If you've ever stood in a line outside a London theatre or made your way through Central Station in Amsterdam, you may have encountered and
been entertained by Alan Moorhouse. The singer/guitarist (and songwriter) has been busking in Europe for the past twenty years, going from city to city and performing in the streets and parks, sometimes solo, other times partnered with Pete Oswald.
Moorhouse has paid heavy dues to learn his craft, but the effort has been worth it, as evidenced by the work on his first CD, SMALL VOICE CRYING. Recorded in Cologne, Germany where Moorhouse is presently based, the album proves he is a socially-conscious, compassionate troubador in the tradition of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan.
Moorhouse wrote all twelve songs on the album, except for "Continental
Flair," "Used To Have a Name" and "Holiday Romance,"
on which he shares
credit with Rob Taylor. Most of the songs are protest songs, bitter attacks
on the damage caused by the greed and indifference of our time, which
have resulted in working people being laid off and, in some cases, made
homeless and anonymous.
Moorhouse is not without humor, though. His recollection of a nightmare ("Jack the Stripper") in which he found himself prancing around "like an arthritic whale" on stage at Chippendale's while two hundred women hooted at his "spotty chest and nasty little penis" is hilarious. The same can be said for "I Should Have Thought All This Through," the guilty lament of a married man shacked up with a girl he's picked up in a bar.
Ably backed up by
Markus Apitius on guitars, keys and bass, and by
several smooth vocalists, Moorhouse has turned out a homebrewed CD that
deserves wider circulation. Interested parties and record companies can
contact him at www.alan.free-pop.com