Open-minded music heads prepared to take a punt on something slightly off the wall have already been rewarded in spades by ‘Town’: the debut album by Shropshire lads and lasses Shifty Chicken Shed which was unleashed on an unsuspecting world in June 2013.
An unholy alliance of Blurt, Beefheart and the Bonzos, the majestic ‘Town’ was a mighty statement of intent from the wondrous Welsh borders and it featured songs about pomegranates, blokes from the forestry commission smashing up regional radio stations and, erm, Matthew Kelly.
All damn good stuff and still well worth revisiting, but the record’s artistic success begged the question: where would these self-styled proponents of charity shop pop turn to next for inspiration? Well, they’ve only gone and done it, haven’t they? They’ve returned with a freakin’ concept LP called ‘Mr. Pergola’s Ever Creasing Shirt’ and guess what? It’s soddin’ ace. Again.
So what’s the deal with said concept? Well, gather round, ‘cos the Shifties are gonna tell you a story and it’s a bloody good one. The bare bones of the plot concern a fella called Malcolm. He’s got a big problem with gambling. So much so, he drives his long-suffering wife away, goes through the mill, bets everything he’s got left on a horse and it wins. He goes further off the rails and finally gets it together at the seaside before turning to God and seeing the light. Of sorts. There’s more, of course, but that should whet your appetite. There’s also a full-length feature film in the works relating to the whole shebang and I can’t wait to see that either.
Thing is, though, while it’s good fun to follow the thread of the story throughout the album, you don’t especially need to be aware of the concept to enjoy the songs individually. The record takes up where ‘Town’ left off with ‘Crash On Welsh Wall Street’, an agricultural-strength mash-up of P-Funk grooves, wah-wah guitars and Ifor Williams trailers. It’s arguably heavier than anything from ‘Town’ and indeed, much of this gear is louder, brawnier and groovier, with tracks such as the delta-fried ‘Robbing Bastards’ and the hedonistic ‘Lurvpak’ hotwiring Leadbelly, Led Zeppelin and a field full of combine harvesters. Funky rustic? You betcha last bag of manure it is.
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This being the ever-inventive Shifties, however, there’s far more to ‘Mr. Pergola…’ than just grooves and mindless boogie. The smouldering ‘Racing News’ for example, segues smartly into the divorce-related ‘Decree Nici’ - wherein the melody cheekily apes ‘If I Was A Rich Man’ before giving way to a deep, sensuous sax solo – while ‘Malcolm’ is an atypically tender almost love song and the cranky, infectious ‘Elephant In The Room’ ought to be trumpeting out of radios up and down the land.
There’s a further morass of magic to traverse before the album winds down, with the hallucinatory, almost psychobilly R’n’B of ‘King Clue’ and the (literally) testicle-twisting ‘In The Company Of Parramedics’ (sic) leading to the blissful, seaside chill-out of ‘Coast’, where the story’s hero heads to get his act together in a place “where the toilets are grand.” The track lulls you into a false sense of security as it eventually stretches over 8 minutes, though it’s a mere lightweight when compared with the grand finale of ‘Up In The Dumps’. In effect Shifty Chicken Shed’s very own ‘Keep On Chooglin’, this latter is a fascinating gonzoid blow-out lasting all of 13 minutes, yet it’s nary a second too long.
So there you have it. Will Malcolm live to pray another day? Will the rumpled garment referred to in the album’s title get a decent wash and press and will this tremendous band from darkest Shropshire up the ante once again? We can only await the next gripping instalment from these singular wizards of Oswestry.
Shifty Chicken Shed online
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