Anyone else a fan of Mr Bernard Butler?
One of my genuine rock idols!
Started his career as the guitarist in Suede, turning out classics like "Animal Nitrate" and "Metal Mickey" on their first album, before doubling down on his musical ambition and breaking up the band while putting together follow up "Dog Man Star", which has the amazing "New Generation", "Wild Ones" and epic "The Asphalt World" on it.
Then off he went to make records with David McAlmont's fantastic vocals as "McAlmont and Butler" ... where they fell out before even finishing an album. The singles "Yes" and "You Do" plus B-sides and studio scrapings somehow made another classic "album".
His career has also included last year's brilliant "In Memory of my Feelings" with the Anchoress, and a lot of production work...
...and a brief solo career, the first album of which is re-issued later this month, with new vocals and the usual demos etc. I personally think "People Move On" as it is titled is something of a lost classic, pairing some genuinely brilliant indie-rock pop singles "Not Alone", "Stay", "Change of Heart"... with some extended bits of musical genius which almost all hit ("Autograph", the 8-minute opus in the middle of the album is hard not to love).
As a player, from his early days in Suede, while wearing a big Johnny Marr influence happily on his sleeve (as do all indie rock guitarists who are any good) he has a broad range of influences, and for me is one of my favourites because somehow out of a few chords melodic riffs and lead lines just sort of... appear.
Anyone else a fan????
PS - Bernard is one of the well-known guitarists who I often wonder if he lurks here, if so, Hi Bernard!!
You are the dreamer, and the dream...
Comments
Bernard also on the 9-42 podcast last year where I liked him a lot ( IIRC it was across two podcasts, I don't know if that's been tidied up now).
That's most of his career I've missed ( apart from having to learn that Duffy song for a band) but some ideas from @darthed1981 for some catching up.
Not flashy or wanky or anything other than a musician, I love the way he plays.
It's probably worth mentioning that he's been very successful as a producer and to the world at large producing Rockferry by Duffy and winning a Grammy is probably his greatest achievement.
If I had BB as a teacher he'd tell me to practice more, and he would be right. He's offering personalised signed copies of the PMO reissue on his website, and I'm thinking of buying one with Bernard writing on it "Ed, you should be practising!"
Also I suspect "How do you start with Bm A G Em and then end up with Animal Nitrate...?" can become a tedious question after a while!
The Tears, a partial Suede reunion, were also pretty good:
Quite right too!
Loved McAlmont & Butler from first hearing 'Yes' as a single. The album 'The sound of McAlmont & Butler' is a little gem too, with great production values.
Their three albums since their reformation are really far better than you would ever imagine from a "comeback".
I found his voice weak and uninteresting- sort of the same problem Johnny Marr has, although to be fair Marr has put a lot of work into his voice. Not surprise Butler drifted back into sideman/ production work really.
So yes, he's alright, although as you can tell from my lukewarm adjectives, he doesn't really retain much interest for me. In the pantheon of British players, I'd put him in the sort of Will Sergeant/ Tony Hicks/ James Honeyman Scott bracket- really good side man, really knows how to embellish a song and has played on some really good pop songs. Not talents to be sniffed at.
He came along when I was 15 and listening to Neds Atomic Fucking Dustbin and showed me there was another way............