Gentle Men

Both of Robb Johnson’s grandfathers endured the third Battle of Ypres and the songwriter was invited to compose music for a concert for the annual Passendale Peace Concert. He produced Gentle Men, a suite of songs based on his grandfathers’ experiences. It was performed in 1997 and recorded by Belgian and British musicians, including singers Vera Coomans and Roy Bailey. The album was very well-received but Johnson was concerned that Gentle Men concentrated on biographical detail at the expense of theme and context, and that Britain’s recent military interventions altered these. So, with the centenary of ‘the war to end all wars’ approaching, he has recorded Gentle Men again, dropping some songs and including new ones.

Barb Jungr sings with powerful clarity; Roy Bailey, whose lovely voice has developed a touching fragility, is most moving; while Jenny Carr’s piano is brilliantly discreet. John Forrester adds double bass, Jude Abbot euphonium and Johnson guitar – and his grandfather’s banjo. Gentle Men is not a war requiem, in fact, only a few of the songs are directly about the conflict. One of the finest, ‘When You’re Seven Years Old’, is a wonderful evocation of boyhood, and the relationship of grandson with grandfather. Johnson’s melodies and lyrics are direct, powerful and tender – properly simple. Just occasionally the preachy note of the agitprop creeps in, and the songs would benefit from a few judicious cuts, but Gentle Men demonstrates the scope of the song form in the hands of an artist as accomplished, ambitious and humane as Robb Johnson.