The Boy EP (03) All Comers

[Stanko]

Thank you!

[Robson]

It's the British 'Boxing Booths' that Mark tells about in 'All Comers'

Boxing booths

Fairground booths were an important part of boxing in Britain and enabled many aspiring professionals to hone their skills against a wide assortment of challengers.


The booth fighters typically signed up for several months and travelled with the booth from town to town. They were given food and lodgings and paid a small wage for their services. The bulk of their income (small though it was) was earned through ‘nobbings’, coins thrown into the ring by spectators as a show of appreciation after they had fought.


When the booth arrived at a new location it was the boxers’ job to erect the ring, tent and platform, to be dismantled later and loaded onto a lorry when the booth departed. They were also called upon to second other boxers or time-keep when not in action themselves.



The booth in action

Hughes's boxing boothHughes's boxing booth.
The blare of a trumpet or banging of a drum summoned an expectant crowd to the boxing booth in readiness for a new ‘house’, meaning a new set of fights. The booth boxers stood on a platform in front of an ornately decorated facade, often depicting ring heroes of yesteryear. A man called the ‘barker’ or ‘spieler’ introduced each fighter, told the crowd something of his record and reputation then, dangling a pair of well-worn boxing gloves, called for a challenger from the crowd, to whom the gloves would be thrown. If the challenger lasted three rounds, he would win a small monetary prize.


Challengers were sometimes unskilled young men looking to impress friends or girlfriends or sailors or soldiers who had imbibed too much ale. Such an opponent usually needed to be ‘carried’ by the booth fighter, so the crowd had a worthwhile spectacle. Additionally, however, when the local fighting men got wind that a booth was in town, they would turn up to test their skill against the booth boxers, and thereby much experience was gained.


If no challengers were found for a particular boxer, there was usually a ‘plant’ hidden within the crowd, who’d challenge the said fighter and the pair would perform a staged fight or ‘gee’ fight, unbeknown to most onlookers. Once the challengers had been found, the crowd filed inside a marquee, paying an admittance fee as they passed, then that set of contests got underway.


The booth fighters were obliged to take on ‘all comers’, which often meant conceding age and weight. The booths were a nursery for fledgling boxers but also attracted well-established pros, who would use the booth to remain in shape, pass on their knowledge to the younger boxers and pick up fights in the various towns and districts they visited.


Champions such as Freddie Mills, Benny Lynch, Tommy Farr, Joe Beckett, Jim Driscoll and Jimmy Wilde were products of boxing booths; but sadly the booth tradition began to die out after the BBB of C passed a rule barring its license-holders from performing on booths. There are no active booths in Britain today.
https://www.boxinghistory.org.uk/boxingbooths.html

Thank you

[Rail King]

A question for the musicians among you (I'm not one myself): Can you tell whether Ianto played to a click on All Comers? It seems to me that there's a slight rhythmical disconnect between different instruments, as if they'd been held back somehow. For lack of a better description, the music doesn't seem to flow as freely as it did on the comparable One Song at a Time.

Is it just me or do others get the same impression? And if so, what could be the reason?

Btw, I've always thought that Privateering (the song, in its album version) suffered from the same problem. (If you want to call it a problem; it's still a great song.)

[TheTimeWasWrong]

A question for the musicians among you (I'm not one myself): Can you tell whether Ianto played to a click on All Comers? It seems to me that there's a slight rhythmical disconnect between different instruments, as if they'd been held back somehow. For lack of a better description, the music doesn't seem to flow as freely as it did on the comparable One Song at a Time.

Is it just me or do others get the same impression? And if so, what could be the reason?

Btw, I've always thought that Privateering (the song, in its album version) suffered from the same problem. (If you want to call it a problem; it's still a great song.)

It's recorded a little bit too slow, in my humble opinion. You could call it laid-back, and it's actually super hard to play it that way and not feel like you have to increase the tempo. Privateering (the song) suffered mostly from this on the 2015 tour; it was way too slow. In 2013, it was much better. I felt the same with What It Is in 2005 when Danny took over; the song just dragged and was not 'pointy' enough. Must admit, while I loved Danny, I always really liked the way Chad played the hi-hat (What It Is, Silvertown, Hill Farmer's, 5:15, etc.).

[Rail King]

A question for the musicians among you (I'm not one myself): Can you tell whether Ianto played to a click on All Comers? It seems to me that there's a slight rhythmical disconnect between different instruments, as if they'd been held back somehow. For lack of a better description, the music doesn't seem to flow as freely as it did on the comparable One Song at a Time.

Is it just me or do others get the same impression? And if so, what could be the reason?

Btw, I've always thought that Privateering (the song, in its album version) suffered from the same problem. (If you want to call it a problem; it's still a great song.)

