the fading 5th albums, and then their glorious live comebacks when the kids have grown up.

This just leaves us to say, in the Bluetones immortal words, “So it’s on with the show”.

Image coutesy of  https://twitter.com/markpinsent

Mark Morriss Live: Spotlite Club, Southend

A strange gig in many ways. What was due to be an intimate setting with an icon became even more so with a poor turnout. This was Southend’s newest small gig venue, not a great sign of things to come. Nevertheless, Morriss took the ego hit in his stride and regaled stories and jokes in-between worthy of Live at the Apollo.

In-between the anecdotes and Bluetones classics, Morriss displayed his criminally underrated solo material. From his 2014 album ‘Flash of Darkness’, was ‘It's Hard to Be Good All The Time’ which kept the spirit of Crosby Stills and Nash alive. The sullen acoustic guitars of ‘Carry On’ and the brooding nature of ‘Dark Star’ combined with Morriss’ unique pop vocals.

From his debut solo effort ‘Memory Muscle’ came the more Bluetones-esque ‘I’m Sick’. The spritely melodies which embody all that is great about his band. More interestingly, there is sense of longing for something unfound, a notion that, with all the glory of the 90s, you’d feel Morriss would not have anymore.

The standout offering was the CSN styled ‘This Is The Lie (and That’s The Truth). A brilliant story of self-reflection and what it is to be a solo artist. Morriss’ ability to intertwine feelings of isolation with pop music have never been better here.

This was not a gig BBC4 will be making a documentary about but, for the small crowd, its one they will cherish more than most. Humble and hilarious, Morriss reminded them of the glory days and, better still, demonstrated that he is a force to be reckoned with as a solo act.