Reading the accompanying information sheet, it would seem that Glyn Bailey has had a varied life so far. First he spent the 80’s and 90’s in bands like The Urbane Gorillas and Harvey’s Wall Of Sound before getting political and ending up working full time for a Labour Member of Parliament in the post-Thatcherite Government era (though he is at pains to point out that he has since become disillusioned with Blair’s party post-Iraq). Based on all that, you’d expect Glyn to have plenty of life experience with which to write about … and you wouldn’t be wrong.
‘Toys For Balsa’ features a variety of themes and subjects: the break up of a relationship from the child’s perspective, being in a relationship but wanting someone else, abuse in a relationship, jealousy, dreaming about Laurel and Hardy in heaven, John and Yoko in bed with a pet, a plastic bag and cannibalism. With such subjects, you’d expect this to be a dark and heavy album to listen to but Bailey tempers the seriousness of the material with quirky instrumentation and arrangements and also a sense of playfulness. Indeed, you understand better when you see that influences include Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon, The Flaming Lips and, erm, George Formby.
However, the overriding influence is David Bowie, so much so that Glyn’s voice sounds eerily like the Thin White Duke from the early 70’s and you could be forgiven for thinking that this album was a collection of recently uncovered demo material of Bowie’s.
There are plenty of straight ahead guitar pop rock songs here such as ‘Sorry (She Went Down On Me But I Thought About You)’, ‘The Plastic Bad Song (Facts)’. Alongside these is the heart wrenching piano ballad ‘East & West’ with its duetting male and female vocals, ‘Missing’ which could be Bruce Springsteen singing along to a strummed acoustic guitar, and ‘L’Humanite’ which sounds like a waltz crossed with a West End musical.
The level of variety on this album is not in question however, for the most part, it does sound rather dated in its arrangements, instrumentation and production. It sounds like an album you’ve rediscovered after 20 years of leaving on the shelf. A more comtemporary producer probably could have given ‘Toys For Balsa’ at more 21st Century resonance.
There is plenty to enjoy here but I can’t help but feel that with the right guiding hand this album could have been so much more. Saying that however, for a self financed recording, this is a fair stab.