> CLAYSON SINGS CHANSON

Quay Arts, Isle of Wight
9th December 2016

Clayson sings Chanson - an emotional journey into a world of words, stories and music...

An entertaining and informative eve at our favourite Isle of Wight arts venue. Chansons are powerful, lyric driven French songs about life. Clayson was fantastic. To start our eve, the charismatic Paul Armfield delivered an eclectic, personal selection of Chanson inspired music... this perfectly complimented the absorbing repertoire of Alan Clayson.

CLAYSON SINGS CHANSON has been on the road since 2011, initially to tie-in with the most recent edition of Alan Clayson’s Jacques Brel biography, La Vie Boheme.  Media coverage has been fulsome with phrases like ‘mesmerising’, ‘a man possessed’, ‘a wonderful evening by a master raconteur at the top of his game’.

If much of the repertoire is from Brel’s portfolio, Alan Clayson delivers items by other chansonniers, Gallic and English, and ventures into curious but connected realms. Prefaced by a explanatory talk that is as entertaining as it is educational, this show will appeal to both Brel devotees and those interested generally in Gallic culture.

The presentation’s origins lie in 1999’s acclaimed Ne Me Quitte Pas: A Celebration Of Jacques Brel, an all-star album on which Alan Clayson’s contributions were highlights, attracting rave notices. Prior to his renown as a music historian, Alan Clayson was popular in the late 1970s as leader of the legendary Clayson and the Argonauts and has since become ‘one of the more extraordinary figures to emerge from rock ‘n’ roll.

10 out of 10.