A few months ago I had the pleasure of witnessing Lupen Crook perform some songs live, to an intimate and appreciative audience on a hot summer night on the south east coast of England. The spirit of that show permeates his new single – his first new music since 2023.
Tender and witty, the acoustic lament Goodbye Lazy Jane sees him mature further as a songwriter. There are still glimmers of his trademark antagonism and rebellious, anarchic tendencies (“they won’t take me alive”) and knowing, tongue-in-cheek lines (“I smoked a cool cigarette, but not as cool as yours”) but with an added conventionality that – if there’s any justice in the world – should see his music appeal to broader swathes of the populous. Crook has always written songs for the weirdos and the wanton, the dirty and the damned – but I think it’s high-time others were let in on Britain’s best-kept songwriting secret too.
As excellent as the songwriting is, it’s the combination of the many and varied contributors that make this recording what it is. From the backing vocals by Ty Watling (who also contributed to the arrangement) and Steven Quincey-Jones to his ever present collaborator Willow Vincent on synthesiser – this is a team effort and it’s all the better for it.
In the final third he channels The Beatles with the addition of a trumpet (performed by Duncan Mackay) invoking the Fab Four and gives a reverential nod to the melody from “Can’t Help Falling In Love” on the way out. Mentioned in the same breath as The Beatles and Elvis Presley – that’s not bad is it? More of the same please Mr. Crook!
Written by Black Rainbow Collective
