Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Being the main attraction isn’t for everybody. Many are more than happy being the player filling in, the unseen midfielder who puts in more than his fair shift week in, week out, the beautiful scene behind the supposed alluring landscape or the rare flower in the hands of a beautiful woman, some quite rightly prefer it that way. Every so often though that rare flower gets noticed, even if it has been prominently displayed, it may have gone undetected to all but those that rave in the dark of its sanguine effect on the whole.
For Ian Carr and his band The Various Artists, that exceptional flower finds its self being plucked from the hands of the beautiful woman as she graciously bows to that being given its rightful place of prominence. It may ask the question by some of Who He? but as soon comes apparent to the listener, Ian Carr is a very huge cog of inspiration to many a fellow artist.
Who He? is a kaleidoscope of musical fascination, the optical illusion made whole and truly colourful. As the combination of instrumental music cleverly plays with occasional interlude of the charmingly picturesque voice of Maria Jonnson and the compelling narrative delivered by Frances Carr on the track Talking Frances, the album opens like a still dawn morning arriving after a week’s worth of battering squalls and raging tempests hitting the only house on an island.
For someone who is seen as a pivotal role model to many in the music world, it does seem odd that Ian Carr has only just opened up his soul in such a way, however Who He? is very much worth the weight.
Tracks such as Road Drill, Never Been To Oxford (Or is That Cambridge), the aforementioned Talking Frances and I’ll Call You really capture the emotion of a man who has set himself free from the constraints, arguably self-imposed, that have bound him and like that rare flower that has been adorning the arm of a beautiful woman, finally has its time on show in the finest gallery in the country as it is recognised to be more important that being held in the background.
Who He? is a wonderful debut by a man of true distinction.
Ian D. Hall