Both of us: A review

by Peter Daltrey

Way back then I only owned two or three Clifford T.Ward albums. I thought I`d probably heard the best of his work: from `Home Thoughts` to `Jackdaw,` from `A day to myself ` to `Wheelchair` and all stations inbetween.

Boy! Was I wrong!

The second side -- we`re talking vinyl, of course -- of Clifford`s 1984 Philips album, `Both of us,` is one of the best collections of songs that I`ve ever heard on one disc, pop-pickers. And I`m a fan of `Sgt.Pepper` and `Abbey Road` and `Pet Sounds` and `Bookends` and `Blonde on Blonde.` So I hope you get the measure of my praise.

Let us look in some detail at this fine album.

From the flowing piano introduction of `Still not free,` we recognise immediately that we are in Clifford T.Ward country. And then that voice that we all love: "I want you to know that it`s working out all right. I`ve found a job and things are looking up -- " Such familiar territory: the prosaic declaration, the domestic situation revealed. But we know that matters of the heart will soon follow: "We can put it back the way it used to be -- but I take it that you`re still not free." Simple words, no poetry, but we get the message: his damn heart is broken again!

And now the subtleties of the arrangement are introduced: the lightly-picked guitar, the slight percussion. As always, the bridge gives a lift before leading us back with consummate ease into another verse; no verbiage here.

This is pure CTW -- as are later tracks such as, `Both of us` (ironically, not the strongest song on the album) and `Change of Heart,` piano, bass, drums, heartache and some synthesized strings.

But there are many songs on this album that deserve closer scrutiny because, as we shall see, to variant degrees they break the mold. The production on `Messenger,` for instance, is notably different, incorporating as it does the instruments of the time, the synthesizers that give access to unusual `pads` or string sounds that give a pleasant wash that sits nicely just behind the main instruments. Of course, we have yet another delicious melody -- how does he do it? I`ve been writing and recording songs for more than thirty years and it`s a struggle every bloody time to produce a memorable melody. Clifford appears to be able to do it with his eyes closed; hmmm -- perhaps that`s his secret!

The synthesizer`s back on the dischordant introduction to the most unusual, `Leaving.` Clifford almost narrates a story of another lost love: "You did this -- and that -- then you did that." But it works well, walking us through the tale. A weird cello solo follows and then the story continues. Ground-breaking stuff. (Reminiscent of `The Day before you Came,` an Abba song that adopts the same format of simply telling a mundane story in a linear lyrical form.)

`Watching the TV news` and `Twenty Minutes` introduce modern themes: the world we live in, the world we might live in.

`Watching the TV news` trips along pleasantly and Clifford tells us that he spurns newspapers and their inky print in favour of watching the news on TV -- "Perfect end to the day; tea on a tray." It`s that domestic bliss again, but with a subtle, ironic hue: "We never get upset with the fighting and the bombing and the bloodshed and all the starving children round the world -- " His BBC champion, Terry Wogan, gets a mention as the radio news is dismissed. No, Clifford sits in front of his TV: "Nothing I prefer than the tea down my shirt, soaking it up, shrugging it off -- " A craftsman`s lyric. Remarkably for our hero, who seems to have spent most of his waking hours mentally chewing over matters of the heart, `Twenty Minutes` takes us into armageddon territory. "I wonder what we`ll be doing and where we might be when they hit the button and all hell is set free -- " But an unexpected tempo change takes us into a chorus, before we`re thrown back into a different tempo and digital drums. Experimental, but it works. We wouldn`t want CTW to write only about love and lost. "We could make a fallout shelter -- " indeed! The dreaded bomb falls, a baby wails. I bet some hate this track. Listen to it with an open mind and appreciate the artist trying on new clothes. Oh, and by the way -- who`s going to turn the light off when we`ve all gone?

The strongest chorus of the collection is reserved for the sublime, `Where do angels really come from?` The skilled song-writer gives us a quick verse and then we`re into one of his most addictive choruses. I can never resist singing along at the top of my voice. Oh, joy! Oh, bliss! Me and Clifford in imperfect harmony. What a great line -- what a great question: "Where do angels really come from?" Somewhere out there in the blue mists of Forever, where some omnipotent being bestows the gift of artistic creation on the chosen few. Such mysteries --

Clifford has written many great songs, indeed, he has written some masterpieces (not a word I bandy about readily.) `Both of us` actually features no less than two of these gems: `Contrary,` with its Victorian lyric and melodic flow, and `The best is yet to come,` with its heart-breaking first line, "Where did we go wrong -- ?", its truly beautiful melody, and a vocal performance that represents the pinnacle of Clifford T.Ward`s recording career. (Both tracks are mentioned in more depth in my `Appreciation.`)

(Incidentally, thank goodness Mr.George-aren`t-I-handsome-listen-to-my-fabulous-voice-Micheal didn`t do as Clive Winstanley suggests and record this last song. Although Clifford would have welcomed the publishing royalties, I can`t think of anything worse than having Mr.Smarmy wreack havoc on such a good song.)

And so, we have just two songs left. How do I choose which to end with? Both are excellent tracks and good songs, although, perhaps, for quite different reasons.

