Win one of 15 pairs of tickets for Dean Friedman's 2009 Tour Win one of 15 pairs of tickets for Dean Friedman's 2009 Tour
By Tony Watts - Editor - 21/07/2009
If you, like MT editor Tony Watts, still harbour a soft spot for one of the finest troubadours to come out of the ‘70s, you’ll want to know of his upcoming tour – and the chance to win a pair of tickets to see him at over 30 venues around the UK.
I admit it. I was one of the hundreds of thousands of people who rushed out to buy the first, eponymous Dean Friedman album in 1977 on the strength of hearing the soaring, ecstatic ‘Ariel’… “I met a young girl, she sang mighty fine, Tears on my Pillow and Ave Maria…” I wasn’t disappointed. Just 22 he may have been at the time but he seemed to have sprung fully grown into the adult world of arty, folk rock – thoughtful lyrics, wry observations and a voice that seemed to burn its way into your consciousness.
“It might have seemed like I was just suddenly there,” he says. “But I’d been writing, singing and making demos since I was 15. I had a wall covered with rejection letters from recording companies. By the time the album came out, it seemed to me like it had been a long time!”
The second album tumbled out straight after it. ‘Well, Well, said the Rocking Chair’, if anything, was even better. OK, ‘Lucky Stars’ is schmaltzy, but ‘Shopping Bag Ladies’ and ‘I’ve Had Enough’ take you well beyond the boy meets girl, boy argues with girl/ makes up schtick. These are keenly observed social comments.
But in 1981– just four years on from launching himself into the music world – Dean hit the buffers. “Rumpled Romeo came out, and we released McDonalds Girl as a single. But people like the BBC didn’t like it – they said it was a commercial plug. Perhaps they thought people would listen to the record and rush out and buy lots of burgers.”
The result was being banned and soon after, Dean found himself without a record label and promoter. It was another 17 years before he released another album. “I never stopped writing or playing music,” he says. “I stopped touring until the kids got big enough to carry their own luggage. But I was doing other things as well – getting involved in all sort of multi-media stuff.”
In fact he was helping to blaze the way in virtual reality, having seen and fallen in love with the technology and creating the first game – and the music to go with it. He also kept his hand in writing film and television music – including the theme tune for Boon. He wrote the definitive manual for synthesizers. But for his music fans, it seemed like Dean Friedman had disappeared off the planet.
But curiously the record that caused him so much grief in 1981 helped him re-stake his claim in the public consciousness. McDonalds Girl was covered by Canadian band Bare Naked Ladies and then Norwegian band Blender. Suddenly that track was taken up by acapella bands and choirs. “It’s amazing,” says Dean. “Go on Youtube and there are loads of covers on there!” And it was the internet that reconnected him to his fan base.
“I didn’t have a recording contract but I had a website with lots of fans visiting. They persuaded me to release my new material – and their pre-orders helped fund it.” Dean was, astonishingly, back literally by public request and Songs for Grown Ups (1998) showed that none of the talent had evaporated in the intervening years. “I had always been writing new material,” he says, “so Songs for Grown Ups – which is a double album, is like the ‘best of’ from those years.
“Sitting down and writing a new song is always a challenge. But I only tend to write the songs that somehow I feel need to be written.
Of course, the songs have changed over the years. I’m not writing about teenage love any more!”
The success of that album encouraged him to start touring the UK again, where – as he readily admits – he has enjoyed more success here than in his home country. “It’s so much easier to come to the UK,” he says. “It’s smaller. I can book venues and publicise them for far less than I ever could in the States. And I’ve always sold as many records here as over there.”
His latest material is all available through his website, although for his earlier albums you’ll have to go through Amazon. “I still don’t have control of that material,” he says. But hopefully I will in 2013!” In between, vinyl versions of his early records are now collectors’ items.
Meanwhile, through www.deanfriedman.com and his tours he is not only reconnecting to his old fan base, but acquiring a new one. You can catch up with Dean’s tour at the following venues.
July 10 Bridport Arts Centre
11 Falmouth, Princess Pavilion
12 Paignton, Palace Theatre
15 Braintree, High-Barn
16 Bristol Thunderbolt
17 Taunton Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre
18 Dunstable, The Grove
20/21 Henley-on-Thames The Crooked Billet (no free tickets)
22 Wolverhampton, The Robin
23 Leicester, The Musician
24 Bury,The Met
25 New Brighton, Fort Perch Rock
August 7 Glasgow, Renfrew Ferry
8 Isle of Man, Centenary Centre
12-16 Edinburgh Fringe,
The Lot - Jazz Centre
18 Aberdeen, Lemon Tree
19 – 23 Edinburgh Fringe,
The Lot - Jazz Centre
27 Cardiff The Globe
October 3 Southport Arts Centre
6 Doncaster Civic Theatre
7 Newark Palace Theatre
8 Halesworth New Cut Arts Centre
10 London, Bloomsbury Theatre
14 Dunfermline,Carnegie Hall
15 St. Andrews, Byre Theatre
16 Darlington Arts Centre
17 Liverpool, The Cavern
18 Otley, Courthouse
20 Crawley, Hawth Theatre
21 Farnham Maltings
22 New Milton, Forest Arts Centre
23 Winchester, Tower Arts
24 Worcester, Huntingdon Hall
To win one of 15 pairs of tickets across any of these venues, tell us the answer to this question, taken from one of his songs. If you’re uncertain, his lyrics are all on his website.
What type of vehicle was Dean driving when he picked up Ariel to take her to his gig: a Ford pickup, a Cadillac or a VW van? And tell us which venue you would like tickets for!
Entries ASAP please for the earlier gigs and August 31 for the October ones. or write to: Friedman, Mature Times, Highwood House Publishing, Winters Lane, Redhill BS40 5SH.