Terry Durham

CRYSTAL TELEPHONE (Deram, 1969)
Those who thought rap music was born in The Bronx in the mid 70s should check out Terry Durham's 1969 UK LP on Decca. Competition was minimal in North Yorkshire when this Ernie Wise soundalike, wannabe-beat-poet picked up the mic. But in reality Terry Durham was more like Wakefield's answer to Serge Gainsbourg than the proto-Pitman. Name dropping Andy Warhol, Malcolm X, Piccasso and Bob Dylan over a rip-roaring guitar and hammond jazz or dropping Edgar Allan Poe-esque Suicide notes over Blues breakbeats. For every Gitane that Serge sparked-up Terry would be extinguishing another Lambert and Butler and in turn romanticising the joys of cigarette smoking in glorious stereo. There was his sensitive, melancholy side too. Durham wouldn't just wallow in self pity, he'd do the backstroke, 100 metre dash and win the gold medal for diving. For TD, every silver lining had a cloud. He later returned in a totally unrecognisable guise on two LPs with folk quartet Storyteller for which he also designed the record sleeves. AV

who is johnny coleman?

heard terry durham's "crystal telephone" in this mix: https://soundcloud.com/hunee/in-our-time-mix-for-air-be-with-records-dj-mix

instantly loved it. googled it. thought "i bet gareth would like this".

found this thread. lol.

Such a great song, although I've never heard anything else by him.