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Kevin Coyne

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(This page covers Kevin Coyne as a solo artist and with the band Siren, also known as Coyne-Clague and Clague)
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Kevin Coyne (27 January 1944 - 2 December 2004) was a musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. The former "anti-star" was born on 27 January 1944 in Derby, UK, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Germany, on 2 December 2004.

Coyne is notable for his unorthodox style of blues-influenced guitar composition, the intense quality of his vocal delivery, and his bold treatment of injustice to the mentally ill in his lyrics. Many influential music figures have described themselves as Coyne fans, among them Sting and John Lydon. In the mid-1970s, prior to the formation of The Police, Coyne's band included guitarist Andy Summers. Prominent BBC disc jockey and world music authority Andy Kershaw has described Coyne as "a national treasure who keeps getting better" and as one of the great British blues voices.

Over many years Coyne produced the distinctive art work for many of his own album covers, but his move to Germany in the 1980s saw his work on full size paintings blossom in its own right. (Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel[]

Kevin Coyne was one of the artists associated with Peel's Dandelion label who remained favourites of the DJ long after the label's demise. Peel signed him to Dandelion, together with bassist Dave Clague, as a duo called Coyne-Clague. According to Peel on Dutch TV programme, Lola Da Musica, he received a demo without any return address or phone number and was so desperate to contact them that he pasted 'wanted' notices on lamp-posts asking anyone who knew them to get in touch.

The duo soon became a full band, Siren, who recorded two albums for Dandelion, Siren (1969) and Strange Locomotion (1971). After Siren broke up, Coyne recorded his first solo LP, Case History (1972), also for Dandelion, and this made enough of an impression for him to be signed by Virgin, for whom he recorded ten albums between 1973 and 1980. He later recorded for Cherry Red Records, moved to Germany in 1985 and continued to record and perform there.

His first appearance on Peel's shows was on a Coyne-Clague session, which went out on the final "son of Night Ride" programme of 24 September 1969. Ten solo sessions followed, the first nine between 1973 and 1982, and the final one in 1990, and although Peel played his material less frequently during the 1980s and 1990s, it did not disappear completely from his playlists. In 2004 Peel played tracks from Coyne's then current album, Donut City - although the singer's final BBC session, shortly before his death in December 2004, was for Andy Kershaw, who also rated him highly (see above). This was broadcast on November 7 2004 and included a tribute to Peel.

In 2005, 'The Stride', released originally under the name Clague, was among the favourite 45s found in John Peel's Record Box.

Festive Fifty Entries[]

  • None

Sessions[]

9 solo sessions (one with Gordon Smith), plus one with Coyne-Clague. Ken's book refers to him having done 11 sessions, though only 10 are listed. A couple of tracks appear in the Peel Session releases below from an additional session, but are actually from a Rock On session (added as session 2a below for reference). Official releases:
- Tracks marked * from #2, #2a, #3, #5, #7, #8 and #10 on Peel Sessions LP/CD, 1990 (Strange Fruit SFRLP112 / SFRCD112)
- ‘Marlene’ from #2a on Various Artists: Before The Fall: The Peel Sessions 77-77 CD, 1991 (Strange Fruit, SFRCD 203)

Coyne-Clague

1. Recorded 1969-08-28. First broadcast 24 September 1969. Repeated

  • The Stride / I Wonder Where / Sixteen Women / Get Right Church
Solo

1. Recorded 1973-01-21. First broadcast 30 January 1973. Repeated 20 March 1973.

  • Mummy! / Smile / Pretty Park / Breathe In Deep

2. (with Gordon Smith) Recorded: 1973-08-20. 18 September 1973. Repeated 04 December 1973

  • Karate King / Everybody's Saying / The Fat Girl / Chicken Wing

2a (Rock On session). First broadcast 6th October 1973. Recorded: 1973-09-27.

  • Marlene* / Cheat Me* / Lonesome Valley / I Want My Crown

3. Recorded 1974-01-24. First broadcast 31 January 1974. Repeated 11 April 1974

  • Poor Swine* / Need Somebody* / Araby* / Do Not Shout At Me Father*

4. Recorded 1974-06-04. First broadcast 25 June 1974. Repeated 06 August 1974

  • Mrs. Hooley Go Home / It's Not So Bad / The Stride / Blame It On The Night

5. Recorded 1974-11-26. First broadcast 10 December 1974. Repeated 03 March 1975, 18 August 1977

  • The Miner's Song* / Evil Island Home* / Looking For The River / Dance Of The Bourgeoisie*

6. Recorded 1977-03-07. First broadcast 18 March 1977. Repeated 25 April 1977.

  • You Know Who / Araby / Rainbow Curve

7. Recorded 1978-02-22. First broadcast 01 March 1978. Repeated 30 March 1978

  • That's Rock And Roll* / Lunatic* / River Of Blood* / I Only Want To See You Smile*

8. Recorded 1979-09-05. First broadcast 19 September 1979. Repeated 16 October 1979.

  • A Leopard Never Changes Its Spots* / Nothing's Changed / Memory Lane Pt 12 / Ey Up Me Duck*

9. Recorded 1982-06-07. First broadcast 08 July 1982. Repeated 03 August 1982

  • Tell The Truth / Liberation / You Won't Like It / I Talk To Myself / You'll Never Walk Alone

10. Recorded 1990-02-11. First broadcast 05 March 1990. Repeated 10 May 1990.

  • Tear Me Up / City Crazy / We're Going To Heaven / I Couldn't Love You*

(Please correct mistakes and add any missing info)

Other Shows Played[]

(The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add more information if known.)

1969
1970
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
  • 01 February 1977: 3 from LP 'In Living Black And White'
  • 03 October 1977: House On The Hill (12", Album: Margory Razorblade) Virgin
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1989
1990
1991
1992
1994
1999
2000
  • 05 December 2000: The Stride (7") Dandelion
  • 07 December 2000 (Radio Eins): The Stride (7")' (Dandelion) (JP: 'At the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s, I used to run a record label called Dandelion Records, which was artistically kind of occasionally successful: financially, never successful, really, but we did put out some nice records, and that was one of them.')
2002
2003
  • 01 October 2003: The Stride (LP – Strange Locomotion) Repertoire (JP: “This was the track really that convinced me, as the mogul behind the label, to sign them to Dandelion.”)
  • 16 October 2003 (Radio Eins): The Stride (LP – Strange Locomotion) Repertoire
2004

See Also[]

External Links[]

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