|
Radio Starlion - Gig ArchiveWritten by Jeanette Howlett |
|
|
|
Radio Starlion - Gig ArchiveWritten by Jeanette Howlett |
|
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE / THE STRANGER SON OF WB / KAILASH
THE PHOENIX, OXFORD ROAD, MANCHESTER M13 9RN, FRIDAY 17/08/07
My friend of about a million years (!), Robert, who reads these reviews, has said I never say anything bad about anybody. My reasoning is that, well, it's only my opinion after all, and how would we feel if someone rubbished us? I try to be as honest as I can in my reviews and passionately rave about the things I love, while just not being quite so enthusiastic about the things I like less. However, sadly, this was one of the most disappointing gigs I've ever been to, so wording that in a less than damning way might be a challenge!
I know of Six Organs of Admittance from an Uncut Magazine 'freebie' CD. Well, you know, you pay the best part of £5 for a magazine that you know must cost far less to produce and they chuck in a CD - is there any such thing as a free CD?! I don't know. Be that as it may, Uncut is my favourite music publication with interesting, well written, and fairly balanced articles, some wonderful photos and indeed some great CDs. I treat myself sometimes. The January 2007 edition was superb and it came with a fabulous CD entitled 'Comets, Ghosts and Sunburned Hands: Uncut's Guide to the New Psychedelic Outlaws'. My favourite tracks are 'Seasons don't fear the Year' by Citay, 'The Dance' by P G Six, who I already knew from their brilliant album 'Parlour Tricks and Porch Favourites', and 'The Desert is a Circle' by Six Organs of Admittance. So, when I saw that Six Organs of Admittance were on in Manchester, I checked out their 'mySpace' and, equally impressed, was determined to go and see them. This was, I might add, despite feeling very tired and grumpy after a long week and (probably as a direct result!), unable to persuade Hubby Andy - or anyone else! - to come with me.
So I was, indeed, very disappointed to hear them sounding very much worse than the recordings I've heard - almost unrecognisably bad, in fact. I left as they plundered into the second number, sounding no better than the first. In their defence, however, there are a number of other factors to consider:
Firstly, I was, as I say, tired and grumpy after a long week. Plus it's nicer for me to go with someone to gigs than on my own. This was a gig organised by 'Hey Manchester', who took over from 'Pop Art Records' some months ago. I felt comfortable going to 'Pop Art' gigs alone, as I did on a few occasions, because I would invariably bump into someone I knew, but this was all rather strange and unfamiliar - and the vibe wasn't as good.
Secondly, I'd arrived towards the end of opening band Kailash's brain-blastingly loud set. I couldn't shout loud enough to be heard at the bar and had to wait until the respite of (relative) silence between numbers to order a drink. The lank lead singer, with hair and a voice to match, forlornly announced that this was their last gig, but they carried on, morosely, regardless, like a bad Nirvana parody. I'm sorry - I really am! I hate saying bad things about artists, but a tiny man trapped in my brain kept screaming 'PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!' The second support act, The Stranger Son of WB, offered no respite to my ears or brain, with a shouty repetitive din.
Thirdly, I don't think the sound equipment was much good. On returning home on Friday night, brain and ears still throbbing, I felt I owed it to all these bands to return to 'mySpace' and compare the recorded product to the sonic boom I'd just been subjected to. I was reminded how much I'd previously enjoyed Six Organs of Admittance, and discovered that Kailash and even The Stranger Son of WB had recordings melodic and interesting to offer. So I do wonder if there was something wrong with the sound equipment, which didn't do any of them any favours. Either that or recording techniques these days are so advanced that they can make even the bad sound good.
I'm sorry - I really am!
www.sixorgans.com
www.myspace.com/sixorgans
http://strangersonofwb.tripod.com
www.myspace.com/kailashnoise
www.heymanchester.com
www.popartrecords.co.uk
www.uncut.co.uk
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=122896140
www.hmv.co.uk/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=280;-1;-1;-1&sku=354181
www.vtmusic.co.uk/shop/item/7321111412359.aspx
www.myspace.com/citay07Review added: 13:39 Sunday, 19 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
ANTHONY JOHN CLARKE / KERFUFFLE / WISHBONE ASH / SETH LAKEMAN / JOOLS HOLLAND & HIS RHYTHM & BLUES ORCHESTRA FEAT. LULU & RUBY TURNER
FAIRPORT'S CROPREDY CONVENTION 2007 DAY 1, CROPREDY, OXFORDSHIRE, THURSDAY 09/08/07
GENERAL THOUGHTS
Fairport Convention have been going since 1967, an incredible 40 years! Of course, the original line-up (with the exception of rhythm guitarist/vocalist Simon Nicol, who continues to keep the thread of continuity going) is long since depleted by individual changes of musical direction and, sadly, the cruelly tragic premature deaths of original drummer Martin Lamble in 1969 and of course vocalist/singer-songwriter Sandy Denny in 1978. However, Fairport Convention is very definitely still going and, in some form or other, has never stopped.
The Cropredy Festival was first held in 1979, as a 'Farewell Fairport' event ... but Cropredy continued annually. Dave Pegg, Fairport bass guitarist since 1969, described it 'as a reunion, for each other and for the fans'. Having now been to Cropredy 10 times myself, I find this fact especially fascinating. Is it Cropredy that's kept Fairport going or vice versa? In answer to my own rhetorical question, I'd say it's probably a bit of both, and I can't now imagine either not existing. Clearly, I'm not alone!
