And here we are at the last of the M’s in my collection so we are halfway through the alphabet and therefore halfway through this 2023AlbumsThing I committed to. The one certain thing is it will definitely become the 2023/24AlbumsThing before we’ve finished. And if there is anyone out there who has read all of them, kudos to you. Anyways, onward…

My Life Story are basically Jake Shillingford. We’ve known Jake since he was the guy who looked after the door at the Camden Palace in London. We’d show up (when I say we I mean myself and various members of The Wonder Stuff) and Jake would see us, usher us to the front of the queue and up to the VIP bar, ah the joys of having famous mates. He formed My Life Story in the late 80’s and they released their John Barry/Scott Walker/Anthony Newley influenced debut “Mornington Crescent” (the tube station just across the road from the Camden Palace incidentally) in 1995.

“World Citizen” was released in 2019, Jake’s first album in 19 years ! Jake writes big, sweeping orchestral sounding Indie-pop songs with lyrics not quite from the gutter but definitely looking to the stars. First song “No Filter”, a fabulous show tune style torch song, opens with the lyric “You look like a million dirty, filthy dollars” which sets a tone for where we’re going. “Sent From Heaven” is poptastic in the style of “The Size Of A Cow” or something you could hear Madness doing.

“World Citizen” is a very, very good contemporary Indie-pop record. If you like things like The Lottery Winners this will do it for you too. It reminded me what a good songwriter Jake is and has nudged me to replace my long gone copy of “Mornington Crescent”, which I fear is gonna cost me !

Sent From Heaven - https://youtu.be/K52Bh42H_CQ?si=OrJTIfhu1H4RWDmt