LAZY BOHEMIANS download single out now, all proceeds to Salford Lads Club

Neal Keeling - Mancheter Evening NEWS

Vinny sings to save Lads Club

THE red brick building has become an icon to Smiths fans around the world. Now it is hoped a new recording by a Manchester rocker linked to the band will help boost funds for Salford Lads Club. Vinny Peculiar, alias Alan Wilkes, is releasing a single to support the club's £1m fundraising drive. Last year Morrissey donated £20,000 to the club, which became famous when it featured in the artwork for The Smiths 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. Vinny's song "Lazy Bohemians" is taken from his current solo album, "Goodbye My Angry Friend". The B side and bonus download track of the single is called "Ghost Camp, a song Vinny co wrote with former Smiths guitarist Craig Gannon, penned for a Salford Lads Club award winning play. He said: "Lazy Bohemians is a self deprecating swipe against those whose talk about a revolution that never seems to get anywhere, a personal wake up call to political apathy.

Attention "My goal for this song is to really attract people's attention and `wake people up from the apathy' surrounding the club, making them realise that if we don't help it, the club, it's fine musical history, and all of the good work it does with local kids will eventually, disappear." He has a longstanding association with the Salford Lads Club, supporting various club events, performing for visiting Morrissey fans with, ex Smiths bassist Andy Rourke, and rehearsing with his star studded band which includes ex members of The Smiths, Oasis and The Fall. The Grade II listed club's patrons, led by the chairman of local developer LPC Living, Warren Smith, have so far raised £300,000 towards the £1million fundraising total.

It is needed for vital repairs and upgrades to the facility, but more is still desperately needed to safeguard its future. Honorary Secretary Brian Ball, said "It's great to see people in the community coming up with innovative ways of fundraising. There's such a rich musical history associated with the club, that it seems only fitting that music is used to help try and safeguard its future. Please download the track - it's not only a good tune, it helps to keep us doing the important work we do with Ordsall kids." The club was used in the 60s for rehearsals by Manchester band, The Hollies. Graham Nash, who left the Hollies and found world fame in the United States is a former member of the club. The club provides a vital community resource to Ordsall's children, offering a wide range of social activities and education activities for all ages, including boxing, football table tennis, IT and an annual camping holiday. Vinny will also be holding music workshops for young people at the club later on this year. The single is available to download from Apple ITunes, Amazon, Napster, eMusic, HMV, and Rhapsody,and all proceeds from the sales go to the club.

The club in St Ignatius Walk, is used by around 200 boys and girls. It retains many of its original fittings, including a brick-walled gym, tiles, and a memorial to those members killed in world wars. It opened in 1904. To enquire about the club put forward your funding proposal or donation, visit the club's website at salfordladsclub.org .uk or contact LPC Living on 0800 587 8186

Shropshire Star Review...Feb 08

www.americana-uk.com Nov 2007

******** 8/10

Vinny played guitar, jammin’ good with…

The kind of album that could start all kinds of wild rumours were Vinny Peculiar as famous as he ought to be. Take, for example, opening track ‘ Vinny Peculiar Is Dead’ - could this be the killing off of the VP character á la the rock ‘n’ roll suicide of Bowie’s Ziggy? A song of “poign ancy tinged with regret” that’s couched in banks of reverbed guitar, sweeping keyboards, marauding basslines and a ton of glam styling that leads us to the final lines, “I’m coming home soon, I will be free, I will be ME….”. All spooky stuff and it must be said, quite majestic. And then there’s the title track and closing instrumental, ‘Goodbye My Angry Friend” a sad and mournful, piano led lament that feels like it’s played with a tear in its eye and a lump in its throat. In between we get, “Song For The Dead”, cheesy organ, shuffling drums, ‘emo’ vocals and references to Nevermind, “Too Late”, a wry look at chances missed, changed lives and a sorrowful acceptance of things that should have been different, could have been better, and, ‘Lost For Words’ which is an ironically poetic tale of writer’s block, on which a much fuzzed bass, sax, and epic, jangling guitar all cradle the writer’s “current dilemma of writing words”.And, there’s the album artwork featuring pictures of gravestones? See where we’re going with this?All this and we haven’t even touched on the album’s best moments, like the bleakly disturbing tale of institutional abuse ‘Kiss Me I’m A Social Worker’ with its perversely joyful nods at Tamla Motown, Elton John, Thin Lizzy, 10cc and The Rubettes. Or, the seriously great ‘Batman’, a heartfelt and seemingly personal paean to the Fathers For Justice cause (“I could have been Batman and stuck to my gun, I could have been Batman and I could have won”).Sadly though, Vinny Peculiar is yet to grasp the elevated place within the British ‘pop’ scene that he so justly deserves and my fanciful meanderings are unlikely to change that one iota. But, I’ve said it before, and will say it again, Vinny Peculiar is a hugely important character and vastly under-rated artist who has produced (yet) another album that’s crammed full of entertainingly bitter and humorously black songs dripping pathos andcompassion, and, that are encased in a wonderfully eclectic and at times quite daring musical package. Hopefully Vinny Peculiar is not dead, just playing possum!

