PRETENDERS 
Andy Colquhoun returned the favor to Mick Farren by playing bass and performing some vocals for an EP called Screwed Up that was released on Stiff Records under the name Mick Farren and the Deviants. In 1978, Andy was one of the bandmembers backing Farren on a really nice solo album with a great title, Vampires Stole My Lunch Money. Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of Pretenders also performed on the album 18 months before their first album, Pretenders came out. (August 2011) * * * After taking several years off from making music, Mick Farren resurfaced in 1978 with a brilliant solo album, Vampires Stole My Lunch Money. The album opens with what might be the best cover of a Frank Zappa song by anybody: “Trouble Coming Every Day”, a seething litany of what’s wrong with the world that could surely have come straight from Farren’s pen. Vampires Stole My Lunch Money is a more personal record than his other albums. There are no less than three songs about drinking – “I Want a Drink”, “Half-Priced Drinks”, and “Drunk in the Morning” – plus a monologue about personal demons called “(I Know from) Self-Destruction”. Whether this is just a persona or the actual state of Mick Farren’s life at that point – I doubt anyone could tell the difference, the music is that heartfelt. Musicians on hand include Larry Wallis of the Pink Fairies and Wilko Johnson of Dr. Feelgood; supporting vocals are provided by Sonja Kristina of Curved Air and Chrissie Hynde, the lead singer of Pretenders (a year and half before their first album, Pretenders came out). (March 2014/1) |