This is only Fairground Attraction‘s second album proper, which may come as a surprise to many, given that their first was released way back in 1988 during the peak of their popularity and, of course, the huge selling number one smash, ‘Perfect‘.
I was expecting to be able to sit down and tell you that this new record was definitely not The First Of A Million Kisses part two, but you know what? It actually is. I don’t mean that in a negative way, it’s just that it is the… ahem …’perfect’ companion piece to that debut.
Sure, if you’re hoping for more of the same in terms of how that chart topper sounded, you’re maybe going to be disappointed, but anyone who listened beyond the chart hits will know that Fairground Attraction have always had more of a ‘folksy’ feel about them; it’s just that Eddi Reader‘s sublime tones make their tunes feel somewhat sun-kissed, and that aspect of the band, even more so than the ‘odds and sods’ collection of B-sides and live recordings that was 1990’s ‘Ay Fond Kiss‘ (which was sneakily marketed by RCA as the follow up), is what makes Beautiful Happening a much closer relative to TFOAMK.
Probably the closest you’ll find on this record to those UK Top 40 bothering singles of the late 1980s is the pretty, uptempo whimsy of ‘What’s Wrong With The World‘, or perhaps the frolicsome demeanour of ‘Learning To Swim‘. The biggest surprise to me, though, was ‘Sun And Moon‘, which reminded me a little of ‘Stray Cat Strut‘ and is possibly my favourite track on the album.
Elsewhere, Reader’s alluring vocals on the title track and ‘A Hundred Years Of Heartache‘ are more reminiscent of her Boo Hewerdine penned hit ‘Patience Of Angels‘ and its parent, self-titled album from 1994. There’s more than a hint of Desire era Bob Dylan in the instrumentation on ‘Little Brother‘ and ‘The Simple Truth‘ is simply mesmerisingly beautiful, Reader at the peak of her powers here. ‘Last Night (Was A Sweet One)‘ too, with its country-ish melody, is another winner that is hard to resist.
It’s weird to think that the band had barely spoken to each other over the past thirty or so years, but Beautiful Happening is a reminder that what they had was – and still is – something special, like having an old friend you haven’t seen in a decade but you know that, when you do see them, you’ll just pick up where you were like neither of you have ever been away.
Heart-warming stuff.
