One of an ongoing series of books published by Spenwood Books which invites fans and colleagues to share their memories and stories regarding a particular artist or act, Iain Matthews: A People’s History covers the sixty plus years of his career from his first band Pyramid in 1965 through his time with Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort, Plainsong and, of course, his lengthy solo career.
Matthews should need no introduction to regular readers of Americana UK, as we have featured him in several articles. In the book’s forward (written by AUK contributor Rick Bayles), Bayles makes a case for considering him to be the “first UK americana artist”, citing in particular his work with Matthews Southern Comfort and his first two solo albums, If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes and Tigers Will Survive. While crediting Matthews as a songwriter of repute, Bayles notes his excellence at interpreting other artists’ songs (his one chart success was his version of Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock), with Matthews stating that he had first to identify with a song and believe he could take it “someplace else.”
The reminiscences shared here open with Ian MacDonald (as he was then called) working in a Carnaby Street shoe shop in London in 1965, having moved there from Scunthorpe, hoping to get into the music industry. John Hayes, then working for Radio Caroline, got chatting to Matthews while trying on some shoes and soon introduced him to the two other musicians who would join Matthews in Pyramid, with Hayes hoping to transform them into the British Beach Boys. His time with Fairport Convention is only briefly recalled by three fans who saw the band live in 1968 and ’69 (including a memory by Oliver Gray, another AUK contributor).
Perhaps inevitably the older accounts are the most interesting, an encounter with the short lived Mathews Southern Comfort at The Penthouse, Scarborough in 1970, Matthews, together with Richard Thompson and Andy Roberts, playing on one end of a basketball court while a basket ball game went on at the other end in a community centre in Virginia in 1971 and a Plainsong concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1972. The majority of the stories come from later years as Matthews toured solo or with revived versions of Plainsong or, more latterly, with musicians mainly drawn from the Netherlands, where he has lived since 2000. Most of them are not just an account of a live gig but of meeting with and talking to the man (and, in several cases, becoming acquainted with over the years), a fact facilitated that for much of his later career, Matthews was playing house concerts and small venues, barely scraping a living. There are several detailed tales from promoters and musicians (including Bart de Win and BJ Baartmans) which provide a degree of insight into the man, overall giving a rounded portrait of Matthews, who comes across as affable, although somewhat shy, still touring and recording at the age of 79.
The book is handsome with plenty of photographs and vintage cuttings, although there are a few typos which have sneaked past the proofreading. For a proper historical account of Matthews’ career, you would need to seek out his biography, but, for true fans, this is a fine companion piece.
