ROBIN Auld (pictured) points to the cover of his new album, Back of the Line, and smiles: “I am wearing my Jack Kerouac clothes in the shoot. My wife complains that I look old when I wear them.”
Well, no, not really. It is hard to believe that this musician who has released more than 20 albums is in his 50s. Sitting across from me drinking his coffee, with his sparkly blue eyes and boyish smile, he doesn’t look a day over 30.
My childhood memories of Auld are those of a surfer strumming his guitar to some pretty catchy commercial tunes.
At one stage he was also considered a sexy boy in the pages of woman’s magazines like Cosmopolitan and Fair Lady. His music and image suggested that he would be just a one-hit wonder. However, he is a true musician and knows his way around the slide guitar and the harmonica and has a real understanding of blues. He has enjoyed a relatively successful career here and abroad. Music has sustained him throughout his three-decade career.
“My last two albums were blues rootsy albums, but on this album songwriting is the focus. Most of the live gigs that I do make the furniture comfortable. With this album I am bringing back the singer/songwriter. Actually, I am a singer/songwriter with the blues.”
Then there is his lyrical content, some of which are, at times, acerbic in their observations. As we go through the songs on his laptop, each is more and more impressive. He plays the most commercial track, Bones Never Lie. It is a hipster song which is receiving good reaction among that boring, bearded, coffee- drinking community.
The opening track, Since Caleb Lost His Calling, is based on John Steinbeck’s novel Grapes of Wrath and is about a priest who lost his faith.
“There are a few issues of faith on the album. All of us baby boomers have to fight for love. The West is going through a period of self-doubt right now.”
Then there is the title track, Back of the Line, which is about a shark spotter in Cape Town. Listening to the gentle JJ Cale- inspired song leads me to wonder just what role the ocean plays in Auld’s creativity, particularly because he surfs every day and lives in Kalk Bay.
“From an early age I have been involved with the sea. But what inspires me is that four-hour wait in a hotel before a sound check. I know. It’s random.
“My image is not because I am a surfer. Surf is actually wasted on surfers. Surfers listen to really bad music.
“All life, including humans, came from water and naturally gravitate to water, whether it be the sea on the coast or Zoo Lake in Joburg. I also believe that some life went back to the water. Seals are dogs who went back.”
Other great tracks are Porgy’s Escape which is about a mythical creature which the artist describes as his alter ego, as well as Say the Word which is about “my muso buddies who have not made it or passed on”.
By the third or the fourth listen, Auld’s Back of the Line is a splendid album full of depth both lyrically and musically.
It proves why almost four decades later, the man is still a professional, original South African musician.