Whispers and Shouts

Rip It Up, Issue 75, 1 October 1983, Page 20

Whispers and Shouts

It's time for a rethink on Hammond Gamble. It's been three years since he appeared in these pages and that's a long time between drinks. Movements have come and gone in that time, and it's all been rather confusing. But Hammond Gamble? Easy he's a ... Then you struggle for a label. You were going to say blues guitarist, but he's more of a singer now, isn't he? There was that Telethon tune, with Hammond in your living room, pleading for a helping hand night after night. Yes, the new Rhonda, you say cynically. But just when you've slotted him beside Rob Guest, you notice he's back in front of a rock band once again, filling the dance floors of the country. This is all very unfair. Labels are for the 'flavour-of-the-month'. Hammond Gamble is a musician, pure but not simple. As his new solo album shows, our inability to pigeon-hole him is because his talents are so varied.

*" B Gamble, having just completed a tour with his new band, is aware of the problems in his songs create: 'The new album (Every Whisper Shouts) is very diverse, perhaps at its own expense. But they're all my songs. Everything I write has a sad sentiment to it, because that's where my strength lies, but there's as much feeling in the rockier tunes as the slow ballads." Despite the risk of emptying the dance floor, the ballads are

part of the new Hammond Gamble show. "People throw away ballads probably because we're brought up on Des O'Connor and wimps like that. When people are out at pubs they want to rock. What are you supposed to do? Not do the ballads because people like rock'n'roll?" On this album, recorded with top musicians Frank Gibson Jnr and Bruce Lynch on drums and bass, and Mike Walker on piano, we hear many sides of Gamble's music. Of course, there are the blues-based rock tunes that Street Talk is remembered for, but there are also several examples of the more mature Hammond Gamble in slow, soulful ballads. At first, the album's variety is disconcerting but once you've found your bearings, you begin to welcome the changes and comprehend the continuity a gradual build-up towards the especially strong second side. The ballads are interspersed between the upbeat blues-rock tunes, and the standout is a quiet number, Whole Lot of Magic', produced by Bruce Lynch, with a refreshing use of acoustic guitar and saxophone. All the other songs were written in the past year, but Hammond wrote Whole Lot of Magic' at 19. "I used to do Saturday afternoons at the Windsor with Dave McArtney and Graham Brazier back in 1974 and they'd do the harmonies in the chorus. They'd just started Hello Sailor and we sometimes joined together on TJ)ear Doctor'." 'Midnight', the single off the album, has an uncluttered sound and an unusual synthesized bass line. Gamble explains: "Bruce cut his finger, and he kept bleeding, so he did it on the keyboards. There aren't too many tracks used on that one, but neither are there on (sings) "every breath you take ..." Maybe it'll be a hit! (Laughs.) Gamble is a great admirer of the talents of Bruce Lynch, whose abilities as arranger are used to powerful effect on ballads such as 'Anna' and 'lf You've Got Love' the song which Joe Cocker is to cover on his new album. The orchestra of strings and horns is actually an Emulator a keyboard synthesizer which uses the natural sounds of traditional instruments recorded on floppy discs. The arrangements are often witty, with baroque organ on Grey Hills', and a funky jazz fade-out on 'Girls In My Room'. "With 'Grey Hills'," Gamble explains, "I said to Bruce Lynch wanted Elizabethan organ. Though it might sound like it doesn't belong, if you look at the lyrics they're almost religious in their content and that's why I wanted that churchy sound." But fans of Hammond Gamble after the Street Talk sound will be satisfied with the punchy blues rock of 'Big City Blues' and Toung Girl', with overdubbed guitars wailing against boogie piano from Mike Walker. Blues remains at the heart of Gamble's music, in all his styles of songwriting. But these are lean times for emotion. He was shocked to see a childhood idol, Ray Charles, on TV recently: "'All I ever wanted was a woman who could make love in 3/4 time'. Bloody hell! It hurt me to see him singing it, because the melody is a Kenny Rogers rip off, with all the R&B talk like 'hey man!' and 'yeah!' thrown in. Talk about sales pitch it's murder. "Joe Cocker parellels him. His voice may be shot mine certainly is but take a song like Guilty', one of my favourites. Listen to the sentiment in that. The guy's got emotion." Gamble gets worked up: These wet-behind-the-ears twits like Spandau Ballet doing (sings as low as possible, pulling faces) 'I know this much is true. Da dada daah ...' All that stuff. People think it's cosmic. Do you know what it is? It's 'ermans 'ermits all over again. A rip off: pathetic tunes, wimpy nowhereness. 'This album is diverse, but I have no regrets. I put a lot of time into writing it, and if people don't like it and think they can do better, good on them." Chris Bourke