BLESS THIS SCOUSE

Mersey wideboy, maverick songwriting genius, football nutter and champion showbiz ligger, PETE WYLIE, in the guise of THE MIGHTY WAH!, has made one of the first brilliant albums of the 21st century, 'Songs Of Strength And Heartbreak'. However, we almost never heard it, as it was initially rejected by the record label that paid for it back in 1997. Now the rock world's most likeable loser is back on course, and tells TERRY STAUNTON of his business woes and the joy of his single 'Heart As Big As Liverpool' becoming a terrace anthem at Anfield.

Pete Wylie raises a pint glass and proposes a toast - to himself. Kicking back in a West London pub around the corner from his publicist's office, the man who is The Mighty Wah! has spent the best part of the last eight hours talking non-stop on his favourite topic, himself. Now, with the day of interviews officially over, he could switch off if it so pleased him. Hah! No chance, pal.

Indeed, if Wylie, aka The Mouth Of Mersey, The Gobfather Of Soul, and countless other soubriquets of varying levels of flattery, had ever appeared on the late great TV quiz Mastermind, it would have gone something like this: "Your name, please?" "Pete Wylie." "And your specialist subject?" "Pete Wylie."

We'll forgive him this particular moment of self-toasting, this extended bout of "me, me, me"-isms, because on this occasion not only does he have a lot to talk about, he's actually got something to celebrate. This very week sees the long-awaited arrival of 'Songs Of Strength And Heartbreak', his new 'old' album. Recorded the best part of two years ago, it's a glorious, anthemic collection of pop, rock and soul stylings that frequently recalls the high watermarks of his chequered 20-year career.

From Wah! Heat's late '70s indie favourite 'Seven Minutes To Midnight' to Wah!'s elegantly crafted '80s hit singles 'Story Of The Blues', 'Hope', 'Come Back' and 'Sinful', Wylie has constantly displayed a knack for fashioning the perfect pop moment. And on this album there's a higher concentration of what can confidently be described as classics. Curiously, the label that originally signed him for the album, Sony, seemed reluctant to put it into the shops, and ultimately decided not to. Thankfully, Castle Communications, so much less the lumbering corporate giant, rescued the LP from obscurity, from attaining the sorry status of one of the great, lost albums of all time.

At the centre of this magnificent long player is 'Heart As Big As Liverpool', a seven-minute work of unadulterated genius and beauty celebrating our hero's hometown. The intro brings to mind The Temptations' 'I Wish It Would Rain', the harmonies and chord sequences will have you sifting through your memory banks for great tunes by Badfinger, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, Scott Walker, Bruce Springsteen, and a fair old smidgen of Phil Spector. No complaints here. Hey, if you're gonna borrow, you might as well borrow from the very best.

Even if the edited single version doesn't dent the charts, which would be a monumental injustice, the song has already established itself as part of the make-up of Liverpool Football Club, and can be heard before every home game at Anfield, the only church where Wylie regularly worships. But more of that later, first we have the strange story of Sony Music's cold feet and cowardly artist management tactics.

"It was supposed to come out in August '98, and I remember bein' down in London seein' about a publishin' deal around the same time, and I was in a car with a couple of other people and just got this feelin' that somebody wasn't tellin' me somethin'. There was a part of the conversation missin', if you know what I mean. It was like your missus was shaggin' your best mate, or you're Robbie Fowler and no one's told you you're gettin' sold to Tranmere.

"That was the point when I knew Sony weren't gonna put the album out, but I was assured it would be released the followin' year and, rightly, I didn't believe a soddin' word of it. I've been around for 20-odd years, it's almost gold clock time for me, and you shouldn't underestimate my ability to read the business. OK, I arse around, take the piss and drink beer, but people who assume I haven't got a brain are makin' a big mistake. I know this game and exactly how most of the bastards who play it tick.

"Sod all this delayin' it for a year, that was a downright lie. I knew then and there I was fucked, but no one had the balls to tell me. To this day, there's been no explanation as to why they dropped it. They just changed their minds.

"It was one of the most frustratin' times of my life. I hadn't made a record for seven years because I had an accident where I broke my back, I actually could have died, but here I was with somethin' that was gettin' the thumbs-up from everyone. Lots of the old Liverpool faces like Ian McNabb and Ian McCulloch told me they thought I'd come up with somethin' really special, Kevin Rowland left a 20-minute message on my answering machine ravin' about the record, Mick Jones said he thought it was great. But it wasn't just mates. People who had no idea who I was were positive about it. That's the irony, the only people who heard it and didn't like worked for the soddin' company that paid for it.

