David Walls - the man much better known as Ginger, iconic frontman of Brit-rock legends The Wildhearts and probably one of the best-loved hard-luck heroes of his generation - just can’t stop making music.
With the ink hardly dry on The Wildhearts‘ eponymous return to form last year, here comes Market Harbour – a twenty-one track solo album that shows there’s much more going on in Ginger’s head than the standard rock and roll fare he’s best known for.
There are a few rocky numbers on Market Harbour, but compared to the raucous punch of The Wildhearts they’re mellow and reflective, not to mention shot through with samples and instruments from off the beaten track of rock. It’s all the more impressive when you realise that everything you hear on Market Harbour has been written, played and produced by Ginger himself – all sixty unbroken minutes of it.
Tunes like “Josser Bank”, “Attentionette” and opening track “Casino Bay” have that familiar yet indefinable zing that marks The Wildhearts – bright catchy rock hooks, memorable melodies and choruses. These contrast with and complement Ginger’s more thoughtful and melancholic numbers, like the Springsteen-in-a-lonely-bar blues and string section of “Awareness And The Great Integrity”, the seemingly unironic AOR balladry of “Regret.com”, or the fifties doo-wop pop of “Couple Trouble”.
Scattered throughout Market Harbour are little snippets and fragments that range from the surreal to the sublime – the latter covered by the Celtic blues-skiffle mash-up of “The Ninns Of Mourning”, the former including the multicultural sample-psychedelia of “Soap Hammer” and the fairground fun of “You And Me (That’s What I Want)”. These little segues give Market Harbour a sense of flow and immersion – it’s a little like a movie without any pictures.
If it were a movie, it’d be one about hard times and lessons learned. Broken relationships and sticky situations are a common lyrical theme all through Market Harbour, though the potential darkness is brightened by Ginger’s irrepressible humour. Life is serious, he seems to say, but sometimes you have to laugh at it anyhow – even when it’s just kicked you in the teeth.
Given the rollercoaster ride of Ginger’s career, a philosophical attitude is only to be expected. He’s learned a lot of things the hardest way, and Market Harbour seems to be a way of sharing them with the world. As one of the verses from “Attentionette” goes:
“you promise that it’s over / but here you are again / it’s OK to make mistakes / if we learn from them”
What is most notable is the lack of bitterness; Market Harbour sounds like the work of a man who has come to terms with the world, warts and all. It’s an album about picking yourself up and dusting yourself off; about transcending the past and laying the bad times to rest. It’s about taking that one step forward, no matter the odds against you.
That very attitude, coupled with the cornucopia of styles, will be enough to ensure that Market Harbour will never be a huge commercial success - the truth is always a hard sell - but I’d be willing to bet good money it was never intended to be. Ginger’s legion of loyal fans will love it for what it is: a glimpse into the mind of their hero. And that’s a sort of success that money will never be able to measure.
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