Neverending Story? (Joined Up Talking - My Life Story)

Member Name: Neuadd

Product:	Joined Up Talking - My Life Story
Date:	02/10/01 (259 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: collector's item?, different approach

Disadvantages: the band are no more

First up it must be stated, for those of you who aren't devout fans, that My Life Story (MLS) are no more. Finito. They were unfortunately and undeservedly the victims of an unofficial hate-campaign among critics who never really seem to grasp what Jake Shillingford and the band's ambitions and talents entailed. Their second album, The Golden Mile is still my favourite album of all time. The sad thing is that most people have never heard of them, with maybe a handful more who would recognise "12 Reasons Why", their catchiest and most popular tune" if it gets aired on the radio. Which it never does. Anyhow, this article isn't about what might have been, rather their final album Joined Up Talking (JUT) which unintentionally became their swansong.

With a change of label and their numbers cut dramatically from 12 to 4, it's no wonder that this album brings with it a completely new - yet instantly recognisable - sound. As ever, it is Jake's unique layered vocals which make you realise that this album definitely is MLS. His performance is more theatrical than Sir Richard Attenborough and his vocals are what can only be described as Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon meets The Wedding Singer, with an occasional hint of Bowie-esque vocals: a Bowie, that is, who would unimaginably do the West End circuit.

JUT still manages to remain typical MLS, with virtually no guitar finger-picking, merely strumming, as each song bears signs of some sweeping theatrical epic. As a whole, the album seems very "masculine", backed up by the inclusion of "It's A Girl Thing", and is moodier than Jack Dee upon finding his gig spot's been given to a poor Les Dawson impersonator...
If you are a parent, be aware that some lyrics are quite adult - though in typical MLS fashion, not of the four-letter variety.

1. Empire Line
You could say that it is "very MLS-esque" to make a song about as seriou
s a topic as drug-taking models sound like a happy go-lucky carnival tune. And you'd be right. In the same vein as their earlier "Strumpet", MLS take a highly serious and accusational subject and turn it into what can only be described as a pop romp. A very good tune, purposefully positioned at the start of the CD to kick-off the "new" MLS successfully. That was how it was intended to happen, anyway.

2. If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?
The kind of in-your-face morbid approach that was also seen is songs such as Catatonia's "This Boy Can't Swim", among others. Again, MLS take a harsh lyrical chorus yet place it side-by-side with lines like "She's a cartoon strip/But no-one's coloured her in yet". Towards the end of the song, it bears some resemblance to some of Crowded House's tracks, yet the synths and organs make it as unique as almost everything else on this album.

3. It's A Girl Thing
Full of sounds that you cant even begin to place. A pop classic which contains the all-important "na na na"s and belongs right up there with the best of both MLS' works and also pop in general. Its yet another bittersweet outlook on life and relationships, as Jake tries to come to terms with the inner workings of a female's mind. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I'm not qualified to say whether he is right. Expect the unexpected as ever, as the song ends with what sounds like a car horn....is there no end to their originality?

4. Sunday Tongue
'80s melodic pop gets a revive as Jake et al once again do the unexpected by inserting a Prodigy-influenced bridge slap bang in the middle of the strings and harp. These guys are nothing if not original. And it always seems to work. In truth, the unexpectedness of it all is such a trademark of theirs that it almost becomes downright normality for the seasoned listener. Definitely
right up there with "The New New Yorker" in terms of the best tracks on the album.

5. Yes To Everything
The vocals on the verses are set right back in the mix so that the chorus really sounds up-front and almost blasts the listener away in a chorus of strings, synth and guitar.
Jake sounds obtrusively slimy as he proclaims "yes to onanism", while his "Yes to more Lewinskys" was perhaps the clearest sign of the bands new-found allegiance to the US, which is backed up by "The New New Yorker".

6. Walk/Don't Walk
The positioning of this track after the vibrant, sleezy "Yes To Everything" sums up MLS to the core. Almost like "Come on Eileen for the 21st century", it's as hard as ever to pigeon-hole this track into a set category. Even a touch of scratching thrown in at the end for good measure. Jake's vocal range is really tested and proven on this track, and is as poisonously uplifting as ever. I believe this was the most successful track from this album when released as a single.

