Groovy Uncle - Making Excuses

  by Nick Dent-Robinson

published: 29 / 10 / 2024

---

Review

When I first heard a Groovy Uncle album, I was shocked that I had not heard of their work before. The quality of all their highly original material was stunning and the sheer variety of the different tracks was remarkable – many having an authentic Sixties kind of uniqueness about them. It seemed strange and rather unjust that Groovy Uncle were not a household name! So, what is their story? In fact, Groovy Uncle is the recording project of Medway-based musician and songwriter Glenn Prangnell. Having played in several bands during the 1980s and 1990s, Glenn turned increasingly to songwriting. During the early days of social media (MySpace etc), Glenn uploaded some home demos of his songs under the joke name of Groovy Uncle. The reaction was very positive – including from State Records who suggested Glenn record a single with them in 2010 and then an album 'Play Something We Know' in 2011. Glenn was a prolific song-writer and he still had plenty of material - so a second album soon followed with Teeside-born funk vocalist Suzy Chunk performing on every track. In fact, it was decided that this record should become the debut Suzi Chunk album - and, as 'Girl From The Neck Down' by Suzi Chunk, it received great acclaim on its release in 2012, including from BBC presenters Radcliffe and Maconie as well as Tom Robinson. A third album, 'One Vowel Away From The Truth' followed in 2013 and was released by Glenn on his own new record label, Trouserphonic Records. Subsequently, Glenn (Groovy Uncle) has made a new album almost every year, working with a wide range of collaborators. The latest Groovy Uncle LP is 'Making Excuses' which was recorded at Glenn Prangnell's's home studios and will be released in July with CD and vinyl versions. On this album, Glenn has worked with singer Jane Wrangham plus singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jules Winchester with input from Chuck Saboo and Allan Crockford on drums plus Rob Shepherd on mandolin. Other instruments are played by Glenn who also wrote all the songs except 'Moonlight' which was written by him and Jules Winchester. There is no question that 'Making Excuses' is yet another fine and innovative album featuring a range of well-crafted highly original songs reflecting different musical genres and influences. Musicianship and vocals are once again great throughout. 'Shine', the opening track, was actually the last one recorded – and it describes how the influence of social media tends to make people constantly put a shine on everything. 'When He's Awake' was influenced by Carole Bayer Sager's catchy 'You're Moving Out Today' and it is an apt comment on the entitled arrogance of a particular type of bigot in society and in politics. Jane Wrangham sings the rather wistful 'What You Said To Me' which was inspired by Carole King - whilst, by contrast, the attractively quirky 'I'm Making Excuses' was influenced by Harry Nilsson's work. ''Moonlight' is a real highlight of the album. A duet featuring Glenn and the talented Jules Winchester who wrote the melody. It has a nice, slow Nashville-type sound (typical of Jules Winchester's work) and the instrumentation, arrangement as well as Glenn and Jules's harmonies are beautiful. This song also features on the forthcoming new (and sixth) album by Jules Winchester, 'The Journey'. Jane Wrangham features again on 'The Kid Who Never Did' - a song influenced by some of Helen Shapiro's early hits. 'Don't Suffer Fools' is reminiscent of Ray Charles. By contrast, 'Sticks and Stones' is a relaxing, meditative song whilst 'Hard As Nails' was influenced by the Small Faces. On 'I'm Getting Out' Jane Wrangham appears again with a great performance of a tune that either Dusty Springfield or Amy Winehouse could easily have recorded. 'Somebody's Everything' is a thought-provoking number inspired by a radio interview about the killing of innocent women and children where the interviewee said “Don't they realise, they just took away somebody's everything”. Glenn Prangnell likes to end his albums with a cheerful singalong-style song that he could imagine his father playing on the piano at the kind of family party there used to be when Glenn was growing up. So, finally, 'Mind Your Language' is a deliberately simple, catchy number...........a perfect way to end this impressive album. Groovy Uncle has to be one of the most under-rated recording artists in the UK – and 'Making Excuses;', complete with its attractive cover art by Darryl Hartley, is one of the most entertaining albums to be released this year.

Track Listing:-

1 Shine
2 When He's Awake
3 What You Said To Me
4 I'm Making Excuses
5 Moonlight
6 The Kid Who Never Did
7 I Don't Suffer Fools
8 Sticks and Stones
9 Hard As Nails
10 I'm Getting Out
11 Somebody's Everything
12 Mind Your Language

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Groovy-
http://craftweb.org/web/glenn/index.ht
http://craftweb.org/web/glenn/index.ht
http://groovy-uncle.co.uk/

Have a Listen:-