UNCUT MAGAZINE NOV 2005

Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculiar?

SHADRACK & DUXBURY

4 stars ****

Superb collection of offcuts and obscurities spanning 1989-2003

Belying its inferior connotations – and with new LP Revolt Into Style imminent - this selection of outtakes and alternate versions is uniformly excellent. Peculiar (aka Manchester-based Brummie Alan Wilkes) is clearly a waggish Northern humorist in the same vein as Morrissey, but delivers his tragi-comic asides with the menace of Luke Haines and the doomed allure of Ian McCulloch. Already some years old, "Showcase Time" and "Slow Television" are prescient, damning indictments of Generation X-Factor, whilst "Uno Disco" is a smart exercise in cabaret-glam. Touchingly too, the institution-railing "Big Grey Hospital" recounts the fate of his late schizophrenic brother to disquieting effect.

ROB HUGHES

http://www.pennyblackmusic.com

WHISPERIN AND HOLLERIN

Subtitled "selected out-takes and inserts 1989 - 2003", "Whatever Happened to Vinny Peculiar?" is a superb collection of obscurities, alternate takes and lost gems which both hangs together brilliantly as an album in its' own right and - once again - begs the question: why is this guy not revered as one of England's finest singer/ songwriters
Most of the cuts actually date from around the turn of the 21st Century and as usual Vinny's vivid, acerbic observations on life, love and failure are presented with rich, colourful and persuasive musical backdrops which usually suit the unlikely subject matters (you'll see what I mean shortly) to perfection.
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Like virtually everything here, though, it's good enough to have made its' way onto an official VP studio album. And indeed, it's amazing to realise quality songs such as "Favourite Boy-Girl Song", "Uno Disco" and "Capital City" haven't properly seen the light of day before. "Favourite..." is one of the oldest songs here - dating from 1992 - but its' driving, Bolan-guests-with-the-Super-Furries bounce is instantly memorable and fresh. "Capital City" and the excellent "Uno Disco", meanwhile, both find Jarvis Cocker springing to mind, either because of the former's funny, risque lyrics (e.g: "You are a rubber truncheon/ I'l keep you in my pants") or the latter's spangly danceability, akin to "Disco 2000" with a darker underbelly Elsewhere, Vinny's ruminations on fame, fatal fame are as resonant as ever. "Showcase Time", for instance, features a wry and brilliantly observed lyric about waiting for the train to Success Gulch which somehow never quite pulls into your station. "But as the weeks go by you're still waiting for that call/ Your manager is hopeful but so far he's got absolutely nowhere at all" sings Vinny knowingly while the band make with the sort of grand, expansive pop that ought to be bothering the Top 40 in any kind of sane world. Almost as good, meanwhile, are the glitter'n'A-list-obsessed "Big Star" - where Vinny taps into a Bacharachian vibe - and the numbed-out, cut-price Howard Hughes pop of "Slow Television" where he namechecks Forrest Rangers and nicks the drum beat from Bowie's "Five Years" for good measure.
Indeed, even when "Whatever Happened To..." strays further off the beaten track, it manages to engage. With this in mind, check out both "How Come The Revolution" and the closing "Big Grey Hospital". The former sounds like a stoned hybrid of Arab Strap circa "Philophobia" and an out-take from Vinny's "Non-Compilance" album and features a lyrical scenario involving a pear tree, a five-pronged fork, milk floats and the men in white coats which out-weirds Aida Moffatt's pished, libido-obsessed invective with ease. "Big Grey Hospital" , meanwhile, is VP in acoustic troubadour mode, tackling a highly personal song which the man himself dedicates to "those lives destroyed by institutions...psychiatric or otherwise." It's stripped down, pulls no punches whatsover and is both utterly brilliant and a breathtaking way to close what is a superb album in its' own right, regardless of the sourcing
Of course, with the imminent arrival of his new studio album in the offing, Vinny Peculiar has plenty to occupy his present and future and no doubt some of these songs now represent something of a foreign country to him. However, "Whatever Happened To..." more than deserves its' place in what is becoming a formidable canon of work and is one of the best archival collections this reviewer has been fortunT.PEACOCK

The Vanity Project Oct 05

Vinny Peculiar – Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculiar? Part 1 (Shadrack & Duxbury)
VP on VP, although our interest extends beyond the initial similarities. The pseudonym of Alan Wilkes, Vinny Peculiar has been recording an releasing since 1989 and this record rounds up the best bits from the first 14 years, Despite popping out of the end of the 80's, the possibly belongs in the middle of that decade as much as the middle of the following decade. Behind and ahead of the times. Naïve synths, ambitious melodies and lyrics and a darkened croon, it feels like Orange Juice aligned with the cheek of Pulp's late-blooming and the Divine Comedy's Carry On camp. Blue Nile, Tindersticks, Nick Cave, Stephen Jones: all the gloom enwrapped troubadours that take Scott Walker's baton and run with it. Vinny Peculiar has been waiting to take the next leg of the race. With an impressive live line-up, it could be his time to sprint ahead. An album of new material if due soon so while this LP highlights the years of training, that record could well be his sprint finish.
ate enough to clap ears on. Skif

