Danny Goffey ' 'Brian Moone's Discopunk'

Published on 21 February 2023 at 19:37

By Paul Laird

Author of "The Birth And Impact Of Britpop: Mis-Shapes, Scenesters And Insatiable Ones"

 

Everybody’s on drugs? 

 

“The Egg” was Edinburgh’s answer to Blow Up!. Tucked away in a dark corner of the Edinburgh  College of Art, Saturday nights from this time to some other time. We would make sure we arrived  fashionably late, which meant just after the sort of people who arrive at a club when the doors  open. Suited and booted, absolutely convinced that we were the sons and heirs of Steve Marriott, Sandie Shaw, and the kids in “Quadrophenia” who were not Sting. This was the nineties,  everything seemed possible, nothing had been ruined by (anti)social media and, crucially, nobody  had heard of Oasis. 

 

My little gang of wannabes and nevergonnabes had all discovered d-r-u-g-s. Mainly speed, with  occasional flashes of “I love you man” ecstasy. Not me, no sir. I was a good boy. I mean, I was a  bad boy inside, but because I was also a devout Mormon I was having to squish that bad boy deep down inside of myself where he couldn’t do any harm to my chances of eternal salvation.  And as we all know, bottling up our feelings and desires is a good thing and never does anyone  any harm. 

 

But I wanted to join in. 

What do mean gonna be one of the faces? 

I WAS one of the faces. 

Maybe. 

I couldn’t do the white lines, but I could look the part. 

Carefully applied eyeliner to give my eyes that uppers POP. 

 

Holding onto a Coca-Cola in a shot glass without ever actually drinking any of it. An unlit Cafe Creme cigar constantly in my hand, and never lit. 

 

The idea, I think, was to show that I was so off my tits on drugs that I couldn’t focus long enough  on my drink or the cigar. 

I was an artificial work of art. 

Gorgeous I was. 

Or I was a pretentious prick. 

You choose. 

 

I remember buying a copy of “Caught by the Fuzz” by Supergrass at this point in time, and being  thrilled by it. A tale of youth and young manhood. Crazy, crazy, nights. Cheap thrills.  Disappointing your parents. Shame. It was fucking marvellous. All made even more marvellous  by the fact that the kids responsible for it really were kids. I wasn’t old, but Jesus, they were really young. I found myself sitting beside them outside of Ally Pally before their set in support of  Blur at the “Showtime” gig. The sun was shining, all the hip young things from that there London  was milling around, and Supergrass looked hipper than any of them. Cool for cats. 

 

Now, almost thirty years after those events, Danny Goffey is here with “Brian Moone’s  Discopunk”, his first album since 2018’s “Schtick”. What “Schtick” revealed was that Goffey was  a terrific solo performer and presence. Catchy hooks, shimmering riffs, quirky observations and a  neat lyricist. Most importantly it revealed that he wasn’t interested in producing a record for  people who liked “Alright”, this was a Danny Goffey album, a 2018 album, and very definitely, no  maybe, not a record looking to trade on former glories.

Good.

 

Goffey has always been an interesting character in British pop, part of one of the most creative  bands of the nineties, willing to shift lanes with Lodger, and constantly appearing in unusual  places with unusual faces…including campaigning to save a local post office with a certain former  Prime Minister. But “Brian Moone’s Discopunk” feels like the arrival of Goffey as an independent  artist. This feels more personal and intimate…despite the use of a character as the heart/star of  the show. A bit like Bowie with Ziggy and Aladdin Sane?  

High praise? 

Hyperbole? 

Hi. 

 

There are moments here when Goffey reveals himself to be a lyricist of real humour, insights, and  skill; “Empathy is a dirty word”, “Little Betty has had enough of this world, she’s locked herself up  in her room”, “I’ll chase you ‘round the table, I’ll chase you up the stairs, me in my kimono, you in  your underwear”. Even the song titles are the sort of thing that Morrissey in his pomp would have  given his last Linda McCartney “sausage” for; “I Lost My Girl To A Fairground Worker” and “Flea  Market Woman” being fine examples. 

Musically there are whispers and shouts of Moroder (Discopunk and All Dressed Up for example),  echoes of classic English pop like The Kinks (Pressure), Ian Dury (Dog Eats Dog) and, perhaps  inevitably, the ghost of his former band (Flea Market Woman), but none of it sounds like anything  other than “Brian Moone’s Discopunk”. It’s a masterclass in songwriting, musicianship, melody  making and production. 

 

I sometimes wonder if it might not be too late for me to dabble in drugs…Heaven knows we all  need an escape from the modern world, right guys? Gals? But I’m not sure that anything would  have the same uplifting, joy inducing, pulse quickening, impact of the sort of music that Danny  Goffey has created here.

  

Everybody’s on drugs? 

My preference is for discopunk. Turn on, tune in, drop out. Ma-an.

 

'Brian Moone’s Discopunk' is released this Friday, the 24th of February via Distiller.

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