CLARENCE ROAD - Our latest album

Here it is! The second album by The Normantones is a follow-up to their 2023 debut album, the 14-song-strong Reviver. This time, it is another collection of 14 songs, and its title amounts to a heartfelt acknowledgement of where the two lads both lived and were brought up. “We’ve called it Clarence Road because it’s where we began!” says Tony. Anthony elaborates, “It’s where I was born, the place we spent our formative years and actually first got together to make music”. Both had family homes on Clarence Road and it was in Tony’s house that, at the tender ages of 15, they made their first recordings of their earliest compositions. “We were allowed to take over what was called the ‘middle room’. Tony's Dad, who also allowed us to use his Hammond organ, dubbed it Studio 3!” recalls Anthony. Tony remembers, “We spent so much of our time there knocking our first ever batch of songs into shape and recording them in, what I suppose can be termed, ‘live stereo’. We’ve both got a lot of fantastic memories of those times!”. All 14 songs on Clarence Road are self-penned original compositions and the album gets off to a flying start with Tony’s Midwife Pam ...

This is a musical tribute in praise of not only their sisters, Pam and Tracey, but all those who work to provide all our public services. Tony and Anthony share lead vocals, with Tony beginning by singing the first verse and chorus dedicated to Pam, and Anthony then taking over and belting out his vocal appreciation of Tracey. The boys’ vocals and Tony’s guitar playing are unquestionably and unashamedly Beatlesque. Or should that be Monkeesque?!

 Next up is Anthony’s trackwhich is evocative of the spirit of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. As the great author himself said of Christmas, in the guise of one of the visitors to Scrooge’s office who are seeking donations for the poor, “it is a time…when Want is keenly felt and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?” As Marley’s ghost laments, “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business…”. In reminiscent fashion, Anthony sings his appeal to us all to be mindful of the misery felt by many amid our collective Christmas merriment, and to act accordingly.In putting these first two songs at the opening of the album, The Normantones have elected to serve up some thought-provoking social comments for starters. Its remaining tracks comprise what could be considered the main course. 

The next two tracks pennd by Tony start a connected series of songs through which one is told a love story beginning with Gorgeous Game, which is about love at first sight and the initial stages of the courtship. Overtures then takes the incipient relationship to the next stage in which we become aware of the emotional “baggage” that Natalie (we even learn the name of one of the main protagonists) is burdened with, and patience and understanding are the order of the day.  

Following these two compositions of Tony’s, Anthony sings and takes writing credit for Let’s Take Time Together, in which he sings of the need, at its new stage, to cherish and to continue to take the relationship steadily; even though it’s clear that their feelings are becoming ever more intense.

In the Tony-penned No Way! we learn that the couple find themselves in a relationship that is no longer just platonic, which they both sense is extraordinary, and that neither wants to give up on.

In the ensuing, more up-tempo offerings, the first from Tony entitled Her, the boys share the lead vocals and sing of the sheer elation experienced, at last, at having found someone who is felt to be the one. That elation continues in Anthony's song, All That Matters.

However, with Prisoner, a ballad conceived by Tony way back in 1989, resurrected and re-recorded in order to take its rightful place among the other songs on Clarence Road, we are made to feel the bitter-sweet sensation of their genuine love possibly being tainted with feelings of obsession and ensnarement. Just for the record, it’s worth noting that Prisoner was destined to feature on Reviver, but the original version, which the boys maintain was the definitive version, featuring Anthony’s sister Tracey delivering a beautiful lead vocal (you can still hear her sing on the song Childsplay which is on Reviver), did not survive in good enough condition to do the song justice. 

In Anthony’s Somethin’ Too, the relationship has ruptured, and the song is a doleful and bewildered reflection on what could possibly have gone wrong, though with an acknowledgement that life must go on. 

The second of The Normantones’ Christmas themed offerings Ghosts is Tony’s final solo composition on the album. In it, the festive season is always haunted by painful reminiscences of the cherished love affair that was ultimately made to fail because of something that happened between “some guy…and you”. 

Dans Tes Bras Encore sees Back in Your Arms Again, one of the most listened to tracks on the Normantones’ Reviver album, reincarnated and sung in French - “the language of love” - thanks to a translation of the lyrics by Tony’s wife, Gill. Didier Martin delivers a passion-infused, heartrending version of the song in which both of The Normantones had a compositional hand. The lyrics tell of a tortuous inability to make the completely clean and permanent break they know would be for the best. 

This story-telling suite of songs and the album are then rounded off by Anthony’s two songs.  The first one is Clichés, in which the eventual ending of the relationship has created a somewhat hardened cynicism. Even the more robotic “synthy” feel of the track transmits the desensitisation and disillusionment felt at the end of the relationship. However, when Anthony sings, “It’s better to have loved and lost…” the clouds left by the demise of their love still have silver linings. His second song and the last track on the album, You Made Me Laugh, is about remembering the past relationship and the need to hit the reset button and start over. 

