Album Review - The Ballad of Roger and Grace

Artists:  Daniel Kitson & Gavin Osborn (UK)

Release Date: 15 February, 2012

This is not, strictly, a music album.  It’s a story.  Half of it is told through song by Gavin Osborn, the other half is a spoken narrative by Daniel Kitson.  The recording is also five years old (or, at least, that’s what Kitson believes).  The reasons that it hasn’t seen the light of day before now are varied, involving one lost copy and several years of life.  But it is here now, and it is a joy to listen to.

            Daniel Kitson is one of the finest comedians on the planet (as I’ve stated before), and with his friend, Gavin Osborn, he has created a story that is every bit as touching, moving, and delicate as it is funny.  For those not in the know, Kitson does two types of shows.  The type he is most well known for is stand-up comedy.  The other type is more theatre based.  Kitson describes them as storytelling shows.  They are, essentially, monologues that tell intricate stories about certain events that are based in truth (or are they?).  While these storytelling shows are still funny, they are every bit as sad and moving.  It is this second type of show in which The Ballad of Roger and Grace is rooted.

            The album is split into halves and tells three stories.  Daniel Kitson delivers two of the stories in a narrative.  These stories involve young twenty-something, Charlie, who happens to sit next to an elderly gentleman named Roger.  Despite his best efforts to avoid social contact, Charlie winds up chatting to Roger and Roger decides to tell Charlie a story.  But not just any story.  Roger wants to tell Charlie about “the greatest love story ever told”.  Not surprisingly, this story is actually the story of how Roger came to meet the love of his life, Grace.  This section of the overall piece comprises the odd numbered tracks on the album (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11).  The third story is Charlie’s back-story.  Gavin Osborn delivers this section through song.  The songs are, in fact, Charlie’s songs as we learn that he is a musician, and they concern his own love story regarding a woman who is/was an arts student (she is never named throughout the piece, she is simply referred to as “you”).  Osborn is, therefore, playing the part of Charlie as all of the songs are in first person and comprise the even numbered tracks on the album (that’s right, tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10).

            I can’t begin to tell you how perfectly executed this story is.  In one moment you may be chuckling away to a piece of clever whimsy, and the next you may find yourself holding back a tear.  If you’ve ever seen any of Kiston’s storytelling shows, you know what you’re in for and you know his genius.  If you haven’t seen Kitson’s work, allow me to inform you of a few things.  Kitson has an uncanny knack of being able suck you into his character’s situations.  You laugh when they laugh and you cry when they cry.  He is a master storyteller who engages you immediately with his use of language and fast-paced delivery.

Osborn proves that he is no slouch either.  When Osborn sings about Charlie falling in love with the girl during high school and the awkward social situation/s Charlie gets into trying to impress and gain the attention of the girl, you can absolutely relate.  Everyone’s had a school yard crush and has felt the ‘if I don’t do something about this now I’ll die and the whole world will end…or at the very least, I’ll be completely miserable for the rest of my life’, feeling that this situation brings on.  Of course, as we grow older we become more and more wary of these situations and we become more and more jaded by heartbreaks and disappointments.  But at the same time, we are buoyed by victories; moments when everything works out just the way we had planned and it is these moments that keep us going and make us capable of enduring the aforementioned disappointments.  It is Kitson and Osborn’s ability to explore these moments with such detail, with such realism, with such invention and such emotion that had me completely sucked into the story.  I felt everything that the characters were feeling and related to it totally and completely.  There are genuine moments when I listen to this that have the hair on the back of my neck standing up, that generate that nervous pit in the stomach.  There are moments where, just as Charlie is reminded about moments from his own life by Roger’s story, I am reminded about moments of my life through Charlie and Roger’s respective stories.

            Kitson and Osborn have created a brilliant piece of art here.  It explores our ideas about love, hope and fantasy as well as it does our fear of inevitable loss and heartbreak.  It is profoundly human and as heart-warming as it is devastatingly sad.  But having written that, nothing can prepare you for the ending of the story.  While it might be initially jarring (it is honestly the only thing I think people will point out as a flaw), every time I listen to it, I am further convinced that it is the perfect conclusion.  I can’t really write any more about it because it will only ruin it for you.

            Honestly and sincerely, do yourself a favour and get this recording.  You can get it here from Kitson’s bandcamp page.  One can only hope that Kitson decides to release further recorded material some time in the future.  His stories are so emotionally truthful that it would be a shame for his unique take on our word to be confined to his lifetime.