Mark Billingham and My Darling Clementine - The Other Half

  by Malcolm Carter

published: 8 / 9 / 2015

Label: Hachette
Format: CD

intro

Enthralling new project from crime writer Mark Billingham on which he collaborates with country duo My Darling Clementine, his original story being interspersed with the songs of My Darling Clementine that inspired the story

The music that My Darling Clementine has created over the course of two albums left no doubt that here was a duo who perfectly captured the spirit of those great country duos like Tammy and George and Dolly and Porter. But the duo performed their original songs with such honesty and passion that, although this type of music was firmly planted in a certain time and place (and for some should have stayed there) in the talented hands of Lou Dalgleish and Michael Weston King, country music sounded fresh and relevant again. Michael Weston King must be one of our most underrated singer/songwriters, since his time with the Good Sons. Through a number of solo albums which took in the best album of covers that has ever seen the light of day ('Love’s a Cover' where Weston King takes the songs of Lennon/McCartney, Townes Van Zandt, Dylan, Nick Cave and songs made famous by Candi Staton and the Stylistics and even Gilbert O’Sullivan and, quite simply, owns them) and the most thought-provoking protest album you’ll likely to ever hear in ‘I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier’ he’s never put a foot wrong musically. Like the greatly missed Jackie Leven, Weston King has opinions aplenty and delivers his words in a singing voice that you are compelled to listen to. In 2011 Weston King released his first album with partner Lou Dalgleish under the My Darling Clementine banner. Dalgleish, as well as working with Elvis Costello, Bryan Ferry and the Brodsky Quartet, had also made an impression with a handful of solo albums. When these two talents combined as My Darling Clementine on their debut ‘’How Do You Plead?’ in 2011, it was something of a shock. Despite touching on classic country at times in the past, this collaboration wasn’t just a pair of musicians trying to recapture a classic sound; it was the sound of a couple who had lived it. A couple of years later, the follow-up ‘The Reconciliation?’ confirmed that combining their musical talents was not just inevitable but an inspired move. Weston King has always seemed like a restless musician, one that is unafraid to take chances to get his music and message across. The latest project Weston King is involved with combines the music of My Darling Clementine with an original story by acclaimed crime fiction writer Mark Billingham. Billingham wrote ‘The Other Half’, having been inspired by the songs on both the My Darling Clementine albums. The result is a tour (which is currently running and is, at the moment, set to close at the end of November) and an album of the same name. ‘The Other Half’ CD has to be in the running for the best packaged CD this year. Both Billingham’s story and the lyrics to the songs that are interspersed throughout Billingham’s narrative are reproduced in the booklet that forms part of the package. It’s a beautifully put-together set that perfectly reflects the music it contains. The story centers on Marcia, a former Las Vegas showgirl who works double shifts in a Memphis bar, and the lives of the customers who frequent the bar. Billingham narrates the story and, besides being a gifted author, he has a voice that draws you even further into the lives of his characters. Billingham’s descriptive and detailed explorations are even more vivid when read by the author. Apart from Billingham, there is Graham Parker, David Morrissey and Florence King providing different characters’ voices along with both Dalgleish and Weston King. The set opens with the sound of a busy bar, someone playing the jukebox and ‘’By a Thread’ from My Darling Clementine’s debut ‘How Do You Plead’ weaving in and out of the noise of the drinkers. Then Billingham sets out the scene so vividly that the listener actually feels they are sitting at one of the tables. The story is split into eight sections, most around the three to four minute mark, which keep the story tight and compelling; given Billingham’s ability to make his characters recognisable to everyone there are times when, although the songs are an integral part of the story, you really want to push on to the next story section. The way Billingham’s story unfolds is addictive. That’s not to say that the songs take second-place to the narrative, but for those who have been following My Darling Clementine the majority will already be familiar. Apart from the strains of ‘By a Thread’ floating from that jukebox five of the seven songs have been heard before on the brace of My Darling Clementine albums. If one considers that Billingham took inspiration for the story from those albums, that’s no great surprise and the songs successfully link into their given place in the story. Maybe it’s due to its unfamiliarity just now but the first of the two new songs written specifically for this project ranks as one of the best that Weston King and Dalgleish have ever been involved in. ‘Friday Night at the Tulip Hotel’ is classic country. You can picture the cheating couple waltzing to this song, knowing full well that it can only end in tears. “Did the wife and the children the fear and self-loathing weigh far too heavy on his mind this time?” ponders the abandoned lover when her partner in this illicit affair fails to show one Friday. Despite the wrongdoing you can’t help but feel her pain at being left alone. “The Tulip Hotel hosts bouquets and tears” for sure. The other new song, the closing ‘As Precious as the Flame’ finds Billingham contributing to the lyrics, and superbly captures that period when “she doesn’t stop your breath any longer” and “the bedroom’s just for sleeping”, but you realise that “the embers are as precious as the flame.” As with the rest of the album the song is firmly planted in that country soil, but it’s a sound that although far from having rough edges certainly isn’t glittering with those rhinestones that have blinded many from appreciating this age-old but still relevant music of the people. ‘I No Longer Take Pride’ which details the decline of a man who has lost the love of his life would have been a country classic anyway, but when Dalgleish takes on the part of the deceased looking down on her former lover from above it’s a truly heartbreaking moment. It is touches like this that not only place Weston King and Dalgleish up there with the greats of country music; it’s proof that they can also better such classics. And if any listeners are brought to this collection because they are familiar with Weston King’s past achievements then just one listen to ‘No Matter What Tammy Said (I Won’t Stand by Him)’ which is a solo Dalgleish composition (and features the Brodsky Quartet) will leave them in no doubt that My Darling Clementine has more than one extremely special songwriter. Obviously the project is developed to be listened to in one sitting and it works best in this way; given that the majority of the songs are available on their other albums anyway if you want to listen to the songs out of this context then pick up ‘How Do You Plead?’ and ‘The Reconciliation?’ because for now ‘The Other Half’ deserves to be taken as it is presented on the CD or stage show, as a separate project that has placed My Darling Clementine’s songs in a setting where they truly belong. Everything works here; the story, the music, the performances from all concerned and even the way the CD is presented. It just gels together so well and comes highly recommended.

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