Sunday Express-Scotland

Goodbye My Angry Friend (Pronoia) Life hasn’t been kind, if you’re to believe Vinny’s diatribe against the world. But he delivers his rant with such diverse backings, provided by ex-Smiths man Mike Joyce and former Oasis guitarist Bonehead that you can’t help but smile at his misfortune. He kills his alter ego in the opening song, then The Happiest Man In The World is patently not, Kiss Me I’m A Social Worker uses some very anti-social glam rock, and Lazy Bohemians gets all acerbic a la Ray Davies-like summer pop. Surprisingly for a performance poet, Vinny closes things with a gloomy instrumental title track, but his is the outspoken voice of the disgruntled people.

Newquay Guardian- 13.2.08 Vinny Peculiar – Goodbye My Angry Friend (Pronoia

Records) ✩✩✩✩

On to an old associate of Morrissey and The Smiths. Vinny is a Manchester songwriting maverick who has collaborated with everyone from the KLF’s Bill Drummond and Oasis’ Bonehead over the last 10 years. This album sees him shedding his alter-ego – Vinny Peculair Is Dead is pure Bunnymen complete with poisonous Ian McCulloch vocal. Kiss Me (I’m A Social Worker) swaggers snottily like Oasis’ The Importance of Being Idle . It won’t win any awards for originality but he’s an interesting songwriter in the Baby Bird mould.

MANCHESTER MUSIC

“Smiths associate” Vinny Peculiar’s 7th album is a curious one: backed by Bonehead (ex-Oasis), Mike Joyce (ex-Smiths) and Ben Knott (ex-Jeep, World of Twist), he kills off his alter ego in the first song ‘ Vinny Peculiar is Dead’, sounds like the epitome of melancholy on the caustic ‘Happiest Man in the World’ and concludes with the instrumental, introspective title track, performed on a piano with a terminal illness. A sense of romantic misery is more than palpable! There’s melodic relief in the 70s glam beat of ‘Kiss Me (I’m A Social Worker)’ and the summer Sunday pop of ‘Lazy Bohemians’ but even then his lyrics are tart and cutting. There are times you can hear Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in these powerpop meets kitchen sink drama songs but a better comparison might be Stephen Duffy for the romance-against-the-odds, me-against-the-world, railing-against-the-dying-of-the-light feeling of this record. Most peculiar…

