Nearing their 80th birthday, most artists slow down, most – but not former KALEIDOSCOPE member Peter Daltrey, whose recent run of records has never been less than expressive, 2023’s "The Leopard And The Lamb" and "The Rhymer In The Long-Tongued Room" demonstrating an ever-increasing scope of the veteran’s reveries and work rate. And still, it’s surprising that November 28th will see the English musician’s next venture.
Intriguingly titled “The Life And Times Of Blue Larry And The Huguenot Kid” and featuring ten fresh cuts alongside new versions of two pieces from Peter’s earlier platters and a take on a classic prog number, this offering digs deeper into Daltrey’s personality. In what ways? Let’s ask the artist.
“Back in the day, [KALEIDOSCOPE guitarist] Eddie Pumer and I wrote all the time,” says Peter. “We never flagged. We weren’t toiling at a coal face, we were following the muse – dancing to her tune, if you like. Enjoying the creative process. Enjoying the wonders of song-writing, the sparks of inspiration that flared into fully-fledged songs. It was magic. It still is.
“Apart from ‘White-Faced Lady’ we never specifically wrote for an album. The songs accumulated. When Dick Leahy offered us studio time for a new album, we went in with enough songs ready and waiting for their moment. It is the same today, albeit a lonelier process. Just me. But still the songs write themselves deep inside my head of sage. Startling me as much today as they did in my days of big hair and flares. My youth. Now approaching the Big Number, I am still in love with the muse. Her touch ignites the first spark.
“However, the songs for my new album, ‘The life And times Of Blue Larry And The Huguenot Kid’ began life in the time of rusty Transit vans traversing England’s drab motorways and pounds, shillings and pence really meant something. The song itself, ‘Blue Larry,’ was simply a lyric that I gave to Ed that, for whatever reason, he did not tackle. This was not unusual. I rained lyrics on him. Some flowered. Some fell by the wayside. And so, fast-forward fifty-five years, and I took up the composer’s baton and finished the song myself. But we are woke people. Sensitive and somewhat delicate. I had to change some of the lyrics for fear of being dragged away by the moralists and guardians of the mind. It is a sordid tale of a man very much of his time. A wayward son of a dotting dancing mother. A chancer with a slick tongue, a cheap movie camera and an expanding waistline.
“Contrast this denizen of LA’s dark underbelly with the Huguenot Kid. A protestant in a catholic land. A craftsman, industrious, aware of his lineage and protective of his young wife: a stranger in a strained land. France was at boiling point as the prevailing religion sought to crush the protestants. James Daltrey, our hero, fled with his wife, Catherine, to England. Nice and legal back then. No pesky paperwork or here-there-and-everywhere border patrols. They settled in the East End of London. James the bone-worker fan maker. And there I was born three hundred years later. Chains and links and blood.
“Compiling the album has been a joy. So many new songs, but also a nod back to my previous albums with the possibly psychedelic ‘Faye Goes Dreaming’ and a re-working of ‘English Roses’ and ‘A Linden Tree In Chelsea’ [from earlier albums]. At the instigation of label boss, Think Like A Key’s Roger Houdaille, we also have a cover of CURVED AIR‘s ‘Elfin Boy’: a joy to work on a sparkling fairy tale.
“Anyone who knows me or has been good enough to blow their pounds, shillings and pence on my albums will know that I am a storyteller. A maker of tales. But no campfire and marshmallows for me as I prefer the medium of song. A song and tale man. ‘Our Mutual Disease’ takes us deep into the broken heart of a damaged relationship, two star crossed lovers, protected, if that is the word, by their mutual disease. ‘My Honeycomb Bride’ finds me wandering broken-hearted in search of a Japanese angel. Dangerous territory for a man who wears his heart on the sleeve of his frock coat. And ‘Mary By The Sea’ has more laboring lost over love’s fickle tides.
“The thrill of releasing a new album is as potent today as it was when November dawned in 1967, when I thought the path ahead was a long and unwinding road, when the cheesy moon hung from the sky by a tuneful string, And life was never-ending. Just a dreamy Huguenot…”
The Life And Times Of Blue Larry And The Huguenot Kid
1. Trapeze Man
2. A Different Song
3. Dandelion Caress
4. Faye Goes Dreaming
5. Mary By The Sea
6. I Am A Huguenot
7. Our Mutual Disease
8. English Roses
9. A Linden Tree In Chelsea
10. Elfin Boy
11. My Honeycomb Bride
12. Buffalo
13. Blue Larry
