— Miranda Sawyer
It has dulled a bit since becoming an adult but I am an Anglophile. Unless we're talking about jazz, most of my favourite music comes from the UK. I tend to favour British writers. Their films and TV shows are generally a cut above everyone else's. I'm not quite as crazy about travelling over there nowadays (all things being equal I'd much rather go back to Thailand) but I am looking forward to returning before long.
This began when I returned to Canada and immediately began to miss England — and sought out anything British as a crutch. Music was an obvious outlet but I was probably going to be into that stuff anyway. I began to turn to sitcoms, in part because the American comedies of the age were so dire (aside from The Wonder Years). If it cropped up on one government-supported channel or other and the characters had any kind of British accent I was in. It didn't even matter if I enjoyed them or not.
British sketch comedy wasn't as prevalent. We got A Bit of Fry & Laurie and, eventually, The Fast Show (though, sadly, not for very long) but not much else that I can recall. The phenomenon of Reeves & Mortimer meant nothing over in North America. It was only because of The Wonder Stuff that I had any idea who they were. Meanwhile, Canada was being rocked by The Kids in the Hall: their influence was such that I didn't need Saturday Night Live and I sure as hell didn't need tepid light entertainment, such as Vic Reeves Big Night Out, from across the pond.
Anyone approaching Vic Reeve's brief music career would never know that he was a comedian in his day job. He croons numbers like "Born Free" and its B side companion "Oh! Mr. Songwriter" with as much earnestness as an American lounge singer in a tacky old Omaha bar. Miranda Sawyer detects "many a wink and a winning smile" and I'll take her word for it — she was there and was presumably a fan — but it's all way above my head (and I stand 195 cm so the humour is awfully high up and out of reach). In a way, I can respect this since comedy is often at its finest when it's played straight, I'm just not laughing — not unlike most of his comedy.
I'm afraid the same goes when it comes to "Oh! Mr. Songwriter", the flip side which really won Sawyer's heart. It was the song that was used to play Reeves' show out so it must have already been familiar to her (which also explains its prominence on the single's cover). Good for her and all that but, once again, I'm lost when it comes to spotting the gag. Reeves was adamant that his music career be taken seriously and that he wasn't doing comedy songs and that's great. But as pop songs go neither side is up to much either.
"Born Free" is a song I assumed to be American, recorded by a singer I assumed to be American, written by a songwriting team I assumed to be American. This is where I part ways with my love all most things British: their embarrassing love for most things American. (People from the UK will deny this but you are advised not to believe a word of it) A good comic ought to have done a send up of Brit Americana. Reeves goes about it as authentically American as Matt Munro did in his original recording from 1966; again, if there's a joke in all this then by all means explain it to me. Or belittle me for being am imbecile, whatever rocks your boat.
Ultimately, it's impossible to be an Anglophile. The British themselves had no use for such a concept and the rest of the world can never be English, Scottish and/or Welsh enough to truly appreciate their culture. The bulk of the music I listen to that isn't jazz is from the UK. I tend to prefer their novelists, poets and essayists. Their films and TV dramas and comedies are typically a cut above the Americans. Yet, their are individuals who elude me. I think Delia Smith is a cook but I can't say for sure, I still don't know who Jeremy Beadle is or was and I'll never find Frankie Boyle funny. I'll just be content with The Beatles, Adrian Mole, Blackadder, the British Bulldogs, XTC, Geoff Dyer, Paddington, Kate Bush, Hugh Grant and visiting every so often.
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Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Blur: "There's No Other Way"
And so it begins: the media's complicated relationship with Damon, Alex, Graham and Dave, the foursome that they sometimes would admire but never quite love, a gang that was supposedly "too clever by half". (Do you ever notice that no one is ever described as "too thick by half"? What's up with that?) Sawyer gets the ball rolling with an extended diatribe about what a load of pretentious gits indie bands are. Turns out, "There's No Other Way" is a banger so what does she know? Well, this would be the story of Blur, a group who would have been critical darlings but for the prejudices of those blasted critics. Sure, there were hacks who praised them from time to time but there was always a strong contingent of naysayers wishing nothing but ill will upon them. I always maintained they weren't just superior to Oasis but also Radiohead but who else took them this seriously? In any event, "There's No Other Way" is their first of many great indie pop numbers. The video is excellent too: much funnier than anything I've encountered from Vic Reeves certainly.
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