Here aided and abetted by the unwitting back line – shall we settle for crooning harmonies – of Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie of that there musical transmitting format the radio helping with the Crosby, Stills and Nash vibe, the underappreciated and under the marital thumb hum drum observations of melodic impresario John Shuttleworth are gathered up and bundled upon the kooky and off beat not to mention awkwardly dry and casually impish grooves of a ground breaking third greatest hits compilation entitled ‘the A1111 and other ones’. Good wholesome family fun for all ages, elderly folk retreats and beach front bingo halls a particularly speciality are lit up and festooned in a kitsch crookedness that’s as by gone as a seaside picture postcard as Shuttleworth grumpily traverses the length and breadth of these fair isles not in, one suspects, a great deal of enthusiasm but more a mourning for a simpler past where Austin Ambassadors roamed the roads amid a happy time before the internet, new Labour and the great retail superstore. Armed with his trusted Yamaha keyboard with many rumba settings – all strangely sounding the same, he waltzes through the instantly recognisable and much well-worn nation approved flag waving n’ pants swinging folk sing-a-long song ‘A1111’ – by jingo and gem our kid.
the sunday experience 