Paul Hyde: The Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1

Paul Hyde
The Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1
BongoBeat

Ralph Alfonso’s BongoBeat records is slowly but surely carving itself a niche as the place to go when former ’80s artists decide to go the singer-songwriter route.

Kimberley Rew (late of Katrina & the Waves, and still occasionally of the Soft Boys) did it first, with his stellar 2002 album, Great Central Revisited. Now, here comes Paul Hyde, formerly of the Payola$ and Rock & Hyde, with The Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1.

Although he was born and raised in Yorkshire, England, Hyde made the big, transatlantic move to Canada during his teens and, in ’79, first came to musical prominence as frontman for the Payola$; the group’s biggest hit was probably 1982’s “Eyes of a Stranger”. Hyde and his Payola$ partner in crime, Bob Rock (who would later go on to considerably more prominence as a producer for artists ranging from Cher to Metallica), kept the fire burning throughout the early ’80s, releasing four albums, the best of them produced by Mick Ronson. (If you’re looking for a sampling of the band’s work, the only way to go is Between a Rock & a Hyde Place: The Best of Payola$.) The group broke up not long after the release of 1985’s David Foster-produced Here’s the World for Ya, but Rock and Hyde went on to release one more album together, entitled Under the Volcano; rather than coast on the Payola$ name, it was attributed simply to Rock & Hyde.

While Rock filled his coffers by working with everyone from Tal Bachman and Bon Jovi to Mötley Crüe and Veruca Salt, Hyde pretty much dropped out of sight until reappearing with his debut solo album in 2000, the appropriately-titled Living Off the Radar. It showed a man less interested in vocal histrionics and one more comfortable with his age and the mellowing of his musical sensibilities.

Continuing in that vein, The Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1 is Hyde’s first-ever all-acoustic album. Lest there be any concern that the title is intended to be ironic, the first song, “Runner on the Seashore”, completely blows that theory out of the water: “An eagle killed a seagull”, Hyde begins, “plucked him right out of the sky / Took him helpless to the seashore / A circle of crows watched him die / As I ran by, as I ran by”.

Cheery, no?

The song “I Miss My Mind the Most” does indeed feature its title amongst its lyrics, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s preceded by the line, “Of all the things I’ve lost this year”. Hyde admits outright in the liner notes that “this song was inspired by a bumper sticker”, but, aside from those borrowed lines, the remainder of the track’s lyrics transcend the simplicity of its chorus:

When spring was young, I had a thirst
For standing proud and tall;
I drank the summers full of wine
And fell right into fall.
Winter’s chill with vengeance came
And proved a cruel host;
Of all the things I’ve lost this year,
I miss my mind the most.

There’s a link between this album and its predecessor, courtesy of the song “I Want You”, which appears on both records. Hyde comments in his liner notes that, “contrary to what commercials would have us believe, most people are not beautiful. This is a love song for the imperfect majority”. The chorus praises “the quiet girls with fat legs” and “the chubby boys with big heads”, saying of the young and beautiful, “let them roast on the beaches, sun drenched in honey / May all their skies be clear and blue / Let them have their cake and my cake, too”.

Even when you think the album’s taken a turn toward the cheery, as the jolly whistling at the beginning “The Smallest Coin in the Land” suggests, the lyrics belie the music’s tone: “From the condescending search of the mayor’s wife’s purse / Came a token of salvation to his hand / With the disaffected stare of a psych ward nurse / She leaned to him and whispered / Here be damned / To the smallest coin in the land”.

The Big Book of Sad Songs, Vol. 1 virtually begs for a sequel, so strong is the material and, yet, the lyrics and vocals come across as so heartfelt that, at the same time, you’d hate to think that Hyde would have to live through enough hardship to come up with another 10 songs as sadly beautiful as these.