An Embattled old folkie, Michael Chapman has downed more bottles of wine than Oddbins flog to Kevin Ayres in one year and long since successfully carved a unique little niche for himself -- a robust form of early hours rock 'n' roll best summed up by the title of one of his earlier albums, "Millstone Grit"

There's something very reassuring about Chapman's distinctively gritty delivery and each time I play one of his records, it's like reaquainting myself with an old friend. he never lets you down and though "The Man Who Hated Mornings" isn't quintessencial Chapman it's still a gutsy good time and always impeccably couth.

Its his Northern 'ospitality, isn't it and me being a Southern jessie, I'm a sucker for all that. His gumption only deserts him once ironically on the title track, a jazz inflected number where the lyrics don't go beyond rudimentary observation as Pete Wingfield tinkles away fussily on electric piano.

Chapman's at his blunt best on the three non-original numbers. The jaunty, crooked-teeth optimism of Danny O'Keefe's "I'm Sober Now" is lent a caustic dissaffection by Chapman's matter-of-fact tone and "Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?" (which doesn't sound like a Jimmy, Les or Lou Reed song, so I guess it's one of Jerry's) is given an affectionate clipped rendition, Chapman harmonising with himself.

Best of all is Dylan's "Ballad In Plain D", Chapman on 'guitar and wine'. There's undeniable power and aggression in this singularly spunky interpretation, which gains much from the stressful voice and instruments (guitar and bottle)

And the crisp, clean, sharp "Dogs Got More Sense" (...than to sleep in the rain but they can't play rock 'n' roll ) is as spritely a tune as Chapman's ever written.

"Turn this record up so the dog can hear it," he writes on the sleeve. "Listeners without a dog are strongly advised to get one. He's right. Get the album live with it for a while, ignore what I've written and let Bowser point out the good bits

Monty Smith New Musical Express November 27th 1977

Michael is a ruminative sort of talent. Despite being a guitarist of such command that he could probably make the instrument fetch his breakfast in bed if he so desired. And despite being a wordsmith of such pungent economy and despite being a singer of...no thats going to far, but he does sing it tune at any rate, and despite being an enthusiastic imbiber of wines fine and foul, he prefers not to beat his listeners about the brain but rather to insinuate his way quietly into their consciousness. It takes time. And quite often it takes a live performance, But here I am at the typewriter looking out at the rain and there you are flicking through the browser bins wondering about this album that has caught your eye with it's alternative 'front covers' on either side of the sleeve.

So I tell you what I think after a few plays. Overall it compares fairly closely to Eric Claptons new one "Slowhand". The peak the bit that would have made ir five-star id he'd kept it up all through is 'Ballad In Plain D/Steel Bonnets'. the Dylan song running into a Chapman instrumental. It's one of those early songs where Bobby managed to place the sorrow of losing a lady into the perspective of the philosophical pillars of the universe without showing the strain or losing touch with the heart of the matter. I hardly need praise Chapman more than to say he does the genius justice. Unaccompanied he hits a 12 string (I think) in oblique harmony with the vocal. Thereafter timing is all. He sings intensely, gives each line the space to cruise around your head until he cuts even the guitar to drop the last question into silence: 'Are birds free from the chains of the skyway'?' Love wounds love scars. Then he heals the pain with the big stretching out sound of a gaggle of acoustics assisted by BJ Cole's steel. It's an extraordinary resolution they don't just fit they fuse.

The thing is, if you can deliver that much anything else looks a little pallid alongside ot. Micheal acknowledges that he plays a lot better than he sings, having a very limited range. So why slip into mid-West humalong humalong like 'Falling Apart' and 'Dreams Are Dangerous Things'. Solos by Mick Ronson, Andy Latimer, Cole and Johnny Van Derek (violin) enliven some of this material, but Chapman seems a little toon laid-back on half the tracks. Two interesting items which take much more characterful and positive directions are 'Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?' a( a humourous combination of religon and lechery he's dug up from somewhere) and the title track which sneaks towards cabaret jazz without softening the man's sombre harshness.-

Phil Sutcliffe Sounds 26/11/77

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