Penny Black Music

Reviewed By: Anthony Strutt

Label: Pronoia Records

Goodbye My Angry Friend’ is Vinny Peculiar's seventh studio album and sees Craig Gannon, the Smiths’ one time additional guitarist from their ‘The Queen Is Dead’ era, leave Vinny’s band to be replaced by Bonehead from the original line-up of Oasis. I have to say I preferred Vinny’s last album, ‘The Rise and Fall of Vinny Peculiar’, but ‘Goodbye My Angry Friend’ is nevertheless a grower of a record. Vinny still has that other Smiths member Mike Joyce in the band who gives the album a powerful push from behind his drum kit. The album opens with ‘ Vinny Peculiar is Dead’, which has classic rock written all over it and sounds like an acoustic T Rex number with big Marc Bolan-style riffs. Very well thought out and structured, it is a very clever song indeed. ‘Kiss Me (I'm a Social Worker)’ has a glam rock feel with a vocal from Vinny as rich as one by Nick Cave and which is sung in a spoken word way with the rest of the band providing backing vocals on the chorus. ‘The Solo’ is a big time 70’s classic rock number, while ‘Seasonal Affective Disorder’ is piano based with a naked-sounding vocal from Vinny that sounds very vulnerable and recalls Darren Hayman from Hefner. ‘Too Late’ is sung in a lonesome deep way. Backed by jangly guitars, Vinny sounds on it like Lee Hazlewood. ‘Happiest Man in the World’ is another very sad track. Vinny comes over on it sounding like Jamie Holman from Tompaulin, whom he produced. There is also an element of moody Leonard Cohen to it until it gets a reggae uplift and then goes on a magical mystery tour of musical styles which benefit both the song and the album. ‘Song for the Dead’ is as mournful and as deep as a Willard Grant Conspiracy or Nick Cave track. ‘Lazy Bohemians’ sounds like a big 1970’s pop song, while on ‘Lost for Words’ Vinny comes over like a lazy Lou Reed assisted by slow jazzy beats. ‘Batman’ is a loud,in-your-face number, a song about wanting to be a superhero. The title track ends the album and is a short instrumental piece.

The Independent on Sunday...hmmm...you can't please everyone! VP Goodbye My Angry Friend (Pronoia Records) Reviewed by Simmy Richman

Published: 06 January 2008

If Morrissey hates it when friends become successful, might we assume that he rather enjoys it when known associates don't? Two years away from the high point that was 'The Rise and Fall of Vinny Peculiar' (which featured two ex-members of the Smiths), any kind of breakthrough is looking less likely for this psychiatric nurse turned "song-writing maverick". 'Goodbye My Angry Friend' kicks off with a track entitled " Vinny Peculiar Is Dead" and gets steadily less charming from there. Song titles such as"Kiss Me (I'm a Social Worker)" and "Song for the Dead" probably tell you everything you need to know. Grim.

Q Magazine-Jan 08

The Independent- Jan 08

Q Review Jan 08

By Emily Slowlie

Vinny Peculiar, for many years revered on the music scene of one of just a few singer / song writers on the Manchester scene at the turn of the noughties, releases his seventh album. As with his last, Vinny has managed to gather what is a very respectable array of Mancunian musicians with a rich pedigree. Notably Mike Joyce and the unfairly named Bonehead provide support ( both as talented musicians who bring much to the plot) as well as Ben Knott (formerly of Jeep). Vinny Peculiar’s acerbic wit is ever present and the opening track is rich and moody and deeply infectious despite the self destructive title – “ Vinny Peculiar Is Dead”. The album is filled with the sound of a full band and even the more remote “Seasonal Affective Disorder” soon builds into an orchestrated climax. The use of electronica throughout but especially on “Too Late” gives the songs a fuller more epic feel and the heavy reverb on the vocal and general sense of broken harmony adds a classy sense of retrospect, mixed in with the solid studio constructed song. The sound of “Lazy Bohemians” is particularly grounded in Hippy ideals and 70’s cheese, but that’s part of a deliberate plot as it merrily plods along to an Oompah bass beat and scuzzy Sgt Pepper guitar lines. There’s more fun on “Batman” but then the album almost somberly departs on the gentle instrumental “Goodbye My Angry Friend”, which is illuminated by synths and piano. Another accomplished outing by Vinny Peculiar and friends.

