When Mint Audio Records left Peter Skellern on The Complete Decca Recordings, the British singer-songwriter-pianist had completed his 1972-1975 tenure at Decca Records after three studio albums and one odds-and-ends collection.  Now, Mint has continued the Skellern story with the release of a new 3-CD set, The Complete Island and Mercury Recordings, covering 1975-1982 via six full albums and a handful of bonus tracks.  This beautiful anthology chronicles his path from singer-songwriter to interpretive singer.  It's every bit as compelling as its predecessor, shedding light on the too-underrated artist best known for the much-covered ballad "You're a Lady."

"I think out of all the English people I've heard so far, the best is Peter Skellern.  He reminds me of Harry Nilsson, full of potential," observed George Harrison as quoted in the liner notes by compilation producer-remastering engineer Richard Moore.  1975's Hard Times, Skellern's only release on Island, offered ten tracks of quirky, whimsical rock-and-roll marked by intricate, stacked vocal arrangements.  Produced by a pseudonymous Geoffrey Haslam (MC5, Bette Midler, The J. Geils Band) and arranged by boasting string arrangements from Andrew Pryce Jackman, Hard Times immediately invited comparison to Nilsson at his most eclectic and inventive.  (It's not entirely coincidental; Harry's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night producer Derek Taylor helmed a previous Skellern album.)  It makes its CD debut here.

The title track - with its pounding, Neil Sedaka-esque piano - would later be covered by another Beatle, Ringo Starr, while Harrison added slide guitar to the effusive admonition to "Make Love, Not War."  But Skellern wouldn't remain long in one bag.  The album also features a slinky, shifting pop opus ("Down in the Cellar"), a striking piece of choral writing (the appropriately-named "A Cappella"), an intimate, gentle ballad ("Let's Sleep Late"), and a breezy, sweetly romantic ode flecked with Moog flourishes ("And Then You Fall").  The bouncy, wordless, and insistently catchy "Snake Bite" with its swirling synth could have doubled as a television theme.

Despite the strength of the material, Hard Times didn't sell, and Island passed on Skellern's next LP.  Kissing in the Cactus, co-produced by Skellern and Haslam, was picked up by Mercury for release in 1977.  The album (also making its CD premiere) was the first to be engineered by Steve James who would quickly become a favorite collaborator of Skellern's for his ability to translate the artist's concepts into soundscapes.  There's a smooth and mellow air to Kissing in the Cactus somewhat redolent of the soft but sophisticated sounds of so-called yacht rock; the sleek "Soft Falls the Rain" has a shimmer worthy of the Beach Boys.  The disco-friendly "Now That I Need You" is but one example of Skellern at his most invitingly commercial while the thumping "The Gun That Won the West" flirts with a similarly slick sound in spite of its more esoteric lyric.  "Oh What a Night for Love" is a reminder of Skellern's pure, elegant songcraft.  But smooth shouldn't be mistaken for simple.  Skellern hardly reined in his ambitions, transporting the listener to the nightspot in "Tonight in El Greco's" ("...off the Bayswater Road/Manuel will dream of home/While a semi-pro combo play wild Latin rhythms/Manuel will dance alone...") with chatter, clinking glasses, and the sound of that Latin combo.  Even a frothy dancer such as the falsetto-led "My Teacher, She Say" proves irresistible.  The single versions of "Now That I Need You" and "Oh What a Night for Love," both remixed for a bigger, bolder sound, have been appended to Kissing in the Cactus.

1978's Skellern pulled out even more of the stops, thanks in large part to the contributions of The Grimethorpe Colliery Band.  The brass ensemble added heft and gravitas to Skellern's compositions which, more than ever, eschewed contemporary sounds.  Both the writing and arrangements were designed to be "old-fashioned" in the best sense of the phrase.  Indeed, much of Skellern could double as the soundtrack to a lost movie musical from four decades earlier - whether the sweetly appealing "When I Got You" or "While I'm Away," swinging instrumental "Big 'G'," or the romantic ballads ranging from the sweeping ("You and I") to the low-key ("While I'm Away").  The album's closer, "Where Do We Go from Here," even builds to a climax in the manner of a musical's grand finale.

