I was on holiday in Ibiza in the 1970s with my mum and dad when I came across an advert in Cream magazine for the single off this album, Carnations on the Roof, which was about a funeral. The advert was a psychedelic pencil drawing of a hearse. I was intrigued, so I got the album when I went home. It's a funny record that sounds like it was done in five minutes. I didn't realise at the time that the lyricist, Clive James, was the Clive James, but there's an embarrassing picture on the back of him and Pete Atkin looking like geography teachers. It's singer-songwritery but with a strange atmosphere, and the words are brilliant. A lot of the songs have a post-Vietnam feel; there's a lot of death and decay. But it's balanced by whimsical observations. One song is called Wristwatch for a Drummer, which, even before I was a drummer, I thought was a fantastic, surreal image. The notion was that drummers in bebop bands would have a number of wristwatches in order to perform complicated time signatures. There was never gonna be a hit single, but it's got a vibe. I love it, but it has other uses. Put it on at 2am and watch unwanted guests leave.
Steven on Pete Atkin - A King At Nightfall (1973) in the Guardian today.
Does anyone own this record? Care to comment?
Copied all that from here.
