Memories of a short road trip to Clitheroe to visit Tony B, and of navigating the nexus of motorways north of Manchester, probably calling in on M's sister in Preston along the way — all with this album on the tape player and M singing along in the passenger seat, "I can't live at home in this world any more". Tony gave us directions for where to find him, standing round a brazier in the back of his mate's body repair shop, knocking out old folk and blues standards (and a bit of Bob). "This is how we spend every Saturday afternoon, all year round." Autumn, 1998; Tony had just taken early retirement at 50. I envied his generation: university in the late sixties, followed by a few years busking round Ireland and Europe before feeling the need to get a proper job; then, thanks to a frugal lifestyle together with generous civil service severance and pension arrangements, able to retire after less than 25 years. Mind you, he was then just coming to terms with the imminent prospect 'early' grandparenthood, and savings and investments have had a bumpy ride since '98. Now that all three of us had severed ourselves from our previous roles — no pay-off for me, sadly — M and I were 'coming out', getting Tony's blessing for the secret we'd been obliged to keep and he'd been obliged to pretend that he hadn't guessed. Having received the blessing, I couldn't bring myself to reply to the card he sent a year later after I sabotaged it all.
On a motorway somewhere along the way — let's say it was the M65 — I noticed how one of the songs on the tape sounded like a pastiche of Good Vibrations. I checked the CD when I got home and found it was called Beech Boys; gave myself a little star for spotting the obvious.
With hindsight this album fits neatly into that particular American indie aesthetic that took root in the nineties, but I was unaware of the wider movement at the time, and just loved the combination of catchy tunes and slightly eccentric production.
Wikipedia gives some context about the album being "a pseudo-compilation of singles on the ESP-Disk label" and simultaneously aiming to reflect the sound of the seventies AM radio in Michigan. Those kind of details are fascinating and explanatory on first acquaintance, but I also hope I can forget them and return to my original state of ignorant bliss when I next listen.
MusicBrainz entry for this album
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