Simply The Best by Mister Mikey
Mikey Georgeson, aka David Devant, The Vessel, or Mr Solo and sometime frontman of The Civilised Scene to name but a few is a William Blake obsessed art freak who after three decades or so continues to blissfully bend Super Furry’s type whimsy with the serious groove of Bill Withers and the shiny pop knickers of Ariel Pink.
Simply The Best is Mikey’s first solo album proper, and features a wondrous collection, seventeen in total, of colourful pop songs that will not only have his usual flock of David Devant fans nodding along to, but also a new army of the curious and curiouser, out there on the fringes, are sure to get on board with Mikey’s swaggering pleasure bus.
Like pan-fried courgettes, olives or even milk stout, Art-Rock or shall we call it Art-Pop from Syd Barrett period Pink Floyd to Blur, via the strange twangs of XTC and Art Brut has always been an acquired taste within the wider realms of music. Whilst Art-Pop’s tone can easily be considered to be typical top-40 fodder as it were, somehow its final execution is stalled by an all-pervading, albeit metaphorical, spanner in the works.
From the aforementioned Barrett and his mind-mincing LSD habit to Graham Coxon’s wonky geek spectacles that rendered the Britpop guitar hero as something more akin to Coronation Street’s Jack Duckworth rather than an altered take on prime rock ‘n’ roller Buddy Holly, it seems that in Art-Pop there must always be a flaw. Art-Pop must always fuck up! Do NOT confuse this with failing. Art-Pop doesn’t fail, it fucks up and that’s why us lot sitting over here in the minority love it so.
Bringing us unapologetically to this LP’s lead ditty, P.A.I.N. A soulful ramble that presents us with the question of whether or not pleasure needs the shadow of pain to be felt? Indeed, on the face of it much dialectical puzzlement here, and guided by certain aural atmospherics panning a wide framework of referenced textures it warmly takes us by the hand to leads us down the cul-de-sac of Art-Pop, and all that fucks up in her. Art-Pop’s structural soundness is only ever temporary. And this record, nor this song, does not let go of that fact.
It is said that Georgeson suffers from Fibromyalgia Syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes widespread bodily pain and discomfort like an almighty and universal haemorrhoid growing all over from the outside in. Ouch! But never mind that, the song is a beauty and Mikey dials this number in via a smooth Young Americans style baritone. Not permitted to drift alone, it has been accompanied by visuals and an absurdist video, directed by occasional gonzo TV presenter Ashley Hames, whose film colours in the conflicts of Mikey’s mind and pays sentiment to the ZOOMCALL times we now live in.
“Prometheus is happy when technology is crackling in the flames … give me some pain, gimme some pain”, Georgeson sings as his face moons quizzically up at himself from the bottom right corner of the computer’s screen.
The album remains on Bowie tip – no secret in Mikey Georgeson circles – it includes a cover of the Dame’s 1980 hit, ‘Ashes to Ashes’ and alongside Dana Gillespie and SPIZZENERGI could be one of the very few to actually successfully pull-off a cover version of a Bowie favourite.
Not only this, but a killer rendition of Nat King Cole’s “S.M.I.L.E” is rolled out as the album’s second cover version and too with a vocal seemingly achieved whilst simultaneously eating a Cadbury’s Cream Egg. Hungry yet?
As a curator of the BlakeFest Art Event these last few years, the plan is for Georgeson to unleash this record in its physical form via a one-off event at Bognor’s Picture Drome Cinema this weekend. A celebration of the collaborative films and art inspired by Blake that Mikey was instrumental in facilitating during lockdown. Performing previous biggies like ‘You Shine a Light’ along with P.A.I.N one only wishes for Mikey to fuck up well, and of course win the night.
AP Childs, Sept 2021
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