Gary Farr’s ‘Don’t
Know Why You Bother Child’ is one of the most seductively melancholy of
recordings. Its sentiments seem cynical yet it comes on like a welcoming
embrace full of unsaid things. It is magical, from the opening acoustic
12-string ringing out, with Ian Whiteman’s flute joining in delicately,
followed by Roger Powell’s drums, like menacing thunder just for an instant, then
Gary’s exquisite crooning sounds so wonderfully jaded as he sings about how this
old world won’t change because you’re trying, over and over, at times accompanied
by a divine soul choir.
