By Ian Diddams
Images by Ed Dyke
Is he a musician? Is he a raconteur? Is he a comedian? Well – he is all of these things – a singer/songwriter, wrapped up in a story teller, inside a dry, laconic wit that is delivered as “Suave” Mark Harrison, his self-appointed nomenclature.
And indeed, he was in fine form at this wonderful gig last night at “The Pulpit”. Mark has had some throat issues for a few months now and has to look after his voice when performing, which involves copious amounts of water and as a result urgent loo-breaks. And while the result may mean fewer songs in a set, it also means we are treated to more of Mark’s rambling yet always engaging, quietly spoken stories of blues history, social observations and personal views all wrapped up in his acerbic, pithy humour. For sure, Ralph McTel, Frank Sinatra and Eric Clapton will never seem the same again.
Mark kicked off the evening at 8pm with an explanation of his voice issues and description of his “well suited” opera background vocal coach and worked his way through such numbers as “Sonny Boys”, “Crematorium Blues”, “By the Side of the Road”, “There goes yesterday”, “Them and Us”, and “Road Ahead Closed”, interspersed with Blues history of a stolen identity, late night road closures, and visiting Eastbourne.
After a short break – and a much-needed pee break for Mark, by 9.15pm we were back once again to more stories about Howling Wolf, the birth of the civil rights movement because of mechanised cotton picking, David Honeyboy Edwards and his book perpetrating the Robert Johnson soul selling to the devil “bollocks” ( © Mark Harrison )…. and self-deprecatory remarks about Mark’s voice, Coventry and his celebrity status including a nascent affair with Anneka Rice and being sandwiched between Abba and Mylie Cyrus in an array of global mega stars. We learn about Gale Porter’s Jonah-like death knell for high street banks, the growth of “management” over real jobs and how Mark doesn’t do “politics” but does do “lived experience”; he is Victor Meldrew but actually funny and with music… and as for music we were regaled by “Highgate Hill Blues”, “Onliest One“, ” Skip’s Song“, ” Easy Does It“… and more such excellent philosophical, satirical and just down right super tunes.
All too soon 10pm threatened along with Mark’s voice giving out and with a suitably low key, pertinent and humorous story, and two more songs, we were done. Hand-shakes, merch bought, and goodbyes ensued and it was time to escape Swindon, and for Mark to eventually venture out to do battle with the road closures of Oxfordshire…
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