My first Cropredy experience was in 1987 and I loved every second of it! Despite this, I didn't go again until 1998 but I've been with Hubby Andy every year since except for 2001 and 2005 (when we went to Cambridge Folk instead - but missed Cropredy!). I lost touch with the friends I went with the first time (James and Rob) around 1990 but, astonishingly, bumped into them at Cropredy in 2000! We've stayed in touch since - and they were there this time too. So it was lovely to share the experience with them and also a number of other friends we've met at Cropredy in recent years, including Dave, Di and Laura who was just days old when we met them last year and is now a beautiful and delightful tot - and indeed also to unexpectedly bump into Mike ('Crazy Man Michael'!) who I've seen at Manchester gigs. This, I've come to realise, is all in the spirit of the Cropredy experience - it's the friendliest, warmest, most accessible, most enjoyably relaxed festival I know. In the words of the obligatory Cropredy last song anthem 'Meet on the Ledge', 'It all comes round again' - certainly seems to!
DAY 1
And it looks like the word's out! There were around 20,000 people there this time, the first time I've known Cropredy to be sold out! Allegedly, the 3 hour 3 mile drive we endured from the M40 to the campsite was exacerbated by people without tickets turning up on spec. Either way, it was incredibly frustrating, especially as it meant that we missed most of the first 3 acts. I have enjoyed Anthony John Clarke at smaller gigs in Manchester in the past and indeed we enjoyed Kerfuffle at the Middlewich Festival in 2005, but it would have been nice to have been there for the start of the music. However, at least I had the option of getting out of the car - poor Andy had to inch the car along for the entire 3 hour crawl! - and, once there, we did get set up fairly quickly, plus - very important - the weather was warm and dry!
We did get to see the tail end of the Wishbone Ash set. I know of Wishbone Ash, of course, as they've been going for years but somehow never really got into their music, probably for no other reason than that you just can't hear everything! What we heard of them was wonderful though, and I was thrilled that I hadn't missed the one song I know! 'Blowin' Free' was indeed their encore - an extended version I suspect! - and it was lovely to hear!
Seth Lakeman was up next. I've heard a lot about him in recent years, largely as the greatest new young hope in folk music, and I'm afraid that kind of hype always rather puts me off. I'm always delighted to have such cynicism proven wrong, of course, and Seth Lakeman certainly did that. He is astonishingly talented and an incredible performer appealing to all age groups - a complete joy to all senses and my biggest pleasant surprise of the weekend.
Cropredy always offers at least one 'wild card' as a headlining act, generally mainstream and generally not associated with folk or folk-rock. This year it was the turn of Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra featuring Ruby Turner and Lulu, no less! While I have huge respect for all these artists, this is not my favourite kind of music but I found the set so infectiously entertaining and in context with the event, that I found myself irresistibly drawn in - and jigging about with everyone else! Just as well I got myself warm before the unpredictably cold tent night ahead ...!
www.fairportconvention.com
www.anthonyjohnclarke.com
www.kerfuffleonline.co.uk
www.wishboneash.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C9KhYYkx6c&mode=related&search=
www.sethlakeman.co.uk
www.joolsholland.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB6ECXqtM5k
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=38095436
SEE ALSO CROPREDY DAY 2 AND 3 REVIEWS BELOWReview added: 10:38 Saturday, 18 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
HUMMINGBIRD / MAD AGNES / THE DEMON BARBERS ROADSHOW / LAST ORDERS / VIVA SANTANA / SHOW OF HANDS / FAIRPORT 1969: LIEGE & LIEF / RICHARD THOMPSON BAND
DAY 2, FAIRPORT'S CROPREDY CONVENTION 2007, CROPREDY, OXFORDSHIRE, FRIDAY 10/08/07
Day 2 of Cropredy had a delightful start. I already knew of Hummingbird thanks to fellow Starlion presenter Mike Wallbank, who'd been sent their CD as a freebie while wearing his day-job journalist's hat - lucky fella! He'd loaned me the CD the week before, so I had a chance to listen to their beautiful harmonies and uplifting songs before the weekend - and I returned the favour by getting them to sign their CD for him! Andy liked them too, and observed that one of them sounded like Sue Perkins when she spoke!
The weather was already pretty hot by then, so I spent most of the afternoon in search of shade and going round the stalls looking for cover-up garments. I invariably buy some curious and impractical item of clothing (which I'm never likely to wear!) on a Cropredy whim. Past examples include multi-coloured dungarees with leg ties that made me feel like Andy Pandy (!), some enormous purple trousers about 3 sizes too big for me and a laced up top with sleeves long enough and wide enough to be trouser legs! These have all long since relocated to charity shops! Therefore I vowed to take my time this time and only to buy things I was likely to wear again! I soon found a fantastic sun-hat that I know I will enjoy wearing on holiday and a red scarf/shawl thingy to stop my shoulders turning a colour to match! I tried on very many skirts, all of which I was sure to abandon post-Cropredy so I stuck with my safe and happy accessory purchases!
However, all this meant that I actually didn't watch most of the afternoon's acts, though I could hear them as I wandered around because there's only one stage and all the stalls are on the same field (which is something else I love about Cropredy). From what I heard, therefore, Mad Agnes was an American band made up of very accomplished musicians who I'm afraid to say didn't really move me greatly, and The Demon Barbers Roadshow were lively young things with an original sound and who were immense fun. These were Andy's favourite: he liked the mix of traditional music and dancing which he thought they took to another level, the Morris dancers' moves being almost balletic in their grace and control.
BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musicians of the year, Last Orders, who followed them, were so impressive that I made myself sit in the sun (still boiling hot at 4.15!) to watch them. The 17-18 year olds play melodeon, guitar and fiddle (x2) with a confidence beyond their years, and clearly they deserve their title.
5.35, still hot and some fellow audience members who'd overdone the juice a little were starting to get a trifle unwieldy! We needed something distracting: Viva Santana were just the ticket! Tribute bands are also finding a regular slot at Cropredy. Shameless Quo were wonderful and hilarious last year but tribute bands are somewhat variable in ability, and you never quite know what you're in for. Viva Santana had a mixed reception, but I loved them. They were convincing enough to remind me of seeing the real Santana at the Crystal Palace Bowl in 1977 and nudged some really happy memories.