`Waiting for the Garda` is extraordinarily good. From the first few bars of this laid-back, loose arrangement with its liquid bass -- almost funky! -- its sophisticated guitar fills, we know we are in for something different. The mood of mystery is enhanced by enigmatic lyrics: "The face that haunts me, smiling down -- smiling doll with eyes so wide -- " Ooohh, this is my kind of poetry. This is what I look for: lyrical clues to deeper meanings. The listener doesn`t always want floodlit signposts; give him the suggestion of a story and let him fill in the details in his own mind: "Crying in the night where love will fall; dying as she might. And we all laugh, knowing it`s a con. Waiting for the Garda to come." This is a revelation.

The tragedy of Clifford`s present situation, his loss to the world of music, is underlined by this song. `Waiting for the Garda,` shows that had he been able to continue writing and recording there would have been major developments in his lyrics and in the arrangements of his work. `Garda` is an intelligent, mysterious concoction of poetry and sound. The lyrics and melody seem to have a rolling, tidal flow, taking the listener deeper and deeper into this finely-crafted song of shadows and illusions: " -- And on your ledge, a frightened child -- " The instrumentation is a dark, billowing sea; this could be a recording made in 1998. (Except that is for the unfortunate digital drums, so fashionable in the early Eighties.)

Clifford`s perfect vocal, treated to a tasteful reverb, sits comfortably in the mix. Evident on this track is that slightly rough edge he occasionally allows: "And we all laugh -- " This seems to be a later development in his recorded vocals. We will hear it again in the final song of this collection.

Let me first quote from `Making Music.` Denise Wright, a singing teacher who has coached everyone from Annie Lennox to the Spice Girls, comments:

Throughout the ages, the singers we remember are those we feel reflect the human frailties we all share. They mirror ourselves, our neuroses and aspirations. We feel they belong to us, are part of our every day lives. -- Great singers are startling in their honesty and self-expression, almost brutally offering themselves on a plate.

Every word applicable to Clifford T.Ward. The fact is, that CTW`s voice is the perfect instrument for his words.

The singers that I admire go from one end of the spectrum to the other. For me, Bob Dylan is the greatest singer of all with his dry, dust-bowl, busted, beaten-up, wreck of a voice. He can be vehement, as in `Masters of war,` `The Gates of Eden` and countless others, and as tender as your own fond-remembered lover in songs such as `Love Minus Zero` and the heart-breaking, `Spanish boots of Spanish leather.` He also happens to be the greatest song-writer of the Twentieth Century. I also adore Leonard Cohen`s seductive, smoky purr. And he is a fine poet. Pull the curtains, lock the door, open the gas oven and listen to, `Susanne` and `Sisters of mercy` and `Chelsea Hotel` -- the list is almost endless.

But I also love the crystalline purity of female voices. Listen in awe to Judy Collins` version of the superb, `Send in the clowns` -- pure musical poetry -- or the haunting, luminous, `The Moon`s a harsh Mistress.` Joan Baez` finest song is, `Diamonds and Rust,` her sometimes strident delivery toned down for this requiem for her love affair with the aforementioned Robert Zimmerman. Joni Mitchell`s own vocal delivery has tended towards the virginal on early recordings, but has acquired more warmth with the passage of time, as evidenced on tracks such as `Blue` and the later, `The Magdalene Laundries.` (Am I right in thinking that Joni now suffers from MS?)

But there is much of Denise Wright`s `honesty` and `self-expression` in CTW`s voice. It is, however, impossible -- I`m finding -- to put into words exactly what it is about his voice that appeals so much, that affects our emotions so intensely. (You try it... )

Listening to the last track from `Both of us,` this special, unnameable quality can be heard in the title line: "Before the world was round" -- particularly in the final delivery of this line. Perhaps it is yearning and honesty and nakedness and wanting and grieving and all these things and more. Perhaps, in some ways, we feel we are listening to ourselves. Perhaps that is Clifford`s secret: we are all the same in what Jack Kerouac describes as "the great lostness of life... "

Although not as sophisticated in production terms as other tracks on this fine album, although not experimental, not different, `Before the world was round` has the hallmarks of yet another precious CTW song: moving lyrics and a master`s melody. It is a track to which I have returned countless times since first hearing this album last month (July 1998.)

From its walking pace to its expertly-crafted -- and thankfully just-restrained -- guitar solos, from its stately lyrics to its understated vocal delivery, this is every bit a CTW classic.

That indescribable voice -- there it is again, that something in his accent, perhaps, a bucolic burr -- soaring into the listener`s heart on the first line: "I remember when you said the world must be flat because you`d fallen off the edge -- " Listening, I think I`ve died and gone to heaven. Then the delicious chord change into the chorus: "But it`s not easy -- " And then that falling away, dying away: "Before the world was round." Follow this with another rising bridge, a short, appropriate instrumental and a return to the simple, but affecting chorus and you have one more masterpiece to add to the list.

I hope Clifford knows how good this album is. I hope it brings him some comfort to know that we recognise how good this album is.

How appropriate the cover photograph of a shorter-haired, gently smiling Clifford, looking, as always, slightly ill-at-ease before the camera`s lens. But he looks happy and relaxed, content with his life. Fittingly he leans against his front door, the entrance to his special world.

One of my own songs ends with the line: "Memory and love and hope are the things that will endure -- " I hope Clifford feels the same. The memory of good times past. The love of his family and to a different degree of those who so admire his work. The hope that each new silver dawn can bring.

COPYRIGHT: PETER DALTREY 2021

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