In his lifetime, Kevin Coyne produced a body of work significant in volume and uncompromising in content. A psychiatric therapist and then a social worker prior to his musical career, he recorded with Siren on John Peel’s Dandelion label, and then as a solo artist with Virgin. Moving to Germany in the 90s, he went through drink, marital problems and a nervous breakdown, before succumbing to fibrosis of the lungs in 2004. His songs were bittersweet musings on life’s disconnected underbelly, drawn from experience.
Coyne has already been the subject of a tribute album, but this collection of predominately sparsely arranged covers of his work has, given the nature of his writings, a particular resonance in raising funds for Life & Living, a voluntary organisation supporting psychiatric service users at London’s Maudsley Hospital.
The worthiness of this cause is accentuated by the impressive range of talent assisting it, including Alternative TV, Nikki Sudden and Heinz Rudolf Kunze. There is the historical value of the inclusion of Sudden’s last known recording, Marlene, and the earthy and poignant Here Come The Urban Ravens, a Jackie Leven song inspired by his friendship with Coyne. A fine collection of haunting and melancholic interpretations.
