Siren Siren

Siren was the debut album by Kevin Coyne with Siren, the band he founded with former Bonzo Dog Band bassist Dave Clague and pianist/guitarist Nick Cudworth. The album was originally issued on John Peel’s Dandelion label in 1969. An artist who would later inspire John Lydon, Sting, Ben Watt and Will Oldham and would collaborate with Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Dagmar Krause, Brendan Croker, Gary Lucas and The Mekons’ Jon Langford, Kevin Coyne deserves a royal place between the likes of Syd Barrett, Peter Hammill and Daevid Allen. Standing on the verge of british blues, folk and rawk’n’roll Siren could have been easily labeled as the british answer to Canned Heat, but there’s even more. ‘And I Wonder’ is clearly an anticipation of what would happen next, with the solo career of Coyne, more focused on acid folk songwriting. “Most of the album is good time rock-on-out-music a la the Flamin’ Groovies… one of those (albums) you keep coming back to when the night gets cold and the wine is almost out. I play it a lot, and that’s the nicest thing I can say about an album.” Ed Ward – Rolling Stone “Siren just came as a breath of fresh air really, in the same way that like a generation later The Ramones did. When you just thought ‘Thank God for that!’ You hadn’t realised how bored you’d become…” John Peel.