DAVID COURTNEY ‘Anthology’
Earlier this year I reviewed DC’s own albums, now comes this superb collection. A few facts, David is a Grammy nominated songwriter and producer with over 30 million record sales to his credit. Starting off as the drummer in the Roulettes (Adam Faith’s backing band) he went on to discover Leo Sayer and work closely with Roger Daltrey (amongst many others). All the tracks on this 2CD set (37 tracks) are either written or produced by David. The sheer scope and diversity of his talents is breathtaking. ‘One Man Band’, ‘The Show Must Go On’ ‘Long Tall Glasses’ ‘Giving It All Away’ ‘Shooting Star’ ‘Magic Touch’ are just some of the best known songs contained here. Its fascinating to hear Daltreys ‘Giving it All Away’ and to be able to then compare it with Leo’s version both contained here and to do the same again with ‘One Man Band’ but away from the immediately recognisable are some real gems ‘Midnight Child’ Roger Chapman. Maggie Bell’s ‘In My Life’ ‘Rag and Bone’ Steve Ellis and ‘The Dancer’ a Smokie track ive personally not heard before but is superb. I’d also single out Joe Egan with ‘Back On The Road’ and a wonderful take on The Who’s ‘Squeeze Box’ a duet with Roger Daltrey/Adam Faith but to use an old phrase ‘its all killa and no filla. I didn’t skip a single track. The list of featured musicians is awesome, McCartney, David Gilmour, Steve Cropper, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Rod Argent, Ray Parker Jnr and on and on…To sum up this overview of one mans work is class, pure class and a joy to listen to. I can do no better than to quote the late great Harry Nilsson who said of David Courtney ‘he’s the English Phil Spector’. With you on that Harry.
The Anthology is released on September 4th. For more info angelair.co.uk
Till next time…… Colin 