Album Review: Tom Clarke – The Chronicles of Nigel
••• The Chronicles of Nigel •••
Tom Clarke returns with his first solo and post The Enemy album titled ‘The Chronicles of Nigel’.
‘The Chronicles of Nigel’ is available now exclusively through Tom Clarke’s official website here: https://tomclarkemusic.bigcartel.com/product/the-chronicles-of-nigel-an-album-by-tom-clarke-cd-first-edition
Tom takes on a very interesting direction with his first album by going straight into a concept album, one which focuses on Nigel from The Enemy‘s fan favourite tune ‘Be Somebody’. Another interesting fact about Nigel is that this isn’t the first time that Tom Clarke has enhanced the tale of Nigel, the story in ‘Be Somebody‘ is progressed from the XTC classic track ‘Making Plans For Nigel‘.
‘Be Somebody’ is a track brimming with optimism on The Enemy‘s second album ‘Music For The People’. This is where Nigel meets a local girl and becomes a somebody every weekend after being a nobody at work all week, a relatable story for many. It’s a good idea to listen to this track before starting the album to see the contrast between then and now (10 years later) as ‘The Chronicles of Nigel’ focuses on the demise of Nigel and his now wife who we find out is called Shelly who funny enough is also from The Enemy‘s ‘Technodanceaphobic’.
Also intertwined throughout the album is the story of Bob and Sue, these are Nigel’s parents who hide behind the mask of the perfect relationship.
The album opens with ‘Remember When‘ and instantly you know that this isn’t going to be a happy ever after story. When the lyrics kick in, this confirms that they are no longer in a good place with “Do you remember when we fell in love? Where are we now? What happened to us?“. The track also has references to ‘Be Somebody‘ with the lyrics, “Do you remember when we fell in love? You sold perfume downstairs in Debenhams, you said I had a heart of solid gold“.
Without giving too much away, ‘The Chronicles of Nigel’ takes you on a journey of relationship boredom, temptation, infidelity, violence, loneliness and heart break. This is all driven by Tom’s piano playing, this is a great way to add emotion into the tracks and even more clever is the way Tom manages to transport you into the scene with the power of his music, ‘I’m Looking At You‘ makes you feel as if you have had a few in an old Tavern, whilst ‘Ooh La La‘ has a voyeurism vibe as Nigel takes it too far in the family car. And ‘RSVP‘ takes you back to those cheesy wedding receptions of the 80’s and 90’s and has a bit of an ABBA feel to it. This track also deals with the loneliness of being newly single and being invited to a wedding reception but not to the wedding because quite frankly, you are not that important.
The whole story comes to a big showdown with ‘Oh Sue, What Have You Done‘, the music has a saloon gunslinger vibe and starts with a drunken and heartbroken Nigel escaping the wedding reception through a fire escape. The tune also has more The Enemy references too, Nigel says, “I’m sure I used to, to ‘Be Somebody, but my eyes are wet and memories foggy, I remember fights next to fruit machines.” This indicated that Nigel was also the one fighting next to a fruit machine in The Enemy‘s ‘This Song Is About You’.
‘The Chronicles of Nigel’ won’t be for everybody and if you are not deep into The Enemy a lot of this will probably go over your head, Tom Clarke knows this too and has said that this will be a Marmite album. But for those that are into brilliant songwriting and Jarvis Cocker-Esque storytelling, you will enjoy the album. It’s great to hear The Enemy references and to find out what happened to Nigel and Shelly (The Local Girl). it is also very clever that you can’t just listen to one track as it won’t make any sense but you need to listen to the full album. The album runs like a musical and would be amazing to have one long music video which spans the full album.
If the album isn’t for you, Tom Clarke has also said that a second and a very different album is on the way so keep your eyes on Tom’s Twitter and The Enemy pages.
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