7.25 and the temperature started to drop dramatically. Anticipating the same nightly freeze as we experienced on Thursday, we returned to the tent to 'layer-up' our clothing and find some interesting hot food (but settled for curry!) to eat before the much awaited 'Liege and Lief' set. Unfortunately, this meant we only heard Show of Hands in the increasing distance but we have seen them several times before and, despite enjoying them on all those occasions, it had been a long day out in the sun and we needed a break. Some sacrifices are necessary sometimes!
Then the moment many of us had been waiting for: Fairport's 1969 line up performing 'Liege and Lief' in its entirety. I was familiar with the album as my older sister had a copy years ago but I've not heard it for some time and can't wait to get the super-duper revamped deluxe CD reissue! At Cropredy last year, Island Records’ Joe Black had presented each of the 1969 Fairports (and producer Joe Boyd) with Gold Discs to commemmorate huge sales of this album, and in April this year The BBC 2 Folk Awards declared 'Liege & Lief' the most influential folk record of all time, so this live performance at Fairport's 40th celebrations seemed the inevitable next step. With the exception of Chris While (who we've seen and enjoyed several times before in assorted guises), who sang all the Sandy Denny parts better than anyone else possibly could (apart from Sandy herself), all those who played on the original album were there: Richard Thompson, Dave Swarbrick, Dave Mattacks, Ashley Hutchins and Simon Nicol. For the first time I got a glimpse of how innovative and fresh this must have sounded in 1969, Even in 2007 it was still an incredible rare brilliance - so exciting! I also felt very deep waves of love and joy come over me from head to toe and back again, and back again ..., as Chris While made a dedication to Sandy Denny, and then proceeded to stun us all with an impossibly beautiful rendition. Whatever you believe, that had to be a response from Sandy herself. I couldn't explain it any other way.
How do you follow that? Well, probably you can't, but probably no-one other than Richard Thompson should even try, and he and his band did indeed bring Day 2 of Cropredy 07 to its delightful end. He's guested on many artists' albums but if you've ever heard him play guitar, you'll know it's him by the end of the first bar. I adore his guitar playing and find it completely extraordinary, and indeed he has written some amazing songs. The albums he recorded with ex-wife Linda remain my favourite because I think her voice best complemented his guitar playing and best interpreted his songs so I'm always aware of her contribution missing when I see him perform, which I have done many times. Clearly it doesn't stop me doing so! I enjoyed him this time as much as I always do - but I still think their split is an incredible shame.
What a day! And one more still to come ...
www.fairportconvention.com
www.hummingbirdmusic.co.uk/index.php
www.madagnes.com
www.thedemonbarbers.com
www.myspace.com/thedemonbarbers
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/events/youngfolkawards2007/report.shtml
www.myspace.com/114140339
www.myspace.com/vivasantana
www.showofhands.co.uk
www.fairportconvention.com/the_liege_and_lief_story.php
www.fcfansite.fsnet.co.uk
www.whileandmatthews.co.uk/chriswhile.htm
www.richardthompson-music.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsQ9PiB6Ibk
www.ukrockfestivals.com/crystal-palace-1977.html
www.whirligig-tv.co.uk/tv/children/watchwm/watchwm.htm
www.melandsue.co.uk
SEE ALSO CROPREDY DAY 1 REVIEW ABOVE AND DAY 3 REVIEW BELOWReview added: 10:36 Saturday, 18 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
RICHARD DIGANCE / GIVEWAY / THE BUCKET BOYS / IAIN MATTHEWS / THE STRAWBS . BOB FOX AND BILLY MITCHELL / FAIRPORT CONVENTION & FRIENDS
DAY 3, FAIRPORT'S CROPREDY CONVENTION 2007, CROPREDY, OXFORDSHIRE, SATURDAY 11/08/07
Another cold night and another hot afternoon beckoning ensured we were better prepared for both! Still no rain - amazing! So pleased about that!
Richard Digance began the proceedings at 12.0 noon in his usual inimitable way. I once heard him describe himself as a funny folk singer which is sort of accurate, but a little dismissive as he is clearly rather more than that. Since we've seen him at Cropredy several times now, of course there are songs, jokes and anecdotes we've heard before, but funny bones are still tickled and entertainment is still guaranteed. Indeed I saw him many years ago in 1977 at the QEH - my maiden name appears on the album cover as proof! He's also very good at joining everyone in, perhaps many in spite of themselves! There aren't many who could get grown adults (many with hangovers!) waving hankies, Morris dancing style, and singing along to a segued version of 'Little White Bull' and 'Two Little Boys'! Excellent man! Andy always really enjoys him too. He also had a surprise for us this time: his opera singer friend Lee Bradley, sang a beautiful and moving rendition of 'Nessum Dorma'.
I did some more wandering about while Giveway were on, and indeed that was when I bumped into Mike from Manchester (see GENERAL THOUGHTS, DAY ONE REVIEW), so they were a very pleasant backdrop to a nice surprise. I could hear beautiful sweet voices and lovely lilting Scottish music. They are sisters, and I think maybe there is something about family members' voices blending together better than any others.
Our 'base' in the crowd was pretty full by this time: we'd been joined by Henry, Anne, Ewan and Joel (who we met at Cropredy 3 years ago - seems we've known them for much longer), James and Rob had also managed to find us - how did we all cope before mobile phones?! - and Mike spent some time with us too (inbetween queuing up to meet his heroes!). A base in the crowd is useful, we've found, because then you can go down the front to the stage or wander around and still have somewhere to come back to and meet up (that's if you can find your way back!) To borrow a chocolate ad slogan, Cropredy was definitely made for sharing!
