Just because something appears on this blog, especially in this very long-running series, doesn’t necessarily mean it has the TVV stamp of approval.
Back in 1983, the Belgian-based Les Disques du Crépuscule released 10.30 On A Summer’s Night, a spoken word album by Richard Jobson (yup, that Richard Jobson who had been lead singer of The Skids), consisting of his adaptation of texts from the book of the same name by French author Marguerite Duras. The readings were accompanied by Belgian pianist Cecile Bruynoghe.
The following year, the same label issued An Afternoon In Company, which consisted of original poems written by Jobson, with musical backing by the likes of Vini Reilly, Blaine L. Reininger, and Virginia Astley.
Some folk liked it, as evidenced by this review in Melody Maker:-
“An Afternoon… is Jobson’s most assured attempt yet at drawing the desired effect from the uneasy relationship between his stupendously threatening Scots brogue and the finer nuances of the good Queen’s English. While his poetry is perhaps too private and fanciful to communicate on paper, when he is roaring and hissing over calm piano pieces from Satie beautifully played by Cecile Bruynoghe, Jobson assumes a certain atmosphere of strength and striving which at its peak can be positively uplifting. Godlike” (Melody Maker, 10/1984)
Maybe the reviewer was taking the piss. It’s not how I would have written it up.
mp3: Richard Jobson – Autumn
Its appearance round these parts today is courtesy of its inclusion on a CD compilation I have covering the releases on Les Disques du Crépuscule between 1980 and 1985, and of course the fact that Richard Jobson is Scottish and it has come round to him on the alphabetical run through.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
Oh dear, your opening and closing sentences say it all, JC. Perhaps the MM reviews writer received a nice wodge of cash in a brown envelope with a copy of the album. The best thing I can say after listening to Autumn for the first time this morning was that it prompted a couple of repeat listens to Scars III by The Affectionate Punch featuring a certain Vinyl Villain. No contest.
Found in the dictionary when looking up the word ‘pretentious’
Ah, it’s not that bad. Can’t see listening to it more than once a year or so, but it was kind of brave of Jobson to try it on. And no–not a patch on TAP featuring JC.
Les Disques Du Crépuscule is one of my all time favourite labels, at times their releases were just strange and weird but mostly strange, weird and absolutely beautiful, and at times just plain wonderful – not even strange or weird! Paul Haig, Alan Rankine and The Names released some truly fabulous work on the label for instance, and Richard Jobson had a couple of tracks on their different compilation albums – and I still hold India Song (which I guess is from the 10.30 On A Summer’s Night album) included on the Fruit Of The Original Sin compilation as one of my all time favorite tracks, hauntingly beautiful, recited with full blown passion for the prose. I wasn’t actually aware of this full album, but now I probably need to look it up!
A quick check and I see India song is from the “The Ballad Of Etiquette” album released 1981 on Cocteau Records, and later again included on Richard’s Un Hommage A Marguerite Duras “Simplicity, Splendour ; Simply Splendid” album released by Crèpescule Japan.