MIKE DAVIES

Vinny Peculiar - Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculiar (Shadrack and
Duxbury)
His family know him as Alan Wilkes, but under his musical pseudonym the
Manchester based Ray Davies joins the likes of Stephen Duffy, Jarvis
Cocker, Billy Bragg, Chris Difford and Morrissey as one of the few
distinctively English voices in contemporary music, even if he does
have a clear fondness for old school country in his melodies and
occasional inflections.
Babybird is probably the nearest comparison (though you might add Badly
Drawn Boy if you subtract the Springsteen) and he does a nice line in
self-deprecating deadpan humour that's seen him dubbed a musical answer
to Tony Hancock for his witty vignettes of everyday small town life and
characters.
Not the official follow-up to Growing Up With Vinny Peculiar, this is a
collection of out takes, obscurities and alternate versions that have
stockpiled between 1989 and 2003. Laced with trademark ruminations on
life, love, failure and, on the bitter Showcase Time and Big Star's
ironic cabaret pop, fame, it's far more than some shelf-clearing
exercise.
Favourite Boy-Girl Song brings Bolan and the Sufer Furries together
over a warm shandy, Jesus Stole My Girlfriend is a witty variation on
the love triangle ("we go to bed but we don't make love because her
thoughts are lost to the one above") while the stripped down acoustic
Big Grey Hospital is an altogether more serious look at "lives destroyed
by institutions", sharing thematic concerns with the spare How Come The
Revolution and the spangly rock operatic Operation.
Elsewhere Slow Television is a bluesy slow pulse that borrows Bowie's
Five Years drum beat (and the singer's slur) for a scalpel sharp
dissection of a tacky medium as life metaphor while Uno Disco is the
song that could have saved Pulp's career and Working Class Escape the
number that would have put a golden sheen on This is Hardcore. But then
most artists would kill to be able to come up with material Vinny keeps
in his also ran drawer.

Dennis Cook JAMBASE Feb 06

http://www.jambase.com/headsup.asp?storyID=7808

Vinny Peculiar: Whatever Happened To... (Shadrack & Duxbury) Here's the foundation upon which Vinny built his great Growing Up With Vinny Peculiar. This assortment of early odds-and-ends has hints of the stylish wit and disarming charm he's exhibited in his recent work. "Uno Disco" could be a lost New Order single but with more tongue-in-cheek than those dance godfathers muster. "Jesus Stole My Girlfriend" is Prefab Sprout if they had a better sense of humor. Beefy guitars abound, as do wisps of Sartre, Burt Bacharach, and XTC. Mr. Peculiar is adept at myriad styles and guises, but ultimately - as evidenced by the tender, funny work on his new Two Fat Lovers single – he's decided to be himself, which is all the more satisfying for his listeners.
***

IRISH TIMES SEPT 28th 2005

VINNY PECULIAR

Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculiar?

Shadrack & Duxbury Records

***When a hugely talented singer-songwriter has been a ‘best-kept secret' for this long, the temptation to surrender his integrity to the velour-tracksuit end of consumerism must be great. Bluntly, that's not Vinny Peculiar's style. Not for him a clutch of cheesy, anthemic declarations or hollow, imaginary emotions. His are the tragic/comic little stories of rejection, failure, TV programmes and hospital visits that really make up our lives, yet they are told with a poignancy, subtlety and witty eccentricity all too rare in today's mainstream. Working in symbiosis with the lyrics, the musical styles are therefore as eclectic and richly textured as the tales they convey. Ostensibly a collection of rarities and out-takes spanning 1989-2003, this stands up surprisingly well as an album for existing fans and, for the uninitiated, an excellent introduction.

Johnnie Craig

Vinny Peculiar – Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculiar ( Shadrack & Duxbury Records) 7/10

