Anthony Howard - recent reissue: C or D

Whoops; _John_ Howard, ought to be the name I was after there...! The album is "Kid in a Big World".

i thought this was a misplaced ILE thread and that it referred to a reissue of one of the political writer Anthony Howard's earlier books!!!!!!!!

:-) Ha, god knows how exactly I did misremember John Howard as 'Anthony Howard'... I don't even consciously know of the writer you speak of, Robin, though may have seen the name.
Suffice to say, John Howard's music sounds interestingly in that soft rock Clifford T. Ward, Elton John type style... only a brief sample via RPM's website to go off, and Lester's review (easy to misremember the name of such an obscure artist, esp. as I only read Uncut fairly briskly in Borders). All very promising though, I must say.

It's brilliant stuff, btw. "Goodbye Suzie" I had heard before on the fine 70s soft-rock compilation, "Zigzag". It seems now to me a forgotten classic single of the 70s. I check my Guinness Book of Top 40 Charts and find with incredulity that it didn't even make the Top 40. :( Might have done well in America though IIRC.

"Guess Who's Coming To Dinner" is an uncanny presaging of Momus' style, particularly in the verses. Howard's voice has exactly that Momus lilt here, which oddly doesn't carry over into many of the other tracks of the album. I'd be interested to hear what Momus himself thinks of this song if he's heard it. :-)

"Kid in a Big World", the title track, strikes me as a more lavish Bill Fay. There's a comparable poignancy and crushed feeling to the sentiments of "Don't Let My Marigolds Die" or "Let All The Other Teddies Know".

There's possibly a tentative lineage back to Barry Booth and Jake Thackeray too... considering Howard's northern roots. "Family Man" is the one to link with JT.

This album [indeed a CD with some great bonus material] is recommended to all.

Anybody heard "Can You Hear Me Ok?", which has been recently issued on CD?

The album contains production from Biddu, and four bonus tracks from the late '70s produced by Trevor Horn, intriguingly...