Oran’s World Is One You Simply Must Visit

Oran’s World is an album by Glyn Bailey with his band featuring Philip Maxwell Senior, John Edward Keys, Elizabeth Archer and Tony Hession. There are guest appearances by James Coupe and Nick Burrows.It is a concept album that features an extract from The Unholy Fool by Howard Male that refers to The Quite Good Book. The combination of subtle vocals and a lush orchestral backing remind me of Mike Batt, one of my favourite artists. It’s certainly a good starting point and I really think that the fans of Mike Batt’s work would immediately like this work as I did.The opening song is the title track which makes a strong opener. Oran’s World is clearly a Utopia, which makes a change from the dystopian approach so many people take nowadays. As one of those dystopian people, I found it a breath of fresh air. It reminded me that in many ways the difference between Utopia and Dystopia is simply your viewpoint. I loved the keyboards of John Edward Keys on this and Glyn Bailey’s vocals instantly drew me in with their quiet certainty and their melodic quality. The second track on Side 1 is Birdsong which is an uplifting and beautifully constructed piece of music. This is where Glyn Bailey reminds me most of Mike Batt. No note is superfluous or wasted in any way and every key change complements the lyrics and increases their impact. Once again, it is an overwhelmingly positive song, the type of song we all need in the times we are living through. As the opening lines have it, ‘Live for today, plan for tomorrow’.Track 3, The Guru is a hymn of praise to the way that the universe is a place of wonder and joy if only you open your mind and your heart and acknowledge it. Next is Autograph, a song of wonder about the small things in life. As someone with a very large autograph collection, but not one including Neil Armstrong, I know how much joy these simple things can bring. When I put my collection together I realised that every single one had a story and every single one was a source of good feelings. He also reflects on finding the perfect partner, something I can definitely relate to. The final track on Side 1, Honeypot, is a big band style number that could have appeared in Guys and Dolls and fitted right in. Bailey has a great voice for this type of jazz and the backing vocals by Philip Maxwell Senior and Elizabeth Archer are fantastic in helping to build up the picture of a Sinatra style 1940s radio studio with Bailey in front of one huge microphone and his backing singers sharing the other. It’s a marvellous finish to the first half of the album, and my favourite track of the first five.The first track on Side 2 is This Man. It has a 60s style psychedelic backing that I really enjoyed. Unlike the first five tracks this track is a hard nosed look at what it takes to succeed. The main character has a real understanding of his strengths and weaknesses and will use them to get where he wants to. The Last Laugh continues the more cynical feeling of Side 2 with a clear takedown of cancel culture. The comedian who says something that is beyond the pale, the writer who puts an idea on paper that is considered unacceptable and the lengths that modern society goes to silence those voices. It is meant to be an uncomfortable listen and it’s perhaps even more uncomfortable now than it would have been six months or a year ago. It does not take sides, it tells all would be censors that they are wrong. It’s really powerful writing.Song of the Sea immediately takes you out to the ocean with its brilliant orchestration and the alternately ethereal and stormy voice that Bailey employs. It is a story of the dangers of the sea, but in his more yearning voice you get the sense that Bailey considers these dangers an integral part of the appeal of the ocean, that deep, unknowable but alluring place. Dinner with Bowie is the penultimate track. It imagines David Bowie sitting down to his last meal and reflecting on his life. It’s a beautifully elegiac song that is sung in a voice similar to Bowie’s and accompanied by a piano that is very reminiscent of Blackstar. It is a beautifully constructed tribute. I absolutely adored this track, which is the absolute standout on the album. The final track is The Presence of Love, which continues the theme of Autograph from Side 1, reflecting the thoughts of someone who has remarkably found his perfect partner and can’t believe his luck. It is a love song that really deserves a wide audience because it speaks to a truth about relationships, which is that they are often the most unexpected things in life, but when you find the one, your life is unimprovable.The last two tracks would be a perfect finish to any album, but especially to this one. Glyn Bailey has drawn me into Oran’s World from the first note and kept me there until the last. It is simply a unique album that you simply must listen to.

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