Cliff Richard’s half century in showbiz may be grabbing as many headlines as his managers can rustle up, but an early contemporary has arrived at the same landmark with quiet dignity. Not that Brown was ever that concerned about the spotlight, ploughing on since the late 50s in pursuit of the country, blues and rock’n’roll that first fired his teenage heart.
From the opening Leave That Liar Alone (country star Bill Carlisle’s original, which Ray Charles adapted as Leave My Woman Alone), Brown takes a laconic stroll through Americana, with a liberal dash of Englishness in his kitbag. Everybody’s Famous has both the wit and barrow boy monotone of Ian Dury or Billy Bragg, jazz standard Stormy Weather gets a barbershop quartet makeover, while U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For is reinvented as a toe-tapping country shuffle – and it works.
The innate simplicity of the musicianship (Joe’s always been sold but never flashy) perfectly complements the no-nonsense lyrical concerns of You Were Everywhere or Ain’t Too Old, the latter an infectious chugger in the style of Brown’s recent sparring partner Dave Edmunds. He may be 67, but on this evidence there’s little chance of him restricting his rocking to a wooden chair.
