What a shame! When I heard the B-side to 'John Taylor's Month Away' was to be a reworking of my favourite King Creosote track, I was beside (no pun intended) myself with excitement. What a disappointment to discover that the new recording is completely 'uninspiring and missionary' in comparison to the pacy original on 'Kenny & Beth's Musakal Boat Rides' (2003). I am a huge fan of the folky drones Jon Hopkins adds to Kenny Anderson's music and hold up 'Diamond Mine' (2011) as one of last years finest releases, but with 'Missionary' the trick doesn't work for me. It strips the original of everything I love about it and seems a step too far in much the same way as George Martin's reworking of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' (without any guitars?) for the Beatles 'Love' (2006) album. That's right... I just compared them to the Beatles! Thankfully the A-side is one of their finest and still warrants the purchase. A brilliant two-chord song about Kenny Anderson's fisherman neighbour, all of which is explained in their 'How I wrote...' session for the Guardian.
The 7" is limited to 500 copies and is available from Piccadilly Records
Below is a guitar rendition of 'Missionary' filmed at the Pittenweem Festival in 2006.
