Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There was once a school of thought, typified by the reaction of the old-fashioned critic, that those who are prolific in their writing are not as dedicated to their craft as those who can take years to produce a single piece of art. It is of course rubbish, a nonsense that is insult to the creativity of a human being when they are touched by the continued navigation of the Muse.
An example of such comes in the form to which Kerouac was subject to ridicule when people found out he wrote his seminal novel, On The Road in three weeks, but it was described and decried as ‘Barbaric Yawp’, and even Truman Capote criticised Kerouac’s style, saying “That it wasn’t writing, it’s typing”. Whether it is on the road, or the visual scene captured in Life In The Pond, the prolific are just as just as important to framing existence as their steady beat counterparts.
It is when the two states of appreciation clash, that is when there are fireworks, beautiful, enticing, shocking, the slam dunk of cautious optimism meeting heroic cool; and despite the grace of Roger Chapman not figuring in the studio for some time, he nevertheless has been continuous in his output, his mind working overtime and bleeding words and notes as if they were water running over smoothed down pebbles and into the mere, scattering the fish of panic into the darkest, unfathomable depths.
Often cited as the voice of his generation, Roger Chapman takes that continuous writing ethic and returns with a new album, Life In The Pond, and joins the seams together after seven decades of being one of the most considerate, consummate and completed artists to be found, and Life In The Pond continues that sense of unmatched persuasion with aplomb.
Through tracks such as the opener Dark Side Of The Stars, Rabbit Got The Gun, Having Us A Honey Moon, On Lavender Heights and Green As Guacamole, Roger Chapman reaffirms his place as one of Britain’s deep reflective thinkers and lyric and music writers; and it is one that puts a line under the absence from the studio with delicate ease.
To perhaps liken the genial sense of harmony of Roger Chapman with the poetic beat of Kerouac might seem as though it is a marriage of convenience, however the world has turned to a point where the observations of one man who left us over half a century ago, is reflected in the examination of another, very much keeping the pen scribing away.
A welcome return doesn’t quite have the gravitas of meaning, for Life In The Pond is the great continuance of a master in his prime.
Roger Chapman releases Life In The Pond on June 25th via Ruf Records and Chappo Music.
Ian D. Hall