Record Collector
From Otnews.net
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This page was originally created on Dec 08, 2002
Further to Watway's posting of 30th November re the great review in 'Record Collector', I think Martin Newell who reviewed the CD deserves a Christmas card from us all !
For those who have not yet seen it, read more...
"Half a dozen people with the talent, persistence and wilful defiance of John Otway and we could rid the charts forever of the scourge of TV-created android bands. Rush-released on the back of his hit single, 'Bunsen Burner', achieved by the stupendous efforts of his fans, just in time for Christmas, Otway brings you his perfectly legitimately titled greatest hits.
Greatest hits they are too, if you include stage favourites and others which have become, to paraphrase a certain princess, hits in our hearts, if not in our charts. These you have loved: the Pete Townshend-produced 'Louisa On A Horse', the Balearic beat/electro-punk mongrel 'DK50-80'. The live faves, 'Headbutts' and 'Body Talk'. The scary covers of 'Delilah' and 'Green, Green Grass Of Home'. Then, of course, the two genuine, spaced 25 years apart chart smashes, 'Really Free' and 'Bunsen Burner'.
As if these weren't enough, 'Beware Of The Flowers', the best follow-up hit that Otway never had, is also included. Yes, the same 'Beware of the Flowers' (Cos I?m Sure They're Going to Get You Yeh!) whose words, during the millennial hysterics, found themselves being mysteriously feted by a media poll of the time, as the nation's seventh favourite lyrics of the past 2000 years.
This past quarter-century John Otway has stood for all the pomposity pricking punk buffoonery that certain music-biz majordomos would love to see dead and buried. But the bugger just won't lie down. This is a man who once did a benefit for his record company, who once played a gig in a fan's living room. The weird thing is, for all his unconventional behaviour, nowhere in the whole album do we find any swear-words, rabid political sentiment or emotional nastiness. This album should, therefore, qualify as family entertainment, executed as it is by a genuinely well-loved all-round entertainer. That it won?t is possibly down to the fact that it misses the one thing real talent can't achieve: mediocrity.
The aspect of John Otway most often overlooked, however, is his song writing, which when he takes it seriously, is deft and touching - as evinced by the country-tinged 'Josephine' and his attempt at a Christmas song, 'Middle Of Winter'. Very occasionally, Otway's propensity for tweaking personal tragedy slides over into mawkishness but hell, if he was perfect, he wouldn't be so perfect.
Comparing the new on this album with the old - when Wild Willy Barrett was partner and producer - there's a remarkable consistency, all things considered. Whatever selection you make, it's always of a certain quality and atmosphere. It's always John Otway. If you lost all your Otway in the vinyl/CD wars, then this album should replace most of it. If you weren't ready for Otway once but you feel you now are, this is the one to buy. Ideally, buy two and send the artist to the top of the album charts for Christmas. And if that doesn't have the Fame Academy starmakers flinging themselves out of the top windows of Television Centre, then I don't know what will.
Martin Newell"