MMM ½

ROOM13

19.8.07

Vinny Peculiar are one of Manchester's best kept secrets, a band comprised of various musical geniuses who play charming and often highly amusing tunes that delight the listener. For those of you who're familiar with Vinny's work, 'Goodbye Angry Friend', is on the whole a more developed affair with electro additions and rumbling rock tunes turned into slick well-produced tunes breaking the usual pop tune boundaries of 3 minutes. The leading track is a grim assertion that the great songwriter is dead; a brooding rock tune, rough and rolling along on a rumbling bassline; it's an incisive slice of echoing vitriol that makes for a great opener. The most defining feature of Vinny Peculiar's work is the delicate subject matter that the band have always happily engaged with, here Seasonal Affective Disorder is turned into a soothing lullaby complete with regency strings and harpischord. It's one of the most fresh and unique tunes that I've heard all year and subtly touching with lyrics like, "You wear a swimsuit in the rain, I'll put umbrellas up indoors". 'Happiest Man In The World' is reminscent of Brett Anderson's, 'The More We Possess The Less We Own Of Ourselves', in its condemnation of consumer culture and careening vocals embalmed with an easy charisma. While 'Lazy Bohemians' is an upbeat, insouciant jaunt into the socio-political conscience of the band, reflecting in smooth and somnolent instrumentation on the joys of sleeping late into the afternoon. 'Lost For Words' is a more typical dippy and delightful Vinny number, a reflective work of metaliterature that chews over the process of songwriting. 'Batman' is one of the highlights, a catchy tune with thundering drumbeats and grandiose screaming guitar notes, "I could have been Batman and stuck to my guns, I could have protested and I could have won", sobs the chorus chant full of effusive energy. Although the tunes are as solid as ever, sadly the production seems to have somewhat overwhelmed the band's efforts on this album, with tracks consistently stretched out by musing harmonies that do little to improve the track and merely dull the punch. "Here is a record that, for better or worse, plays by its own rules", states the press release, and this judgment truly can't be faulted, however if you really want a taste of Vinny Peculiar, make sure you check them out live rather than rely on this album as an indication of their talent.

THINK Nick Cave meets Grant Lee Buffalo, meets Lou Reed, meets Johnny Cash. Wow, that takes some serious thinking indeed, my friend, but in Vinny Peculiar you have elements of that heady mix. The opening salvo reflects upon the death of the Vinny Peculiar alter ego as the Manchester song-writing maverick launches a one-man rage against the world. With track titles like Seasonal Affective Disorder, Song For The Dead and the title track, this isn't an album you should be listening to when you're looking for a little lift in life! That said, it's nonetheless inspiring in its sheer romantic despair. Here's a guy left bitter by life's knocks and not afraid to spell out every word of his pain and frustration. It's introspective while also delivering a message to the masses. Unashamedly Mancunian in its outlook, Goodbye My Angry Friend also offers a universal appeal in the me-against-the-world genre

subba-cultcha Nov 2007

Hurray for the English Eccentric.

Manchester’s musical misery goat releases seventh album of moody melodic rock and roll rhymes with members of The Smiths and Oasis in tow. Hurray for the English eccentric. Once dubbed ‘the Tony Hancock of pop,’ Manchester based singer-songwriter Vinny Peculiar (Alan Wilkes) mines his erstwhile profession as a mental health worker for his rock and roll rhymes. His current backing group is Mike Joyce, Bonehead and Ben Knott (ex World of Twist). A regular compere on the Glastonbury Acoustic Stage, he has toured with Malcolm Middleton and Edwyn Collins amongst others. His seventh studio album of indie guitar intellipop 'Goodbye My Angry Friend' is produced by sonic magpie Tim Browne and released on Pronoia Records.He kills off his alter ego on the first track ‘ Vinny Peculiar is Dead,’ which sounds like Ian McCulloch jamming with The Bees and ends abruptly with a flat-lining life support machine. ‘Kiss Me I’m a Social Worker,’ is reminiscent of Lou Reed singing with Belle and Sebastian. ‘The duty officer’s away on call there’s a room we can use at the end of the hall, where I can give you each and everything, where my expertise becomes your suffering’ he drones in psychopathic manner.

Seasonal Affective Disorder,’ is a beautiful string led acoustic ballad about bad weather psychology where she wears a swimsuit in the rain and he puts umbrellas up indoors,’ ending with Madchester baggy beats. ‘Happiest Man in the World,’ is a quirky musical mix of synth and beats. ‘Lazy Bohemians,’ parodies carefree idealists who live in attics with him starring as idler in chief. The result is like The Kinks playing with The Divine Comedy. He coulda been a contender on the introspective track ‘Batman,’ where he gets off his cloud and joins Fathers For Justice but finds he’s useless at fighting.

The most immediate reference point for Vinny Peculiar would be Jarvis Cocker. He boasts the same disarming oddity. Pertinently he muses on ‘Lost For Words,’ which is pure mid period Julian Cope. ‘I always liked the idea better than the work, that’s how I got where I am today, looking for the words I’ll never say.’ ‘I need to find words that sit still and do not wave their knickers in the air,’ he declares and does exactly that with his subtle lyrical vignettes.