And so the sun continued to beat down on us all for a third day, while the afternoon's entertainment progressed. The Bucket Boys were up next: straight talking, no nonsense blues/rock including several Ry Cooder tracks I know and love - all of which Henry said he could sing equally out of tune! Great fun! Then Anne and I went down to the front of the stage to see Iain Matthews, he who was in the very first Fairport line-up but better known for Matthew's Southern Comfort's 1970 chart topper 'Woodstock'. We both enjoyed his thoughtful songs, but I'm afraid he lost points from me for omitting to mention that said 'Woodstock' was actually written by my own dear favourite, Joni Mitchell. Hmmm!
Then came The Strawbs. I have a feeling they were there in 1987 too, and James has always teased me that I hate Dave Cousins! That's not actually true - I just have trouble with his voice! The link with Fairport is of course that Sandy Denny recorded an album with them in 1967, just before joining Fairport Convention, including an early cut of the very beautiful 'Who Knows Where the Time Goes'. I have that album and have a soft spot for it - but must admit to zipping through the tracks with Dave Cousins on lead vocals! For all that, they are a wonderful band! They began the set with 'Lay Down', which is a fabulous song and indeed it was one of their chart hits in the early '70s. They didn't do the other one 'Part of the Union', which got higher (No. 2!), but there were other parts of their set I enjoyed too, though I think you had to be a real fan (like James!) to really appreciate them.
It was during the Strawbs' set that a huge greying man in a charming floral shift dress and trainers, carrying an umbrella and having a serious telephone conversation into a banana, worked his way through the crowds!!!
Incredibly, it was now 7.0 p.m and Bob Fox and Billy Mitchell were up next. We've seen Bob Fox at Cropredy before. In fact I think it was the first year I went with Andy, and his CD 'Dreams Never Leave You', was being played throughout the Festival, so I'm fond of him - and the album - for that reason. Billy Mitchell of course was in a later line-up of Lindisfarne and everyone in the crowd knew and joined in with 'Meet me on the Corner'.
Then Andy and I had our usual break before the big finish. Fairport came onstage just before 8.30 and, as always, were due to continue until midnight! This, we discovered after a year or two, is too much for us so we usually go back to change and eat at that point so that we're refreshed and ready for the last couple of hours or so, which we wouldn't miss for anything. The current line up (Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders, Chris Leslie and Gerry Conway) play throughout but are joined at different points by the guests who've been at the Festival, which this time of course included Iain Matthews and Richard Thompson, so there was a wide mix of old and new numbers. Indeed, Judy Dyble, the original female vocalist, joined Iain Matthews and the others for an old favourite, 'Time will show the wiser', which I love, but it's easy to see how dramatically Sandy Denny changed Fairport as her replacement - clearly, she was a force to be reckoned with!
One of the last numbers of the final set is always 'Matty Groves' (from Liege and Lief). Perhaps to vary it, since it had already been done the night before, they showed a clever and very funny Lego animation of the drama the song narrates on the big screen they used for the first time this year.
And so to 'Meet on the Ledge'. It always ends Cropredy, it always includes friends and guests of Fairport onstage and we all, the crowds, always sing the last but one chorus. It's an anthemic song of loves and losses, and it seems to become more poignant each year. During 'Meet on the Ledge' In 1998 I was asked to scatter the ashes of a dog (Bamford), who'd apparently had many happy frolics at Cropredy. This was possibly the oddest thing I've ever been asked to do! If that was to happen anywhere, it would have to have been at Cropredy - everyone and everything that the artists and audience of Cropredy hold dear is embraced and celebrated. And that's probably what makes it so special. Until the next one ...
www.fairportconvention.com
www.richarddigance.com
www.givewaymusic.com
www.bucketboys.co.uk
www.iainmatthews.com
www.strawbsweb.co.uk
www.bobfoxmusic.com
www.billymitchell.co.uk
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYqaTDZgF2s&mode=related&search=
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=BKYZUx7tPBc
SEE ALSO CROPREDY DAY 1 AND 2 REVIEWS ABOVE.Review added: 10:33 Saturday, 18 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
DENISE MORGAN (SUPPORTING MILLION DOLLAR BASH)
THE BOWLING GREEN, GRAFTON STREET, MANCHESTER M3, Saturday 4 August
Predictably, Denise was wonderful once again. We saw a different side to her this time as accompanying guitarist Julian Homer was out of action due to a footballing accident: he was watching football on TV and suddenly the strain of lifting pints grew too great and his wrist broke! No seriously, he did actually break his chord forming hand's wrist - guitarist's nightmare! ('guitar-wrist'?!) - but it was while saving goals for his local team. Denise was saved from his threats to accompany her on air guitar or, worse, voice guitar or, worse still, as her 'dancer', Bez-style! Perhaps we were all saved from that! But she was one man down as it were, and thus reduced to the solo act she was previously.
Without Julian, it is clear that the something very lovely he adds to Denise's act is missing. But it did give us a chance to see another side of Denise. Hubby Andy, who came with me once again, agreed with me that, of the three gigs we've seen, her voice was at its best this time - at its strongest and clearest, yet still, perhaps especially, sweetly soulful. Perhaps just a different mood was struck. Each gig is different after all, in terms of venue, audience, the weather (!), etc.
The mood had been set by the sound check of 'Million Dollar Bash', who we actually didn't stay to see (see gig review 'ZERO 7 DJ SET' below). They were a rock band, pure and simple - and loud! Their songs, from what we heard, were peppered with familiar riffs, the most familiar being Michael Jackson's 'Black and White' of all things! (I have often wondered if Mr J ever saw the irony of this song!). There was old style fun here - the older among the audience would get the Bob Dylan/Fairport Convention reference (Dylan wrote and Fairport Convention covered 'Million Dollar Bash') - and the 'intermission music' was largely Led Zeppelin, Little Feat, Buffalo Springfield, the Cult etc, which of course pleased me. I was especially delighted to be able to identify an obscure Fleetwood Mac track, 'Rattlesnake Shake' (from 'Then Play On'), even if no-one else cared! I'm used to that!
