Des Horsfall's Kuschty Rye: The Good Gentleman's Tonic

[John (Biscuits and Gravy) Davy]

 www.kuschtyrye.net         

Kuschty Rye: Des Horsfall claims it means A Good Gentleman but he's lifted it from Ronnie Lane and I can't find any corroboration on that. Maybe Ronnie invented it, and if he did then that's just fine. This album is Des's tribute to Slim Chance era Ronnie Lane and he's gone overboard on the whole concept; Slim Chance band members Charlie Hart and Steve Simpson have been recruited, the late Professor Stanley Unwin's son, John Unwin, narrates a tale of the album's making in a nod to his father's appearance on Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, there's a cover of Ronnie's own cover of Careless Love, which appeared on Anymore For Anymore, and there's an extraordinarily lush package for the cd, complete with a complementary teabag of Yorkshire Tea, as featured in John Unwin's tale. Perhaps most poignantly of all,this care has been lavished on a project that stands slim chance of commercial success, which of course is exactly how Ronnie Lane's band got its name.

          I hope, I really do hope, that I'm wrong about The Good Gentleman's Tonic having slim chance, because I love it. Others who know Ronnie Lane's work better than I do (notably Pete Townsend) swear that it captures the spirit of the man. I can hear that, but I reckon Des Horsfall's a bit of a hidden treasure himself. I saw him with his band Fallen Horses more than ten years ago, bought the live album that he was touting at the time, and still hold that album as one of my standby favourites. He was appearing at a country festival when I saw him and certainly there was a little country to be heard in his songs though it reminded me rather more of the New Wave in the immediate post-punk years. These days we'd call it roots rock. The thing is, the man can write a good song - a very good song - and the seven self-penned songs on TGGT should be enough to persuade anyone of his ability. I guess it's likely that he's either not very prolific or that he sets his own bar high. Certainly, one of these songs appears on that decade-old album and there's one other which is so familiar I feel it must have been in the set I heard.

          There's an unusual structure to this album. Ten distinct tracks, including two instrumentals, form the first (slightly larger) half, and here we find a bit of everything. Careless Love has already been mentioned, performed Ronnie Lane style. Des' old song, Nothing New, gets a zydeco twist to its root rock with the addition oCharlie Hart's accordion; there's a cover of  PJ Wright and Gareth Turner's song Random Acts Of Kindness (and PJ Wright himself makes a guest appearance as a dobro and steel player), Des' own song Hard Woman sounds like ancient country blues with an English twist and, my current favourite, another Horsfall original, Little Girl, would probably win any John Hiatt sound-alike contest that I was judging (OK, there's a hint of Willy deVille in there, too; even better value for money). Equally standout, Long Long Time is the most obviously country song here and ought to be covered by every country-rock act worth their salt. 

           The eclecticism here clearly mirrors the approach of the original Slim Chance, and in the second half  the whole thing is thrown in the air and revisited in a different order in The Unwinese Mix. A whimsical tale of the making of the album is narrated by John Unwin and threads the songs together as they come back to take a bow, as it were. Myself, I never took to Unwinese, so I could manage quite well without this part of things but there will be those who smile happily at it all.

          The core band on TGGT is Des Horsfall, Andy McKerlie and Katriona Gilmore; between them they cover it all, drums, guitars, keyboards, fiddle, younameit;  the "Glorious Guests", including Benny Gallagher, are just there for the craic, really. Ronnie Lane inspired a lot of affection in his lifetime and it's a wonderful thing to keep the man's memory alive. Just as wonderful would be to give a boost to a fine musician still amongst us.

 

John Davy