Cut the Mustard

A PENZANCE busker whose plight was picked up by the national newspapers when he accused Savoy Cinema of drowning out his street performances with their flat screen foyer TV has released an album online, writes Donna Macallister.

Unlike his old time love songs performed for early bird pensioners on Causewayhead, Ollie, aka Doc Mustard's Prizoner, is bursting with social comment on "uncivilisation today".

The tracks, which embrace various musical styles incorporating rock, jazz, reggae, folk and electronica, contain lavish synth soundscape intros and lashings of soulful slide guitar.

If They Were Animals, a powerful track about care for the elderly, was inspired by the self-employed musician's occasional stints at care homes in Penwith.

"You can see a brave face on these abandoned old folks, bundled together in the final hoax, care in the community, the flipping joke, if they were animals you'd put most of them down."

The Facts highlights global warfare, while The Smile On My Face is a delicate acoustic autobiographical composition.

In I Can't Help Ollie tells his tale with a laid back funk rock feel, and The Black Stone Club is a story of treachery and back-stabbing arising from his experience of sibling rivalry.

The album ends with Bums On Seats, which is based on his spat with the Savoy Cinema.

For information about the album visit www.prizoner.co.uk