by Chris Stevens; HELLS DITCH MAGAZINE

A mid-term treat while we await the next album proper, this selection of “out takes and inserts 1989 – 2003”, merely serves to confirm that VP is an artiste who's position in the British pop firmament should be far more prominent than it actually is. Covering a space of 14 years it reflects a quality and consistency that very few others could hope to achieve in half that time. Alternate versions of album faves ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend' (with a slightly more country feel) and ‘Operation' (spiky & intense) sit alongside a selection of tunes that just missed out on final selection. One superb example is the would be title track to the album ‘Ironing The Soul' that has a heavy groove, great riff and sounds not dissimilar to Matt Johnson's The The . Meanwhile, a song like ‘Showcase Time' could only have been written by someone who had genuinely experienced one too many ‘music biz' let-downs. Treading a similar path, the Bacharach-like ‘Big Star' twinkles an ever so slightly green and bitter eye at those who ‘make-it' and either complain all the way to the bank or, allow their ‘art' to be sanitised – cabaret for the indie generation. Musically there is a wealth of ideas and ambition that contribute to the settings for each set of intelligently humorous and thought-provoking lyrics. The end result is never over-done but always interesting and capable of drawing you into the content of the song. Closing track ‘ Big Grey Hospital ' however sees VP accompanied by simple acoustic guitar delivering a very personal and poignant song about mental health institutions, in memory of his now deceased brother – unadorned, observational songwriting at its very best. CS

tastyfanzine november 2005

Vinny Peculiar - Whatever Happened To Vinny Peculair (Shadrack & Duxbury)
A retrospective of 'selected out tales and inserts 1989-2003', this album could teach a few of today's pop pretenders a thing or two about song writing and performance. I have to admit to not being very familiar with the work of Manchester 's Vinny Peculiar , but following this release I will be watching out for the release of new material with interest.

Drawing on a myriad of influences (or perhaps being influential himself) the twelve tracks showcased here demonstrate a passion for twenty years of UK pop heritage and a self awareness that is candid in an industry where self delusion and grandeur is rife. 'Showcase Tim e' sounds like vintage Bowie but is an ode to musical fame that never managed to surface. 'Slow Television' recorded in 2000 is a searing critique of poor quality television. God knows what Vinny Peculiar would make of the current crop of X Factor/Come Dancing/Changing Rooms pulp that plops off the studio production line.

Some of the later songs on the album are a bit frenzied and confused, perhaps documenting Vinny's state of mind at the time. But this is a staggering piece of work considering most of the material is back catalogue. SB

Subba-Cultcha Nov 05

Vinny Peculiar
Whatever Happened to Vinny Peculiar ?

Shadrack & Duxbury Records

Trends are designed to come and go and at least when applied with a guitar they seem to leave minimal trace. This collection of tracks, sub-titled as ‘selected out takes and inserts 1989 - 2003', serves to show that musicians can do more just survive outside of those trends.

Trends are designed to come and go and at least when applied with a guitar they seem to leave minimal trace. This collection of tracks, sub-titled as ‘selected out takes and inserts 1989 - 2003', serves to show that musicians can do more just survive outside of those trends.

Vinny Peculiar , born Alan Wilkes, has avoided leaping onto the back of any such trend and has had more than enough time to refine his own classic British sound. Wilkes follows in the footsteps of Jarvis Cocker, Neil Hannon and Morrissey in the ever disappearing league of contemporary commentators and although still relatively unknown, his quirky observational style has led to his crowning as ‘the Tony Hancock of pop' by Uncut magazine.

The fact that he's still an outsider in the music industry is almost definitely one of the reasons his songs are so appealing - there is no way anyone inside of the industry could write with such honesty and wit. This is clear on Big Star where Wilkes takes aim on the growing celebrity obsession claiming it's ‘a bore' and accusing them of "Setting our hearts aflame/ With such ill gotten game". It's hard to see Wilkes ever coping with the fame game.

But the route of releasing your own records on your own record label suits Wilkes and at every step Wilkes provides the laughs that ensure his security. On Jesus Stole My Girlfriend he lets loose his weathered black humour with an accusation of holy betrayal - "We go to bed but we don't make love/ Cause her thoughts are lost to the one above". It seems Wilkes would have little to discuss if the mainstream and, ahem, Jesus were to embrace him.

But it's not just the lyrical content that makes Wilkes' mainstream obscurity tough to comprehend. The musicianship is superb throughout and now backed up by a live band whose pedigree comes from experience with a list of acts such as the Buzzcocks, the Smiths and Julian Cope it may finally be time for us to take notice of this Peculiar fellow.

http://www.subba-cultcha.com/article.php?id=855

AMERICANA UK

Vinny Peculiar “Whatever Happened to Vinny Peculiar” (Shadrack & Duxbury 2005) Like an encyclopedic trawl through 60’s kitchen sink drama and British popular music of the last few decades, VP is like an entertainment institution stuck in an end of the pier show when he should be headlining the Winter Gardens. This disjointed collection draws together unreleased and hard to find songs and in his usual Scott Walker meets Pulp wrestles with Half-Man Half-Biscuit and goes for a drink with Burt Bacharach at the Bogshed way mange to maintain interest from start to finish. Highlights include the bitter not very sweet ‘Showcase Time,’ the bright chiming pop sounding of the dark ‘Jesus Stole My Girlfriend’ and the beat poetry and muscular guitars of ‘Favourite Boy-Girl Song’. Anyone not acquainted with VP may be inspired to investigate further after this appetiser.