A little over thirty years ago myself and a mate went to see Fairport Convention on one of their Winter Tours, and the support that night was a solo singer/songwriter, Jay Turner. We both thought he was amazing, so we each bought his latest album ‘Movements in Architecture’, and I then featured him in my fanzine, ‘Feedback’ when he released ‘Atmavictu’ in 1991. Fast forward more than a decade and myself and another mate headed out to see Fairport on yet another jaunt, and noticed they were being supported by a duo, Mundy-Turner. Was this the same Jay Turner from years earlier? Indeed it was, as by now he was married to another singer/songwriter, Cath Mundy and it transpired they had also been releasing albums. When we moved to Yorkshire, we were much closer to Cath and Jay, and our family would often travel to folk clubs to see them play, becoming firm friends in the process. Then in 2006 we emigrated to the other side of the world, and not long afterwards they returned to the Gold Coast. We have only caught up once in person since then, but we still play their music, and while they wrote and recorded the musical ‘Billy Buckett – A Rock ‘n’ Roll Love Story’ I didn’t think we would ever get another true Mundy-Turner album, but here it is.
Cath provides vocals, violin, piano, ukulele and percussion while Jay delivers vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, bass guitar, percussion and drum programming while they are joined on the opening title track by the community choir they formed, Freedom Choir. There are only seven songs, 26 minutes in length, but given how many times I have played their other albums over the years it is nice to hear new material, especially as I never expected it. I hate to think how many shows they have played together, and as husband and wife they are always in each other’s company, and this comes through in the performance as they are speaking with one voice, harmonising naturally with good arrangements. True, I could have done without some of the drum programming, and would rather they had kept it simpler, but that is personal taste. Their material tends to follow one of three forms, personal (often comedic – as is the case here with the title cut which recounts the true story of a series of family camping disasters involving said Pop-Top camper), historic (none on this release though) or political, and we get a few of the last as they bring home the reality of what is happening in the economy (“Falling”) and Palestine (“War Is My Business”, “No Words”).
They have always been aware that words have power, and their lyrics always reward close attention, carrying on the tradition of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and so many others. They have never received the attention or kudos they deserve, but my family and I have spent many happy hours playing their music in the car or going to see them in concert, and to have a new album so many years after the last one (the excellent ‘Ha’Penny Tweedle’) is a delight.
Rating: 7/10
Track list:
1. Millard Pop-Top ’74
2. Falling
3. Dance Hall Days
4. War Is My Business
5. Joshua
6. No Words
7. Lucky Premonition
Links:
https://mundyturner.com/