So, while there were certain elements lacking, not least the large, appreciative audience (who don't talk during the performance!) that Denise deserves, there was, for me at least, a 'less is more' kind of pleasure to be had. Her set was a well chosen mix of the familiar and the not so familiar, including one I'd not heard, 'Summer Song', which was lovely and, like the sun finally appearing in Manchester at last, Denise shone. I reminded her that I'd seen Jose Gonzales play in that very spot just a couple of short years before his chart hit, TOTP appearances etc - could be a good omen ...
www.denisemorgan.org.uk
www.jose-gonzalez.com
www.ents24.com/web/venue/35757/Manchester/The_Bowling_Green.html
Review added: 19:44 Sunday, 12 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
ZERO 7 DJ SET (D:PERCUSSION AFTERPARTY)
THE ATTIC (ABOVE THE THIRSTY SCHOLAR), OXFORD ROAD, MANCHESTER M1, Saturday 4 August
So, yes - this is the reason I didn't stay to watch Million Dollar Bash, who Denise Morgan supported, as per the review above and, yes, I do realise this is uncharacteristically trendy for me! I do, as I always say, try to keep my musical tastes fluid and Zero 7 are a perfect example of my loving any music, whatever the genre, just because it's great music. And Zero 7 do make great music.
I first heard Zero 7 in 2004 on one of those annoying TV album-snippet adverts, announcing their 'wonderful 2nd album', 'When it Falls'. In spite of myself, I was forced to put aside my annoyance with this kind of promotional advertising, as some truly beautiful sounds, unusual to me, irresistibly caressed my ears. Not long after, when I received a gift of music vouchers (my favourite gift!), I knew exactly what to exchange them for - this deliciously dreamy album. And so it was that I bought a chart album for once! I'm not sure how I'm supposed to describe it, but sensuous ambient dance music is the best I can deliver at this point. Much of it is electronic, blended with deeply soulful voices and soft hypnotic rhythms. I absolutely love it! It became a favourite on my iPod once I found myself becoming intoxicatingly soothed while playing it on the way home from a stressful work assignment. I also associate it with sitting on the verandah of the best beach view accommodation I've ever had (the room pretty much backed on to the beach!) on a wonderful holiday in Sri Lanka later that year. Then 'In The Waiting Line', a track from Zero 7's earlier album 'Simple Things', was used on the brilliant soundtrack of what was to become my favourite film, 'Garden State'.
So when I heard that Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns, 'the duo behind Zero 7', were doing this DJ set thingy, it didn't matter to me one iota that in order to experience this I would need to enter a world rather alien to me! Let's put it this way: the last time I went to a dance club they were called discos! There! Now you know how uncool I really am!
Hubby Andy and I had actually been to The Attic before - we saw a very strange, but completely brilliant, comedy show there some years ago. It was called 'Slaughterhouse Live' (an amusingly inspired nod to Kurt Vonnegurt's cult fiction 'Slaughterhouse 5'!) and included a sketch involving a guy dressed as a female singer songwriter type, modelled on Lisa Loeb presumably, called Lois Trojan - say it quickly: 'low oestrogen'! Brilliant! Another sketch involved a guy dressed as a butcher flinging offal into the audience, causing veggie-me and others to squeal and duck simultaneously! There was also a spoof group, 'Four Fat Folkers', etc etc ...! So we knew it must be an interesting venue! Apart from anything else, the treacherous spiral staircase leading to its entrance is surely a challenge to the intoxicated!
So I watched, transfixed and fascinated, as apparent regulars to D:Percussion dance evenings, a wide cross-section of Manchester's under-30s (mostly!), gradually arrived, entering fairly inanimately until, inevitably, you could tell the rhythm was gonna get them! I didn't know any of the music played, most of which I would also describe as largely ambient dance music, and what I know as jazz-funk, with salsa and reggae elements here and there. But that wasn't important. I'm also embarrassed to say, that I'm not even sure the 'star DJs' had actually arrived by the time we decided to call it a night just after midnight, having been there since doors opened at 10.0! But that wasn't important either. There was a fabulous feeling there, unthreateningly young, lively, friendly and all embracing. I people-watched to my heart's content, and I loved the music. It was also the only time I've ever been offered a radish on a night out!
www.zero7.co.uk
www.thirstyscholar.co.uk/flash/index.html
www.slaughterhouse-live.com
www.lisaloeb.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_State_(film)Review added: 19:38 Sunday, 12 August 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
TWO LEFT FEET (HOEDOWN)
HEMSLEY HOUSE, SALFORD, SATURDAY 21/07/07
The dance school Hubby Andy and I go to (Steppin' Out - see link below) regularly organises social events for its students - this was definitely the most fun one we've been to since joining the school early this year. Without a doubt, the factor that made it so especially enjoyable was the dance band for the evening, Two Left Feet.
I have now been to several ceilidhs, barn dances and hoedowns over the years, and I have to say I've never been entirely sure of the difference between them - the dances all seem very similar to me, as far as I can recall. So I was curious to find out more and, by 'Googling', I discovered that: "Barn dances concentrate on traditional English dances, Ceilidhs include more energetic dances and louder music, Scottish ceilidhs include some of the popular simple Scottish dances, such as 'The Gay Gordons' and 'The Dashing White Sergeant', and Hoedowns include American square-dance and contra-dance figures". So now I know!
This being a hoedown, there was indeed an American feel to the evening, at least partly due to the hats, boots and gingham some of the attendees wore and the periodic Yee-ha's that filled the air! We joined in most of the dances despite often seeming to have, appropriately, two left feet! The caller led us all in the most friendly and entertaining manner, demonstrating some of the dances with Steppin' Out teacher, Paula, before we all attempted the dances ourselves, desperately trying not to fall over each other! Seriously, the caller's instructions were generally easy to follow and he instilled a very relaxed, 'have a go' attitude among us, which was impossible to resist.
