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Album Review - Johnny Ray’s Downtown

Johnny Ray’s Downtown - Perry Keyes














I recently discovered singer/songwriter Perry Keyes and specifically his current album Johnny Ray’s Downtown and it’s been playing on the iPod ever since.

Keyes is a storyteller and in Johnny Ray’s Downtown he sings about life growing up in the tough inner city working class suburb of Redfern, about getting rejected, booze, drugs and death and whilst there are references to Sydney here, these themes are common to pretty much every city and town.

The are 16 tracks on the album and each one is part of the overall story that Keyes takes you on but the standout track for me is 1982 in which Keyes tells us that “You could get a job or go on the dole at fourteen and nine months, You could go to jail with Neddy Smith and those other useless c**ts” which gives you a bit of an idea. The brilliant vocals of Bek-Jean Stewart on Queen of Everyone’s Heart are also a standout. You can hear tracks from the album on Perry’s MySpace page.

Perry has said, “These songs are about real people I know.”

There are elements of this album that remind me of Paul Kelly along with Richard Clapton and Van Morrison.

One of the reasons for writing this journal is to mention the images by Johnny Barker that are included in a 128 page book/CD set that contains Keyes song notes and lyrics. Barkers’ bio says that after a long hiatus he picked up his camera again in 2006 and hasn’t put it down since. Keyes lyrics are reflected in Barkers images of the streets of the inner city and the marginalised that live and survive there. The book and its images are a perfect accompaniment to the album.

Those who enjoy a good story will enjoy this album and if you can, let Johnny Barker's images compliment that storytelling.

The album and the book/CD pack are available on line from http://www.perrykeyes.com and is available as limited edition of 200 which are signed and numbered.

Johnny Barkers Flickr photostream

This review has been written primarily as a exercise in writing, however if it prompts you to check out Perry Keyes songs and Johnny Barkers images then that's even better.

Sardines

People packed in like sardines, crowded, noisy, and smelly and not all those smells are food. Then again, may be it’s the sardines that stink. But hey, all that doesn’t matter does it, because how cool do they look.

15% Off All Framed and Canvas Prints

15% Discount on all framed and canvas prints for one week only - offer ends August 27

King Cannons played their Melbourne debut gig at The Penny Black in Brunswick recently. Great review here and the bonus for me is the comment about the street flyer catching the attention of the reviewer - the photo used was one that I did for the guys recently.

http://www.myspace.com/kingcannons

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Pinhole camera

Spent some time with friends yesterday making pinhole cameras using a range of items including match boxes. Exposures were captured on both film and also directly onto photographic paper.

Developing was done with a coffee and washing soda mix, vinegar and some commercial fixer.

I will need to refine the pinhole to help make sharper images and work out how to mount the camera to avoid camera shake. All in all happy with the first attempt.