So I am sitting with this stranger by a pool in a hot August Guernsey sun and someone says he's made an album. Oh aye, another one! So says I, "What are the influences?"
"Well, I was brought up in Africa, I hung around in the sixties with the British scene, I like a bit of jazz and blues, and I love Hoagy Carmichael and all of that kind of song writing stuff."
"Oh, right," I thought. "No clues there then." So anyway, about an hour later I am in this art clad home studio surrounded by sixties posters, African art, and even a model of the Yellow Submarine and the Blue Meanies listening to this album and--darn tootin' don't you know it--it is all there. There are African soundscapes, loads of Hoagy Carmichael vocal styling, lashings of Beatles trickery--especially that psychedelic phase, and everything is wrapped up in blues and rock guitar playing in a jazz-dominated horizon. All of a very fine order indeed.
It seems that my stranger by the pool was a member of well-known band Canton Trig on the cusp of the big time before illness sent him back to Guernsey to teach art. A couple of years ago, he whips out his guitar and starts twiddling around in his home studio and comes up with The Waiting. Dave Fuller has, without any grand design, recorded an album of quality songs and lush production. On that first listening, I was aware that it was good, accomplished, and technically superior. On further listening in the comforts of my home, I have gotten past the quality of musicianship to thoroughly enjoy it, especially "Merry Go Round," all Beatles pastiche and name-checking John and Paul; the bluesy shuffle of "Guess I Wasn't In"; the lazy dexterous guitar of "Anna's Song," which again refers to Buddy, Jimi, Dusty, and The Gypsy Kings, who drift into the influences as if we have not treasure trove enough already; and the near lullaby of the closing "Waiting For Love." The Waiting makes one wonder how many other dormant songwriting talents are lying by swimming pools waiting for an airing.
3.5 tocks