But two tracks on Skellern anticipated his next album release: Ray Noble's "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" and Harry Woods' "When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful."  The covers were faithful to the originals but made full use of Peter's trademark multitracked vocals, the brass band, and the studio wizardry perfected with Steve James.  (Note that the intimate "Put Out the Flame" was included on both Kissing in the Cactus and Skellern.  It's only been included once on this set, on the latter album, where it fits much more comfortably thanks to its retro sound.)

"Love Is the Sweetest Thing" garnered some airplay as well as a slot on Top of the Pops, and Skellern hit upon the notion of recording an entire album of standards.  (Harry Nilsson did beat him to the punch with 1973's A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night.)  For inspiration, he turned to the man who arguably introduced more classic songs than anybody else: Fred Astaire.  Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, Cole Porter, and Jerome Kern all wrote enduring melodies specifically for him, and Peter included songs by all of them on the tribute album he simply called Astaire.  While Astaire is best-remembered today for his fleet footwork, no less an eminence than Berlin observed in 1976, "[He's] not just a great dancer; he's a great singer of songs.  He's as good as any of them - as good as Jolson or Crosby or Sinatra.  He's just as good a singer as he is a dancer - not necessarily because of his voice, but by his conception of projecting a song."

Skellern brought a great deal of affection to 1979's Astaire, believably conjuring the style of a bygone era.  He surrounded his engaging if modest, somewhat mannered vocal instrument with a rhythm section and the returning Grimethorpe Colliery Band.  Skellern and Andrew Pryce Jackman once again handled the arrangements.  They treated the melodies with respect, resisting any urge to embellish them - something the fastidious Berlin would have certainly appreciated.  Its ten songs were rendered in a period style much closer to Astaire's originals than to subsequent interpretations by Sinatra and friends.  But Skellern would surprise with a heavenly choir here or an oom-pah dash of brass there, making the instantly recognizable likes of "Cheek to Cheek," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Night and Day" both fresh and comfortably familiar at the same time.  He also took the opportunity to record the less-heard introductory verses to "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off."  Skellern is stronger on the quieter numbers than the big ones, but his love of the material is never in doubt.  Astaire approved of the tribute; Richard Moore shares the star's assessment in the liner notes ("I am familiar with Mr. Skellern and this is one of his best works").

The non-LP single sides "East of Elephant Rock" and "[Theme From] East of Elephant Rock," from the 1977 film drama of the same name, close the second disc of this collection.  The third presents Skellern's final two Mercury albums from 1980 and 1982, respectively: Still Magic and A String of Pearls.  On these LPs, Skellern stayed mostly within the standards bag.  Still Magic included four originals and six classics (three co-written by one of his songwriting heroes, Hoagy Carmichael) but he slightly updated the sound of the latter with soft keyboard textures in addition to his warm cocktail piano.  Peter led the rhythm section on keyboards and vibes, and the album also welcomed the Equale Brass and London Saxophone Quartet.  Of the four Skellern songs, two ("Too Much I'm in Love," "Still Magic") hailed from his Decca days.  The atmospheric instrumental "Cold Feet" has a pronounced Gallic influence, and "I'm Over Her" returned Skellern to a pleasant soft rock groove.

A String of Pearls was an even more explicit successor to Astaire, with nine vintage standards and just one original song.  You can't go wrong, however, with Harold Arlen, the Gershwins, and Harry Warren and Al Dubin - and Skellern certainly didn't.  Skellern and Steve James introduced the LP's brassy big band sound on Murray Semos and Frank Stanton's jaunty 1949 tune "Busy Line" before launching into delightful renditions of tunes both familiar ("They All Laughed," "All or Nothing at All," "Stormy Weather") and less well-known ("The Clouds Will Soon Roll By," "Deep Henderson," "Symphony in Riffs").  Skellern's own ivory-tickling "Tell Me That That Ain't Wrong" fit snugly into the tunestack with its period arrangement.  The band positively cooks throughout, especially on the instrumental "Deep Henderson," making for a somewhat livelier listen than the mostly mellow Still Magic.  The choral parts frequently have the high, lighter-than-air sound of 1930s Hollywood musicals. 