A one-time street-performer, he has achieved cult status, like the other Salford based punk poet John Cooper Clarke. The songs with intriguing titles don’t disappoint. His eye for detail will appeal to those who love a well-turned phrase with dramatic impact. Like Half Man Half Biscuit sung by Brett Anderson this poetry slam amateur purveys his peculiarities with perfect pop sensibility, while his band of Mancunian musical royalty provide skilled back up. Hurray for the English Eccentric.

By: Mandy Williams

Whisperin and Hollerin Review by Sam Saunders

The attraction of an album like this, as with so many in my treasured collection of oddball CDs, is that it presses its nose so very hard against the question of how popular music can be so called, even when it isn't widely known. Early albums don’t present a problem: not enough people have had chance to listen. But when fourth and fifth album are released and expectations of a breakthrough remain stolidly dormant, it becomes clear that persistence in the popular idiom is in itself a statement of faith, identity and personal necessity. This seems to me like a virtue in its own right. Tim Browne has helped with production and a VINNY PECULIAR band featuring Mike Joyce, Bonehead and Ben Knott will be touring the songs in October and November. The faith is clearly shared in high places. The album itself is dominated by VINNY's distinctive soul. Death, redemption, revenge, nihilism, antiheroism, atheism, wasted time, a failed muse and farewells provide the lyrical content. So it's just as well that there are beguiling tunes and uplifting riffs to carry us through the ordeals. When VINNY PECULIAR gives a song the title "Happiest Man In The World", it probably isn't a good idea to anticipate too much jolliness. There's less scope for confusion with " Vinny Peculiar Is Dead", "Too Late" and "Song For The Dead".

What we have here is a man who would love, but who sees much to be disappointed with. A man who would dance for joy and sing in the choir, but who is regularly let down by the institutions of Love and Affection. The words tell the bleak stories of the murdered Social Worker, the psychological damage wrought by the end of Summer, the procrastination of youth, and goodbyes. Balancing this melancholic outlook, the music does the decent thing and, at the best moments, transcends and transforms the pessimism.

"Lazy Bohemians" has a world class tune and skips along like a lost gem from the 60s. "Goodbye My Angry Friend" is ravishing, wordless valediction. "Batman" makes a fresh joy of the old three chord trick and unleashes a lovely chorus. "I'm useless at fighting, and I'm not that strong" they all join in. There are guitar breaks and magical sounds all over the place. Kiss Me (I'm a Social Worker) has a wonderfully loose feel that reminds me of Billy Jenkins (another favourite oddball renegade!

It is a very patchy album though. The production ideas are fitful and sometimes despatched with less care than the songs deserve. "S.A.D." for example has a range of instruments added in - but they do sound added in, and they do seem to come from circuit boards rather than real instruments. It’s busy and contrived without sounding lush or emotionally assertive. Here and there the main vocal could have been redone for better pitch, and on track one (" Vinny Peculiar is Dead") the rather crude echo isn’t very convincing as a voice from beyond the grave. Many of the uplifting moments (like the big guitar line on that opening song) are sounds borrowed from the past rather than fresh creations. The twin guitar lead break on "Social Worker" is very THIN LIZZY.

"Lost For Words" is a spoken-word piece with solemn intonation that owes more to poetry reading than hip hop perfomrance. Although it has a great line: "I need to find words that sit still" it follows it with the lamentable "and do not wave their knickers in the air". But it is nice to hear the name Richard Brautigan mentioned, and to be able to thrill to a deep clanging guitar line that could be Tom Petty or even Duane Eddy. The evocative clarinet part works well too. Nevertheless, in discussing the elusiveness of artistic completion, it draws attention to what seems to be my main problem with the album as a whole: production standards in the world surrounding Manchester are going up all the time, even at grassroots level, and "good enough" no longer sounds convincing.

That said, I'm still really excited by these sketches, first drafts and good ideas. I dearly want the finished work to be more coherent, more complete, more polished. It’s my problem, I know. But I think that other listeners will experience a similar sense of unfinished business. Sam Saunders