The band would actually have been entertaining to watch without any dancing involved. During the dances that we sat out I watched them with that in mind and was not disappointed. Their timing was impeccable, even if ours as dancers wasn't! In fact even when we dissolved into the shambolic, we were soon able to resume at least something resembling what we were supposed to be doing because the band was so good and the tunes were so easy to follow rhythmically.
One of the band members (one of the Johns?!) was kind enough to give me a copy of their CD 'Bricks and Mortar', which I have been enjoying today to keep the joyous feeling of yesterday evening going, and will indeed include tracks from it in future shows. It's really good! Thank you!
The evening included a hotpot supper (though everyone on our table thought the veggie option I had looked nicer!), a chance for us to get to know the friends we've made at our dance class a little better and indeed to meet some new people too. There was a beaming smile on everyone's face.
My very special thanks to Mark, Paula and Sam at Steppin' Out (and anyone else involved I don't know) for organising this lovely event and for running the school so well, especially Mark who is surely the most tirelessly patient teacher on Earth!
www.rwilde.ndo.co.uk/index.htm
www.steppin-out-dance.co.uk
Review added: 17:25 Sunday, 22 July 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
P J HARVEY
MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER, SATURDAY 07/07/07
Have you ever gone to the party of a friend of a friend you've heard so many good things about you want to go meet them yourself and make your own mind up? You go half-expecting to find they've been falsely elevated, half-expecting to be disappointed, but come away having enjoyed yourself and feeling you know them a little better, though still feeling a bit of an outsider, still not quite sure they're on your wavelength, still essentially the friend of the friend. This is the best way I can sum up my experience of P J Harvey at this point.
Certainly she's a challenging performer - no easy listening here! You have to sit up and listen. You have to concentrate. You have to think. Above all, you have to feel. She makes you! Some people never want music to make them do any of those things. Personally I am happy for music to make me do all those things - but I have to be in the right mood. I was last Saturday.
I love the Bridgewater Hall for a start, and have enjoyed every concert I've seen there - from 'Carmina Burana' to Crosby and Nash! (The Troggs, even!) It's a fantastic venue and, as an adopted Mancunian, I'm happy to show it off to visitors. There is a sense of the grand and the auspicious there, and P J Harvey stepped excitedly on to the stage, apparently dressed for the occasion in a long, fitted white dress with leg of mutton sleeves and almost a bustle! From the only video clips and pictures I've seen of her, this was really not what I was expecting! Gradually, the 'patterns' on the dress came into focus as emotive words, but by that time I was already much more drawn into what she was doing than what she was wearing.
My favourite song of the evening was actually 'Down by the Water' which she played on a zither-harp, an instrument I love. She introduced some new songs: 'The Devil', 'White Chalk' about her native West Country for which she also played a harmonica, and 'The Mountain'. These are presumably from her forthcoming album 'White Chalk', due out in September, and were all played at the piano, the first with a metronome to keep rhythm as she admitted she was a novice piano player. For most of the set she accompanied herself on assorted guitars, clearly not a novice on any of those. She also played some songs even I recognised: the very powerful and emotive 'Rid of Me' and 'Dress', and I'm embarrassed to admit that I recognised the 'Where's your mama gone?' refrain in 'Nina in Ecstasy' from Middle of the Road's, ahem, middle of the road '70s pop hit 'Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep'! I wondered how many of the audience picked up on that - or would admit to it! Apart from those, everything else was a completely new experience for me - and I was very impressed.
I was impressed at the ease with which she switched instruments, apparently comfortable with all of them - if she'd not said she was a novice piano player, it wouldn't have occurred to me that she might be. I was impressed with the rapport she had with the audience, witty, modestly friendly and appreciative (even enjoying the hooting of a klaxon someone had brought along, and disappointed when it stopped, perhaps confiscated!). She was apparently not swayed by the grandeur of the venue or the occasion, and I was impressed with the way she seemed completely comfortable with herself and wherever that took her, emotionally and musically. She just struck me as a very real person.
I must admit that I find some of her songs a little too repetitive and rather less melodic than I would usually choose to listen to, but since the gig I've been listening to more of her music and realising that she'll probably just take more time and more effort for me to get into. But I believe she will and, to continue my analogy of the first paragraph, I believe there will come a time when she'll invite me to her party in my own right!
My very special thanks to Kate and to Neil, who travelled from deepest Essex to spend a wonderful weekend with us - and take us to the party!
www.pjharvey.net
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q3x3PomocI
www.youtube.com/watch?v=48GIaN7SrGU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7s9bnkGeBc
www.manchesterinternationalfestival.com
www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Review added: 15:26 Friday, 13 July 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
DR STRANGELY STRANGE + SOMETHING IN THE WATER
12 BAR CLUB, DENMARK STREET, LONDON, SATURDAY 16/06/07
Dr Strangely Strange is a band I first knew about around 1969, aged about 11. My big sister had bought their first album 'Kip of the Serenes' on its release, having enjoyed, like many, a taster of their delightful uniqueness in 'Strangely Strange but Oddly Normal', a strangely (!) endearing track featured on the Island compilation album 'Nice Enough to Eat', which itself has brought deep joy to many (and together with the earlier sister sampler 'You Can All Join In', formed the basis for my entire record collection and special love of this genre). Then, in a rare act of big-sisterly generosity of spirit, she shared her first playing of it with me. Aged 11, I giggled and grinned throughout that and each (numerous!) playing thereafter of 'Kip of the Serenes', and I can't begin to tell you just how thrilled I was to witness the good Doctor releasing the same gleeful, playful spirit into the small, devoted audience I was a lucky part of at the 12 Bar Club on Saturday 16 June 2007!