Skellern never gets under the skin of these songs; he's not a probing interpreter in the mold of Sinatra or Bennett (or Astaire, for that matter, whose art was more understated).  But his seeming joy in crafting these records, recreating a then-unfashionable style of orchestration, sprinkling his ethereal choral magic, and singing these timeless old melodies is palpable to the listener.  Disc 3 of the collection is completed by the inclusion of the genial non-LP side "Dreaming" from the ATV television series Roots.

The set is housed in an old school "fatboy" double jewel case with beautiful artwork and disc labels courtesy of art director/designer John Sellards.  (Full disclosure: John is responsible for the artwork adorning numerous Second Disc Records/Real Gone Music releases including the recent Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings from Michael Nesmith.)  The 24-page booklet has comprehensive liner notes from Richard Moore as well as an introduction from Peter Skellern's longtime manager and friend Peter Stirling.  The Complete Island and Mercury Recordings is a fitting celebration of this chapter of the artist's career.  It wasn't over yet - not by a long shot.  Hopefully a third volume in this series will continue the story of this singular entertainer.

Peter Skellern's The Complete Island and Mercury Recordings is available at the link below.

Peter Skellern, The Complete Island and Mercury Recordings (Mint Audio CDMT0017, 2021)

CD 1

Hard Times (Island ILPS 9352, 1975)

1. Hard Times
2. I Guess You Wish You'd Gone Home
3. Baby What a Fool I've Been
4. Down in the Cellar
5. Goodbye, America, Keep You Well
6. Snake Bite
7. Make Love, Not War
8. A Capella
9. Let's Sleep Late
10. And Then You Fall

Kissing in the Cactus (Mercury 9109 700, 1977)

11. Soft Falls the Rain
12. A Shadow of a Dream
13. Tonight in El Greco's
14. Now That I Need You
15. Save Me
16. The Gun That Won the West
17. Oh What a Night for Love
18. Kissing in the Cactus
19. My Teacher, She Say
20. Now That I Need You (Single Version) (Island single WIP 6260, 1975) (*)
21. Oh What a Night for Love (Island single 6300, 1976) (Single Version) (*)

CD 2

Skellern (Mercury 9109 701, 1978)

1. You and I
2. When I Got You
3. Big "G"
4. 'ts All 'Cos o' You
5. While I'm Away
6. Love Is the Sweetest Thing
7. Sweet Words
8. When Somebody Thinks You're Wonderful
9. Put Out the Flame (Mercury EP 6198 187, 1978) (*)
10. Where Do We Go From Here (Mercury single 6007 246, 1979) (*)

Astaire (Mercury 9109 702, 1979)

11. Isn't This a Lovely Day
12. Cheek to Cheek
13. They Can't Take That Away from Me
14. The Way You Look Tonight
15. The Continental (You Kiss While You Dance)
16. Puttin' on the Ritz
17. No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)
18. Let's Call the Whole Thing Off
19. Night and Day
20. Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails
21. East of Elephant Rock (Mercury EP 6198 187, 1978) (*)
22. Theme from "East of Elephant Rock" (Mercury EP 6198 187, 1978) (*)

CD 3

Still Magic (Mercury 6359 036, 1980)

1. Raining in My Heart
2. Two Sleepy People
3. Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby
4. Skylark
5. Deep Purple
6. Too Much, I'm in Love
7. Cold Feet
8. Still Magic
9. Memphis in June
10. Over Her

A String of Pearls (Mercury MERL 10, 1982)

11. Busy Line
12. The Clouds Will Soon Roll By
13. Tell Me That That Ain't Wrong
14. Deep Henderson
15. I'll String Along with You
16. They All Laughed
17. About a Quarter to Nine
18. All or Nothing at All
19. Stormy Weather
20. Symphony in Riffs
21. Dreaming (Mercury single MER 83, 1981) (*)

(*) bonus track