7. There's Nothing for Nobody and Everybody Wants to be Someone
It's fairly common for a band to have one absurdly long title on an album: but two?!?!?!
What starts out sounding like "Daytripper" suddenly and abruptly descends into a rhythmical and brassy track not dissimilar to MLS' cover of The Stranglers "Duchess" from their album The Golden Mile, yet as is the common theme of the album, it's much harsher than anything that has appeared on previous albums. Prior to the bridge, where the song almost descends into Teletubbies-mode, you could almost picture the queen of the love-em-or-hate-em genre, Louise Wener from Sleeper, singing her heart out on this one. But I don't have to tell you, it's FAR better than that.


8. The New New Yorker
A truly great upbeat song which, given the theme of this album, is surprisingly
very acoustic-based. Unlike anything else on the album and written very much with tongue-in-cheek, this is the most catchy song on JUT, with very original lyrics (always Jake's strong point where MLS are concerned) and a really nice groove.
The lines "Rent boys on Gameboys/Date-rape on the Internet" are further examples of MLS' "bad boys" approach on this CD.


9. Neverland
A classical strings and acoustic anthem. As soon as it starts, you know it's going to be yet another sweeping dreamy MLS classic. Which again is by no means a bad thing. As ever, Jake's vocal performance takes it to the next level.


10. Stalemate
In my opinion, the weakest song on the album. An attempt at a semi-hard rock song that never manages to really hit the next level. Don't get me wrong, it's an OK song, but Jake's voice appears more unsuited to this type of music. If anything, from a technical point of view, the vocals sound too lost in the mix and could well have benefited from being brought right upfront and in-your-face. Still, as weak songs go, it ain't a bad one!


11. I Don't Believe In Love
An easy-listening and catchy love song, or rather a "love that was never there" song. The soft trumpets that run throughout give this song a very unique "Beautiful South" feel. This song is more like the older MLS songs from Mornington Crescent and The Golden Mile and provides some welcome and well-judged relief and variation from the core material of this album.


12. Two Stars
Is it rather passee to stick that lengthier-than-normal track right at the end of the CD? Either you like convention or you don't. To be honest though, this song almost sounds like a blatant copy of Dodgy's "Grassman", which also appeared as the last song on their album Homegrown. That is, for the first two minutes of the song, after which the song changes t
empo dramatically.....hah, it's unlike Jake and the rest to be dramatic, I hear you say......ahem. The songs seems to never end in a duracel-type way......and it is a good 2 minutes too long, in my opinion. It is arguable that it is worth listening to right to the end though, even if only to witness Jake's unintentional attempts at impersonating Paul Weller on "Town Called Malice". In my opinion, unless exceptionally good, "epic" songs such as these should be left off albums and be used as b-sides alone. It seems all too apparent that bands sometimes only include such songs to boost the length of a CD running time...




Overall

Joined Up Talking starts magnificently, but unfortunately trails off very weakly, with some of its best tracks sandwiched in the middle. As ever, Jake and the boys (previously Jake and the boys and girls) strive for variety in their tracks, and for the most part achieve it. That said though, I' assuming the same acoustic guitar was used on the entire album....it might have benefited from a selection of different ones. Somewhat tinny in parts, the guitar in question suits many parts of the album, but is rather overused in my opinion.
"Yes To Everything" is the most obvious pointer to MLS cranking up the "bad boy" image on this album as they dramatically reduced the band membership to just the four blokes. Most of the photography that accompanied JUT was also an obvious indication of their new image, as sparkling silver theatrical outfits were ditched in favour of black leather.

As you can tell, I am - or was - a huge My Life Story fan, and am still saddened that they never achieved the success and recognition they deserved. While not as high-class as their first two albums Mornington Crescent and The Golden Mile, Joined Up Talking is still a great collection of songs, and for the My Life Story fan it is worth getting alone just to see how they straye
d from their past in a desperate attempt to relaunch their careers and survive this cruellest of industries...

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