The passionate blues rock and rhythm & blues & soul played on the English indie pop combo Tiny Flaws‘ second album is one of my favourite records of 2022.
It’s fitting that a band calling themselves Tiny Flaws called their second album Imperfection Blues. But then again not. Because there are no flaws on Imperfection Blues. Instead, after the tasty, soulful mod soul jazz of the self-titled 2019 debut album, which grooved more in the footsteps of Georgie Fame, you’ll hear smoking blues rock in abundance, but also with a large portion of soul. When listening to the singer on Imperfection Blues you might think of Paul Jones (ex-Manfred Mann) and The Blues Band (from the early 1980s, if anyone remembers), the Animals, the Spencer Davis Group and sometimes even Dr. Feelgood. But beware, the Tiny Flaws are no cheap copycats, despite the mature age of all those involved, Imperfection Blues sounds fresh, vital, and relevant in every groove. This band has many trump cards up its sleeve.
The ace of trumps is Toby Kinder, founder and mastermind of the Tiny Flaws, who dislikes modern pop music with its uniform assembly line sound, homogenized with autotuning and disco beats, which bangs out of every radio, because it lacks any creativity and soul – which is a mirror of our society that’s so keen on one’s perfect individuality but ultimately leading to a self-optimized conformity. Whereas Toby, the son of a music teacher, who became acquainted with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Mose Allison, and Thelonius Monk through his father, relies on lively, passionate music played by real musicians according to the purity law of yesteryear. The good man himself shines on the Hammond C3 and Wurlitzer organ, on the piano, also on the accordion, if necessary, and even more so as a refined and subtle songwriter.
With Lenny Bignell, the Tiny Flaws‘ second trump card as guitarist and producer, Toby Kinder has played already in the superb mod-soul-jazz combo Gene Drayton Unit, but he also plays organ for the Parisian mod-soul combo French Boutik, where he has filled in for Olivier Popincourt when they play live, and also for The Sound Of Pop Art. Toby met Lenny at a Gene Drayton Unit gig in Brussels and over a few pints of Belgian beer they discovered their musical kinship which has led to the two musicians working together ever since, Bignell joined the Gene Drayton Unit in 2016, Kinder played organ for Bignell’s project The Juks and they continue their fruitful relationship as musical director and producer with the Tiny Flaws.
Bobby Tarlton as the new singer is the Tiny Flaws‘ third trump card that cannot be surpassed, powerfully supported by the rhythm duo Raydn Hunter (bass) and Mark Claydon (drums, also with the Gene Drayton Unit), who set the heartbeat for the Tiny Flaws, he really is the soul of Imperfection Blues. Of course, Bobby isn’t Paul Jones, Eric Burdon, Steve Winwood, or Lee Brilleaux, but hey, he’s Bobby Tarlton, a great rhythm & blues and soul singer who doesn’t need to fear comparison with any of the above greats and whose powerful, crisp blues tone and warm, soulful vocals perfectly match with the Tiny Flaws. And yes, the man in question is the very same Bobby Tarlton, who has been a fixture on London’s mod-soul scene for years and was named “North London’s finest troubadour”, who has in recent years established himself as Doctor Bird (aka Dr Bird) with superb songs, and soulful singing and a multitude of small gigs made himself heard in many places and has gained continually in reputation. Incidentally, it was Bobby, whose singing has already been described as “Van Morrison crashing into Nick Lowe”, who introduced Toby to the members of French Boutik, with whom Toby now plays organ casually, as well as with Dr Bird.
Blues harpist Joff Watkins, one of London’s finest harmonica players, is another trump card in the Tiny Flaws‘ excellent hand, that Gabriela Giacoman, the famous French Boutik singer, further strengthens, she makes a guest appearance on Imperfection Blues as lead singer on the song C’est Different and sings the seductive backing vocals on the dreamy A Boat Called Elsewhere.
The twelve songs of Imperfection Blues were recorded in Lenny Bignell’s home studio in Penge, a London district outside of the centre, in doing so the recordings were made more difficult and were delayed by the corona pandemic, and despite the rhythm duo could never play together in the studio, they grooved like clockwork.
Already the opening Photogenie , where Bobby Tarlton laments as blues shouter impressively about a lost love, sets a first emotional signpost. The second track Long Gone John, originally on the Gene Drayton Unit’s 2006 album At The Jazz Traffic Lights … keeps the tempo in a captivating blues shuffle, relying on Watkins‘ strong blues harmonica like almost all the songs here, and Bobby Tarlton celebrates his blues feelings and advocates making use of the time with the people around you, as long as they are still there because once they’re gone it’s too late. From The Soul with its sweet soulful sound and Memphis Horns-esque horns is a brand new composition and carries its message right in the title, it’s inspired by Toby Kinder visiting Memphis, and Bobby Tarlton knows to use the soul that he’s got in his voice to full effect and lets a pleasant shiver run over your skin. The gorgeous blues rock of Caffiend was first an instrumental on another Gene Drayton Unit record, 2008’s Done & Dusted, and addresses everyone on the album’s penchant for strong coffee. Also, originally a Gene Drayton Unit song, Get That Girl is the record’s secret hit that you can’t get out of your head, and unlike Bruce Springsteen’s early songs which were often about cars and girls, it’s all about that one special girl and even more coffee. And finally, at the end of the first side of the vinyl LP, in C’est Different, Gabriela Giacoman, who also wrote the song, gets her grand entrance, a friendly turn so to speak, which is not without reason reminiscent of Down In The Seine by The Style Council.
The second side of the LP opens with The Ones In Your Head, one of two re-recordings from the Tiny Flaws‘ debut album, it packs a lot more punch than the original, with Lenny’s pounding guitar riff, the howling blues harmonica and Toby’s full throttle organ, and Bobby sings in a class of its own as blues shouter. Whispering City is a highly evocative London ballad set against a jazzy cinemascope backdrop, and Bobby Tarlton once again shows just how much soul he has in his mature voice. The title track, Imperfection Blues comes also from the Tiny Flaws’ debut, and it deals with the fact that it’s the other person’s little mistakes that can make a relationship appealing and that maybe these mistakes are precisely what you miss when everything has gone to pieces. Done & Dusted was at first the 2008 instrumental title track of the album mentioned above, here soul man Bobby Tarlton laments how all hope, dreams and energy are relentlessly going down the drain with progressing age, and the wailing blues harp weeps with him. Definitely one of my favourite songs here, A Boat Called Elsewhere starts with drinking coffee again before the Tiny Flaws set sails towards Style Council Island with Bobby in the bow and Gabriela bewitches him with her sweet siren song. After all, Cake Shop is a cracking update of a soul-jazz instrumental by the Gene Drayton Unit from 2005 and would do credit as theme tune to a TV series, and it’s definitely a worthy la-la-la finale to the record.
The best songs are in your head, Bobby Tarlton sings in The Ones In Your Head, but on Imperfection Blues many of Toby Kinder’s intellectual creations materialize at their finest. As already said, this record is anything but flawed, it’s simply a sensation how good it is.
Tiny Flaws Imperfection Blues, Imperfection Records, 2022
Klaus Winningers Beat 