KEVIN COYNE: Marjory Razorblade (1973)

I first became aware of the music of legend Kevin Coyne whilst reading the transcript for an interview John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten from the Sex Pistols) gave on London's Capitol Radio. DJ Tommy Vance asked the ex-Pistols frontman to bring a selection of great records to play on his show and talk about the music & why he rated these artists. Amongst the wide palette of sounds brought in by Lydon were numerous luminaries such as Can (Tony Vance played the whole of Halleluwah, 17 minutes of full blast Krautrock), Bowie, Nico, Lou Reed, Beefheart and Tim Buckley. Unsurprisingly, he also took in some great reggae and dub LPs (Augustus Pablo , Ken Boothe, Peter Tosh). I say unsurprisingly because almost every great UK punk band was listening to reggae back then. Anyway,  I noticed this song called Eastbourne Ladies amongst the list. This led me on a wild search for a copy of the said tune. Subsequently, I discovered that it came from a classic double LP entitled Marjory Razorblade which took me ages to track down on vinyl. Finally I found a copy on Ebay for 10 bucks (shocked as I was) and proceeded to listen to the LP. Eastbourne Ladies is a killer song and so are many of the selections on this fine album. The style is pitched between Blues, folk-rock and a slight Beefheart sensibility which in itself isn't a bad thing. The songs are all great, from Marlene to House On The Hill with its mournful slide guitar to the manic Good Boy. Kevin Coyne died a few years ago in his adopted home of Nuremberg in Germany. He was also a visual artist and played his guitar lying flat on his lap. He was, in the words of Paul Simon, a 'most peculiar man'.