It had never occurred to me in 1969 - or at any point in the interim for that matter - that in 2007 I'd be singing along to a live performance of 'Oddly Normal', 'Roy Rogers', 'Ship of Fools, 'Donnybrook Fair', etc etc, sharing the experience with some of my favourite people on Earth (and elsewhere!) and grinning all over my stupid face! If Heaven exists and I'm not refused admission, I'd like to think that's how I'd spend eternity! On Saturday at least I surely had a sneak preview of the Kingdom of Heaven!
An exclusive (limited ticket entry!) date in a tiny but superbly atmospheric venue, it was their first gig in very many years, timed to coincide with the release of the album 'Halcyon Days', a collection of previously unreleased songs from 1969-70 plus 3 new songs, which of course I am now enjoying. In fact, the new material has the same innocent yet wise charm of the old. The world today needs that charm.
The evening's entertainment began with the showing of two short films, 'Strangelies in Dalston' a beautiful 1969 silent film by Iain Sinclair, played to an inspired soundtrack mix of 'Kip of the Serenes', which followed 'ULYS' (James Joyce's 'Ulysses' in 5 minutes!), a breathtakingly creative animation (also silent, though unintentionally!) by Tim Booth.
The hugely talented and fabulously dramatic 'Something in the Water', supporting, were on next - and I would urge you to check out their mySpace link below.
Then the anticipation could contain itself no longer! Original Strangelies Tim Booth, Tim Goulding and Ivan Pawle, together with Joe Thoma (a band member since 1980) on fiddle and mandolin, took to the stage and plunged straight in with their 'hit' (!), then proceeded to delight us all with their unique gentle hippie-esque blend of Irish folk-rock, a bit bluesy too in parts, and the perceptively poetically surreal in song for the best part of 2 hours, intertwining the known and the loved with snippets of the newer and the newly unearthed. I already have a special affection for the 'Halcyon Days' track, 'Horse of a Different Hue', not least because Joni Mitchell once raved about it!
Having opened the set with 'Oddly Normal', I wondered what they could possibly close on, but they thrilled me once again with a song I know well and love, 'Sign on My Mind', an epic track from 2nd album 'Heavy Petting' (1970) featuring Gary Moore - yes, THAT Gary Moore, and, no, he didn't leap from the wings to do his guitar solo! Shame!
Throughout, these lovely, funny, ageless, limitless people gave of themselves completely. But, were it not for Adrian Whittaker (who kindly appears on one of my 'Folk Connections' shows, talking about the Incredible String Band Book he edited, 'Be Glad') and partner Deena Omar (my good friend for many years, who also contributed to 'Be Glad', incidentally), I might not have known about it at all. Indeed, without them it might not have happened at all. Adrian was a key figure in unearthing the previously undiscovered material and indeed (with the help of Brian O'Reilly of Hux Records, Joe Boyd, their former record producer and founder of the legendary Witchseason Records, and Dr Strangely Strange themselves) in getting 'Halcyon Days' released. Deena and Adrian together alone organised the event - and I gather Deena also acted as ('electric'?!) landlady to the band at the weekend. Adrian's interview with the band - and I think a recording of the gig itself - will be aired on Resonance FM in the near future.
This was, without question, my favourite gig ever - unlikely to be surpassed by any to come. For me, it really doesn't get any better than this!
www.myspace.com/drstrangelystrange
www.huxrecords.com
www.myspace.com/somethinginthewatermusic
www.joeboyd.co.uk
Adrian Whittaker:
www.makingtime.co.uk/beglad/begladbook.htm
www.vortexjazz.co.uk/book-reviews/beglad.html
Deena Omar:
http://thoughtcat.com/sa4qe/do.htm
www.foe.co.uk/living/poundsavers/saying_goodbye.html
www.resonancefm.com
www.resonancefm.com/listings/20031007.html
www.12barclub.com
Review added: 14:00 Thursday, 21 June 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
GEORGE MICHAEL
CITY OF MANCHESTER STADIUM, FRIDAY 15/06/07
This is not something I expected to be doing on 15 June - I was planning to be back at the King's Head in Crouch End (see gig review 16/02/07) for 'Folk Idol'! Indeed, this is not something I would expect myself to be doing at all, but a gift is something very special - and there were several behind this.
George Michael GAVE a sizeable number of tickets to the Christie Hospital (where I have worked and now volunteer) and offered them to Christie Hospital staff for a donation. My dear friend (and former Christie colleague), Joan, asked me the day before if I would like to come with her on one of the four tickets she'd been allocated. There was only one answer! The King's Head would have to wait until another time.
So it was that on Friday evening (following a complicated army manoeuvre style rendez-vous!) we joined the bedraggled procession that gave up on the 216 bus journey stuck in traffic and walked in the inevitable rain the last quarter of a mile or so to the stadium. Sadly, the delay meant we missed seeing Sophie Ellis-Bextor, supporting, though we could hear her and the excited audience response as we trudged on. The 'Blue Peter Baby' was truly knocking them dead - murdering them on the dance floor, you might say!
And of course George Michael put on a tremendous show. No, I'm not a fan, but there are songs of his I like and of those he did 'Faith', 'Father Figure', 'Amazing' and, to finish, 'Freedom' - and indeed many more hits besides, to the great joy of all the many Wham and post-Wham George Michael fans in the audience. He was friendly, warm, funny, and actually a bit cheeky ("I have to tell you, Manchester: you all look beautiful wet!" "Do I?!") (It was raining!) in his rapport, and was gracious enough and humble enough not to mention his extremely generous gift, or indeed his reason for his interest in cancer charities - his mother's death from breast cancer. I'd remembered being impressed, moved and entertained when I saw him on 'The Concert for Linda' (McCartney) on TV not long after her death from the same disease. I also remembered being very pleasantly surprised when I heard his album 'Listen without Prejudice' in 1992.