It's recorded a little bit too slow, in my humble opinion. You could call it laid-back, and it's actually super hard to play it that way and not feel like you have to increase the tempo. Privateering (the song) suffered mostly from this on the 2015 tour; it was way too slow. In 2013, it was much better. I felt the same with What It Is in 2005 when Danny took over; the song just dragged and was not 'pointy' enough. Must admit, while I loved Danny, I always really liked the way Chad played the hi-hat (What It Is, Silvertown, Hill Farmer's, 5:15, etc.).

Thanks, that might indeed explain what I feel when I listen to it.

[TheTimeWasWrong]

By the way, I felt the same about Piper To The End in 2013. Perfect in 2010, too slow in 2013. Mark always plays a tiny little bit rushed (on purpose, to create tension), but in 2013 in the end solo, you can hear the band is definitely too slow for his solo.

[Rail King]

By the way, what I was trying to point at here is particularly evident in the part with Mark's solo. Sounds almost a bit clumsy at that point (a word that I have a hard time using for MK). Ianto, at the same time, doesn't seem to get that groove quite right.

[rmarques821]

I've never liked Ianto's drumming. Doesn't fit MK's style at all and I feel that a lot of the songs got terribly worse when he came in, in 2013.

[Rail King]

I've never liked Ianto's drumming. Doesn't fit MK's style at all and I feel that a lot of the songs got terribly worse when he came in, in 2013.

Couldn't say that. I love his drumming on On Song at a Time, for instance, or on Seattle. But he hasn't quite found a way to make this song work, in my opinion.

[rmarques821]

I've never liked Ianto's drumming. Doesn't fit MK's style at all and I feel that a lot of the songs got terribly worse when he came in, in 2013.

Couldn't say that. I love his drumming on On Song at a Time, for instance, or on Seattle. But he hasn't quite found a way to make this song work, in my opinion.

I was referring to his live work, not so much in studio. To me, there's a huge difference in power and energy in the drumming between the 2005-2010 tours and the Privatracker tour 2013-2015. Songs like HFB, SFA, R&J, PTTE sound like they're on medicine, I just can't explain.

[Rail King]

I was listening to Tracker and Down the Road Wherever this weekend, and was (once again) impressed with the rhythm of Laughs and Jokes and One Song at a Time -- two songs that are somehow comparable to All Comers. Unlike those two songs, All Comers seems to be stiff and stumbling somehow, it doesn't quite find its groove. Don't you agree? I keep wondering why that is -- maybe it's due to several takes being stitched together. I dunno. It's a bit of a pity, because the song as such is really good.

[Stanko]

I was listening to Tracker and Down the Road Wherever this weekend, and was (once again) impressed with the rhythm of Laughs and Jokes and One Song at a Time -- two songs that are somehow comparable to All Comers. Unlike those two songs, All Comers seems to be stiff and stumbling somehow, it doesn't quite find its groove. Don't you agree? I keep wondering why that is -- maybe it's due to several takes being stitched together. I dunno. It's a bit of a pity, because the song as such is really good.

All Comers is just one perfect song.

[Knopflerfan]

I was listening to Tracker and Down the Road Wherever this weekend, and was (once again) impressed with the rhythm of Laughs and Jokes and One Song at a Time -- two songs that are somehow comparable to All Comers. Unlike those two songs, All Comers seems to be stiff and stumbling somehow, it doesn't quite find its groove. Don't you agree? I keep wondering why that is -- maybe it's due to several takes being stitched together. I dunno. It's a bit of a pity, because the song as such is really good.

All Comers is just one perfect song.

I agree All Comers is absolutely perfect! Certainly OSAAT is good too but I'm afraid AC has the edge for me....

In fact also, I have had no desire to listen to anything else but One Deep River, The Boy and all the bonus tracks

[Matchstickman]

I listened to All Comers again today, and I ALWAYS have a similar impression to Rail King - it's a good song, but something is off, and my feeling is it's the drums.

First, they sound thin, and the song could have used some more punch, both sound-wise and playing-wise. Some more fills would have seemed natural.

Second, I would agree with the suggestion above that the song is played too slowly. The recurring musical motif seems slighlty off in a way that is hard to pinpoint, but the tempo could be it. Maybe the rhythm should have been adapted also.

As much as I like Laughs and Jokes, which is great, I'm afraid I'm strongly in the camp of not having a favourable impression of Ian. My feeling is that live, he was not able to play Danny's signature stuff (Sonny Liston, Speedway, etc.) anywhere near Danny, sometimes playing simplified solutions - and he was the replacement! On record, the difference is not as obvious, but sometimes he just seems stuck on autopilot (One Song at a Time?) and I "don't get the energy from the drums", as someone once put it.

[straitsway75]

I was listening to Tracker and Down the Road Wherever this weekend, and was (once again) impressed with the rhythm of Laughs and Jokes and One Song at a Time -- two songs that are somehow comparable to All Comers. Unlike those two songs, All Comers seems to be stiff and stumbling somehow, it doesn't quite find its groove. Don't you agree? I keep wondering why that is -- maybe it's due to several takes being stitched together. I dunno. It's a bit of a pity, because the song as such is really good.

All Comers is just one perfect song.