My review of About Time by Calum MacColl
The CD opens with Good Enough. At the age of 58 Calum has
released his first solo album.
I love the honesty in this opening song. It kind of sets out his stall as a
song writer and performer. Calum uses the song to encourage himself to follow
and live his dream of being a successful artist. And he reaches out to others,
like himself, to be courageous and do whatever is needed to achieve your goals.
Calum puts the spectres of perfectionism and failure behind him. Perhaps even
slain the shadows of his parents’ – Peggy Seeger and Ewan MacColl - legendary
successes as singer song writers. He steps out of the shadows and performs remarkably well in my opinion.
I remember after years of teaching, feeling I wasn’t very good. Often paralysed
by fear myself. After years I suddenly realised I might not be the best teacher
on the planet but I was good enough. Calum like me seems to have reached a time
in his life and career where he too can accept that truth. That he too is good
enough. Better than good enough actually.
What follows is a series of songs about everyday life, like
walking his dog. Other songs include reflections on life, loss and bereavement.
For example, in Cosmonaut – the second song - Calum sings about his friend –
singer song writer Colin Vearncombe – Black – probably most famous for his
song, It’s a Wonderful Life - who died in a car accident. He writes about him as
a cosmonaut. Completely out of reach. Calum sings directly to his friend. Tells him how things have changed and asks him
what things are like for him. It’s a moving love song, without a whiff of Bowie’s
own space prisoner. Thank goodness.
And in the song The Other side / Liberation Road, written in two parts. About,
Woodrow Speed and Lyle Lovelady, two American soldiers who fought and died
during the D-Day landings in World War II.
The first part of the song is addressed to one of the American soldiers,
whose grave Calum and a friend Tim May - who co-wrote the song with Calum - found
among all the graves in the American Cemetery in Normandy. There was something of Eric Bogle's song No Man's Land here.
This first part of Calum's song is slow. The beat played out on keyboards punctuated with sparse instrumentation.
It consists of three repeated lines - haiku like - that take us from the battleground setting
in which the two men died and transports us with the familiar line, ‘see you on
the other side’, a line first associated with the Apollo 8 mission where the
astronauts were out of communication with Mission Control for 34 minutes while
they travelled behind the moon. Calum uses outer space again as a way of writing
about complete dislocation and separation from life. Instead he puts the phrase into a
military context. The line becomes abstract; either meaning, we’ll meet again
after the battle, or we’ll meet again in death. It’s a haunting and strangely
comforting refrain.
Finally, Calum covers one of the last songs his father wrote, Joy of living,
released three years before he died. It’s a beautiful performance and matches
the beauty of his father’s words. Calum is accompanied by an acoustic guitar
and suddenly we’re reminded of the huge folk music tradition that he comes from.
Ewan MacColl sang his goodbyes to the mountains of the Lake and Peak Distracts
he loved. Then sings his goodbyes to his wife
– Peggy and finally his children. . Calum’s father performed the song aged 71
and died 3 years later. Calum’s a sprightly 60 odd years old now. Let’s hope there’s
a lot more music to come.
Here's a link to Hive where you can buy the CD
