Ah, good old comedy songs. I spent a large portion of my early teenage years (apart from listening to punk and hiphop) scouring the internet on a painfully slow connection for tracks by Weird Al Yankovic, The Jerky Boys and any Chris Moyles remixes that anyone happened to have in their Napster sharing folder. Fast forward a few years, and we find ourselves at a crossroads. Society is a dangerous place. By day, one young man from Wakefield goes about his day job, and plays in a very credible punk band called Pylon. By night, he’s a super hero representing the everyman in the world of acoustic comedy.
Sort of. Keith Burton and His Beef Curtain sounds like David Gray would if he grew up listening to Dr. Demento’s radio show. Current affairs (tenuously) and social commentary (even more tenuously) make up the rough topics for his wordplay, set to stripped down acoustics and some occasional frought Casio backing.
The Send More Paramedics cover and opening track ‘Cannibal’ is, to be frank, inspired. Most quickly become singalong necessities within a couple of listens with the remix of ‘Alcoholic Lesbian Vet’ and ‘Breville in disguise’ being two other outstandingly funny ones. There are 12 tracks on here, and only 3 are weak. Tracks 7, 8 and 9 (DJ Si, Greenhouse face and Keep the harvest) just fail to raise a smile which is, I think, what a comedy record should be judged on. The rest hit that incredibly dry/satirical comedy spot that you reserve for deadpan comedians.
Overall, it’s definitely worth buying. I bought a copy in October when it was released last year and just forgot to review it: the promo copy I received a couple of months back and a live appearance being handy if unsubtle reminders. I have a feeling this CD will resonate more strongly with anyone from Birmingham or further north, but if you want to see the way us northern monkeys look at life through bizarrely-tinted glasses and with several tongues planted in numerous cheeks, you’ll probably want this as well. There’s nothing out there quite like the Burton and you’ll come to relish that.
www.myspace.com/keithburton
Spud