So there you have it, Clarence Road. The second catalogue of songs by The Normantones. A collection beginning with two overt social comments. After these, does it transform into a concept album of sorts? A romantic musical mosaic of sequential chapters telling the story of an ultimately hapless romance? The boys will let you be the judge. Play the songs in their original order on the track list if you’re intent on listening to the story they tell, or in shuffle mode if you prefer. Who knows? You may discover a superior blend and running order! Whatever, it’s clear that many hours of patient industry have gone into their making and that there is something for everyone… 

The debut album by The Normantones is a 14-song-strong collection is a real mixture of old and new. Anthony who produced this album recalls "There are six old tracks that have been carefully restored from the original 4-track master tapes with minimal additional production that was done mainly to enhance the sound quality and reduce "tape hiss"!  Some additional digital instrumentation was added to Mister Jones and For Liberty! but the rest are virtually as recorded way back in the 1980's!" Tony adds "It's been great to hear our old recordings on a digital platform and we have both enjoyed recording the new tracks too."

This album includes 8 new songs that have a retro and revivalist feel and blend seamlessly in with the older songs on this album.

This track is a new song written by Tony with an old feel. An upbeat but retro tale of Sally as it is a musical rumination of childhood memories. As this was one of the first singles to be released by The Normantones there is more about this track in the Singles section.

This song written by Anthony, when he was just 16, is the first "old" track on the album and when I asked Anthony about this song he said, "What you can hear now is as close to unchanged as you can get, also when I started the production on our album this track was a real surprise as I didn't have to do anything to the original apart from some slight alignment to each of the four tracks."  The song itself tells the story of the short life-span fame can be.

This songs sees a true Normantones production where Anthony has the hook, first verse and melody and Tony added the rest of the lyrics telling a story of a guy lost in his own feelings who "Didn'T Really Mean". Another track released as a single, there is more about this track in the Singles section.

A hymn of praise and acknowledgement sung by someone who realises that the love they receive from their partner is as indispensable as the light and warmth of the sun. When it isn't forthcoming, life feels desolate. Anyone who has ever been in love can identify with this Normantones offering.

The lyrics tell of a Mister Jones who has "poverty imposed" and is "imprisoned by his mediocrity". Although the song was peened back in the 80's the problem of pensioner poverty persists today. The song is The Normantones' musical indictment of this state of affairs. The lyric which says of Mister Jones that he "would laugh out loud" but maybe "laughed too loud", is a comment upon the often all too accepting "mustn't grumble" attitude that often typifies the British response the hardship.

Inspired by Walter Scott’s seminal novel of the same name. The subject matter of the song is one of the book’s beautiful and captivating subplots, namely the love triangle of Ivanhoe, Rowena and Rebecca. The guitar solo endeavours to capture the emotions of the lachrymose Rebecca at the end of the story, who has to accept that she has lost her beloved Ivanhoe to her Saxon rival, Rowena. Oh, Ivanhoe! Are you sure you married the right person?!

The Normantones share their exasperation at our post-truth political predicament and the ease with which too many people fall for, and unthinkingly accept, the disinformation, propaganda and falsehoods that are peddled by parts of the media and on social media. The result: unvarying, predictable views that are driven more by emotion than objective fact. Orwellian or what?!

Another single release in 2023 that made the album. This is a repeating lyric that is meant to highlight the message of everybody saying they are listening but then not hearing a single word you have said.

The Normantones recount the story of a soldier trying to make sense of their service and their sacrifice. “As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular”, so said Oscar Wilde. This is a song about the pity of war, its fascination and its vulgarity. 

The Normantones have produced a ballad, sung as a duet, that details a romance that is going so well, it is literally child’s play. In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote that “In love, the littlest doubts are fear” and this fear is manifested in the misgivings voiced in the song about whether the love will last: “Will it be the same tomorrow?”… 

The Normantones are telling this story from the perspective of one who knows that their partner’s wanderlust and errant heart spell the end of their love. The feeling that the grass is greener on the other side is prompting their erstwhile partner to “follow the sun”…

Unlike the one in Child’s Play, the relationship that is the subject of this melancholic ballad is painful, and its protagonist is pained. The hurt and distress is all too apparent. A story of love gone awry, something that most of us have experienced.

A brazenly 1960s flavoured Beatlesque ballad. The words “love me do” even make an appearance towards the song’s conclusion. The use of the 12-string acoustic guitar is reminiscent of the sound of The Seekers too. Respectfully and wonderfully retro, this one!

The Normantones do Motown! Although the spectre of someone struggling to break free from a controlling relationship haunts this song, the tune is an irrepressible ear-worm. Enough Said!

There they are, all the songs on the debut album from The Normantones. A mix of old and new, fast and slow, a blend of music from recent decades. As the group said to me recently, "We enjoyed revisiting, remixing and in some cases reinventing our old songs and put them alongside newly written material. We are both immensely proud of the results".