"When I first got signed and we were havin' talks about the record, everythin' went right! Dave Balfe, who works for Sony and who I'd known since he was in the Teardrop Explodes, was well behind us, he told me I was gonna make the record of me life, and I think I did. Somewhere along the way, Sony changed their mind. If I'd been a new artist and this happened I would have really despaired, but as I said, I've been round the block a few times and I just thought, 'Here we go again...'"

An understatement, perhaps, as Wylie, in his various Wah!-related incarnations, is the holder of one of the music industry's most bizarre records, a statistic that would hold pride of place in any Guinness Book Of Bad Luck.

"Get this, right: I've released four albums over the years and none of them came out on the label they were supposed to, the labels that paid for them. Each time I've been dropped between the recordin' and the releasin', but I've always been able to salvage something from it, the stuff's always come out. But isn't that weird? I doubt if that's ever happened to anyone else, so in one respect at least I am a truly unique artist!"

The wilderness period between the Sony farewell and the invitation to set up shop at Castle could have sent a lesser mortal into an abyss of depression, but Wylie is made of tougher stuff. He also had his beloved football team to pull him through, and when he started to hear 'Heart As Big As Liverpool' booming over the PA system in the very place where he's stood man and boy cheering on the likes of Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen, it made him the happiest sacked musician in the world.

"They've been playin' it at Anfield for most of this season, sometimes two or three times at one game. I was talkin' to a young lad today who's a season ticket holder, and most of the other guys who sit near him are 60 or older, and they're all singin' along. They haven't a clue who I am, but it's a song that everyone's latchin' onto at the ground. The first time I heard it at the ground I suddenly remember somethin' an old mate of mine said to me back in about 1988. He said, 'You won't rest until you get one of your songs played at Anfield.'"

Considering the shirts that rivals Everton wear, you were never going to hear 'Story Of The Blues'.

"Nah! You're right there. Last December was the 40th anniversary of Bill Shankly comin' to Liverpool, so there was a big exhibition at the Anfield Museum called 'Bill Shankly: Heart As Big As Liverpool', they actually used the title of the song! All the old players, Keegan and loads of the others came up, and my song was played at half-time in the match. Can you imagine how that felt for me? It was really big emotional occasion for every Liverpool fan and they're playin' my song! It's really big buzz for me, and I hope that nobody thinks I'm tryin' to usurp 'You'll Never Walk Alone', I wouldn't be daft enough to even think I could manage that. That's never gonna happen.

"I remember some people at Sony didn't think it should be a single, their argument bein' that it was a song about Liverpool and only half of Liverpool would buy it. My response to that is there's nothing relating specifically to football in the lyrics, and beyond that, what about 'New York, New York'? You don't have to be from Manhattan to like that! To me, the key word in the title is 'heart', it's a song about pride, in yourself, your surroundings, your friends and family."

There's something typically anthemic in much of Liverpool's musical past. From the aforementioned 'You'll Never Walk Alone', to countless Beatles classics ('All You Need Is Love' being the most obvious), and a fair few of Wylie's early '80s contemporaries - Ian Broudie's collaboration with Baddiel and Skinner ('Three Lions'), the Teardrops ('Reward'), The Icicle Works ('Love Is A Wonderful Colour'), Echo & The Bunnymen ('The Killing Moon'), Frankie Goes To Hollywood ('Relax'), to slightly fresher scallies like The Farm ('All Together Now') and The La's ('There She Goes')...

Wylie is at a loss to explain it, apart from that vague notion of pride, but it pleases him when his own big picture, epic-sounding pop music finds favour with, or even influences other musicians. Go back and listen to the Manic Street Preachers' 'Everything Must Go' album, especially the title track, and that'll be our Pete sneaking a crafty ciggy in the background. His fingerprints are all over the place.

"They're sound boys, and James Dean Bradfield has told me that he's been influenced by old Wah! records, which is a great compliment. I'm quite a big fan of their music - and not just the bits that sound like me."

'Songs Of Strength And Heartbreak' is out now on Castle

Tue Apr 4 2000 17:59 BST - Music365