Album Review: Catching the Light (Tim Benton)

A decade ago Tim Benton released Scenes From a Well-Spent Youth: Exploring the Songs of 1965-75 (2015)[review], a record on which the New Zealand-born, London-based singer revisited songs associated with his formative years. Working with the arranger and pianist Simon Wallace, Benton stripped songs such as "Goin' Back", "Laughter in the Rain”, “Out in the Country”, “Chelsea Morning”, “24 Hours From Tulsa”,  “Last Train to Clarkesville” and “It’s Too Late” back to piano and voice arrangements, his rich and compelling voice placing the emphasis firmly on the lyrics of each composition and making each number sound deeply personal.  

On his new album, Catching the Light, Benton turns his attention to some lesser-known song-writing: that of another Antipodean expat to England: Clive James. James' status as a bona fide National Treasure of a TV personality probably ended up obscuring the full range of his output,  and though his song-writing with composer/ singer Pete Atkin undoubtedly retains a cult following, it's not that well known today. Occasional covers have surfaced, but the great achievement of Benton's record - the first-ever full album's worth of reinterpretations - is to shine a fresh light on material that deserves much wider exposure.

‎Atkin and James met as Cambridge Footlights members, and bonded through a mutual love of a wide range of music: they went on to write around 200 songs together. In that context, the ten tracks presented on Catching the Light may seem a modest selection, but they give a solid indication of the range of topics James and Atkin took on; most importantly, the selections work well together here as a cohesive set.

‎While Atkin's vocals and instrumentation often gave the material a folk orientation, Benton, accompanied again by Wallace on piano, uses his stronger voice and Wallace's supple arrangements to take the songs in fresh, jazz-influenced directions. (Wallace has worked with Atkin in recent years.) The approach could seem Spartan but feels full, with plenty of texture and emotional colour. As befits a consummate wordsmith, James' lyrics are rich in imagery and reference, yet distilled; there's no waste, no fat, on them, and Benton's delivery assures that each word rings clear as a bell.

‎The opener, "Thirty Year Man", is told from the rueful perspective of a pianist "in a jazz quartet", confessing his sense of under-appreciation over three decades, and his mingled hostility and attraction towards the young singer who the group are currently accompanying. Benton's vocal bites into the lyrics ("Nobody here... yet!") conveying the narrator's bitterness, though the image of the "glistening" piano suggests an enduring  connection to the instrument.

‎The featured love songs are full of lived, relatable detail, from the aching poignancy of the observed once-shared space in "An Empty Table" to the stark break-up of "Between Us". Marrying specific imagery to a beautiful melody, "The Way You Are With Me" finds the duo at their most rhapsodic, while "Flowers and the Wine" digs into feelings of a former lover, dining with his ex and her new partner. "Perfect Moments" puts a twist on its gentle wistfulness with a killer final line.  

‎Indeed, at their most ambitious, James and Atkin's songs truly surprise, in particular "Canoe", a  stunning piece of writing that captures the drive for exploration as it takes in Polynesian voyagers and the ill-fated Apollo 13  moon mission. One of James-Atkin's most celebrated songs, "Beware of the Beautiful Stranger" presents an encounter between a ladies' man and a gypsy fortune-teller. It's given a marvellously full, dramatic and compelling treatment here. ‎‎Drawing on Keats, "Touch is a Memory" is a lovely closer, celebrating the titular sense over the others.

‎Catching the Light flows smoothly but not blandly. Benton never skirts  over the meaning of lyrics but fully inhabits them, and his voice and Wallace's playing achieve a beautiful synthesis throughout. The pair appear to have uncovered a treasure trove of material in James and Atkin's compositions, and this wonderful record leaves the listener eager for a Volume Two.

For further information on Catching the Light, link here.  

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