Over several singles, I have worked out where Mark Vennis & Different Place sits on the musical map, spiritually at least. At his most punky, he reminds me of The Clash’s London Calling, at his most singer-songwriter-ish, -ish he feels like that point where Dylan went electric, at his most rock and roll, he is The Stones offering up Their Satanic Majesties Request rather than the easier to categorize blues-pop-rock of their formative years.
I have worked out that wherever you think he is on the musical map, he is actually a few steps to the side, in front, or behind… just not where you expect him to be. And brilliantly and unpredictably so. Now, with a whole album of such songs gathered in one place, Goodbye To All That shows just how diverse and unpredictable he is.
“The Beating of the Drum” exposes his eclectic yet awesome influences, a ragged folk song filled with sharp sonics and sharper lyrics, like the much-overlooked The Men They Couldn’t Hang in their Waiting For Bonaparte era, co-writing with the The Jam, a band who were smarter than most of their fans realised at the time. One helluva combination.
And this blend of historical acumen and social commentary, precision grooves, and raw sonics flavours the album. “Empire Road,” for example, is a blend of blues and psychedelia, acoustica and folk, and explores the legacy of British empire-building, a worthy successor to Costello’s “Shipbuilding” or Attila the Stockbroker’s “Sawdust and Empire.”
The title track, a nod to Rupert Brooke’s bleak and beautiful biography and the horrors of the Great War, is surprisingly soul and sublime, “An English Tragedy” blends folk-rock drives with funky grooves and liquid guitar breaks and “Requiem” rounds things off musing on the lot of the man in the street signing up to serve as a way to improve his lot…but at what cost.
“Goodbye to All That” is social commentary at its finest and a very timely release given all the talk of war and nationalism, perceived British values, and blind faith in populist figureheads. It is a reminder that we have been here before, that we should have learned from our own bloody, controversial past, and that those at the bottom of the pile always pay the price.
A timely and timeless collection of songs, a genre-hopping and adventurous sound, and a reminder of the adage “ Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Ain’t that the truth?
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