I could have done without the inflatable George Bushes etc, though the light show was impressive. I also have to say I'm not wild about huge stadium venues, wasn't convinced all the backing music was generated by a live band and of course for me the whole experience involved stepping outside my own world and into another for an evening - but I think that can be good for us all sometimes. I got to visit the fantastic City of Manchester Stadium - a huge and extraordinarily impressive place, feel like I was at a very large club (last time I went to a club, they were called discotheques!) and jig around to the infectious rhythms, catch up with some of my old Christie colleagues and, indeed, to say 'thank you': to George Michael (by clapping - I didn't actually speak to him!) (He was too far away!) for his generosity and humility, to the Christie for being a great place we are lucky to have in the North West and especially to my dear friend Joan for her thoughtfulness.
'Listen without prejudice' indeed - a unique experience.
www.georgemichael.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_Manchester_Stadium
www.sophie-ellis-bextor.com
Sophie Ellis Bextor's Mum:
www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/bluepeter/presenters/ellis.shtml
Review added: 13:58 Thursday, 21 June 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
TOSS THE FEATHERS 20TH ANNIVERSARY GIG - SUPPORT: DENISE MORGAN & JULIAN HOMER
ST KENTS SOCIAL CLUB, WILBRAHAM ROAD, FALLOWFIELD, MANCHESTER. FRIDAY 08/06/07
Well now - this was another bit of a surprise. An email from Denise the other day included a kind of 'Oh by the way, I'm supporting Toss the Feathers on Friday. Would you like to come?' You bet!
I knew a little about Toss the Feathers. I think I saw them at O'Neil's in town as part of the annual Manchester Irish Festival in 1993. I'd not long moved to Manchester, much was going on for me and of course the place was packed with revellers and smoky, Guinessy fug (!) so it's all a bit of a blur. But somehow, somewhere, I did see them and they clearly registered in my experience because when I then saw them on TV 5 years later l was poised with video remote and there (on my favourite self-compiled video 'Various Music I'!) they stay and are often played and enjoyed. I also knew they were very highly regarded on the Manchester music scene and that they are great fun to see live. So, while I went primarily to see Denise again, it was also an excellent opportunity to get to see Toss the Feathers properly at last.
Indeed, we had a great night!
When I first saw Denise perform in February (see Review: LMHR (LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM)/COMEDY NIGHT 01/02/07), having arrived late and missed most of her set during what was, as mentioned then, quite a strange evening, I don't really think I got a true indication of just how good she is. I did at St Kents though! It became very clear to me there just how much her emotion laden voice sears the soul when she sings. She has a fabulously bluesy voice, a quality I'm amazed I hadn't really picked up on before. Together with sensitively melodic guitarist, Julian Homer, she treated her audience - at least those that stopped talking long enough to hear her! - to a taster of her range of ability and style. One of the songs I'd not heard before, 'Kellyanne', is an upbeat song of sincere gratitude and warmth for her best friend with a universal, while personal, message you might expect to sound shmaltzy but which isn't at all - quite simply a great song. Best moment of her set for me was 'Crazy', the song Willie Nelson penned in 1961 and made famous by Patsy Cline, interpreted with a deep sense of the true yearning the song suggests, the like of which I've never heard anyone else manage to capture. I was lost in the experience of hearing a song I know well and love becoming something altogether more meaningful and powerful than I'd ever expected. I came home wanting to hear it again and disappointed it wasn't on her CD - a good one for her to record I'd say. She finished the set, appropriately, with a traditional Irish song, 'The Fields of Athenry', which I didn't know but clearly many in the audience did. It may even have stopped a few of them talking!
She and Julian were the perfect support act for Toss the Feathers, a warm preparation for the fun to come! And fun indeed it was! While there were very few songs I recognised and only one - Christy Moore's wonderful 'Ride On' - I knew well, any Toss the Feathers audience needs no prior knowledge of them to be swept away with them in their joy! Perhaps the best way to describe them is as an Irish folk-rock band, but that description doesn't seem to tell the whole story. Each one of the six musicians (sometimes more I think) is someone you would cheerfully watch as a solo act, but then there's six of them, all lively, accomplished passionate players, and between them they send your eyes, ears - and feet! - all over the place! A mixture of traditional and own compositions had toes tapping, girls whirling and, er, in one case arms flailing! Andy said he was their Bez! He slid his back up and down the speaker, played air-fiddle (yes really!) and adopted a curious series of wild - and sometimes downright dangerous! - moves throughout the set, sometimes involving chairs, sometimes flinging his (? size 40" chest) shirt off and across the room and trying to replace it with size 10 ladies' jackets, and swinging around everyone unlucky enough to get in his way (including Andy!). Bizarre, but somehow in keeping with the evening!
There was also a pre 1st July smoking ban poem from Bish - a curious individual I vaguely remember from my performance poetry days though Andy remembered him clearly and spotted him across the crowded room. Seems he's well known to Toss the Feathers!
It's great to see Denise - and Julian - go from strength to strength, they were also great company, sharing our table and chatting to us, and I look forward to seeing them at hopefully ever higher profile gigs. I would definitely go and see Toss the Feathers again - a guaranteed pleasure, though perhaps a band I would only want to see live for fear of CD disappointment unable to capture the feel of their act. I also loved the friendly atmosphere of St Kents - it reminded me of an Irish social club in Dagenham a neighbour took me to as a teenager - it's the place to go to forget all cares and worries and just have a great night out. (St Kents - not Dagenham!).
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=150943473
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_McGoldrick
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toss_the_Feathers
www.musicinscotland.com/acatalog/Toss_The_Feathers_CDs.html
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=44194463
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fields_of_Athenry
www.christymoore.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jo_OcXTGSY&mode=related&search=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bez
www.bisharts.co.uk/poetrymain.htm
www.stkents.co.ukReview added: 08:07 Sunday, 10 June 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
AN ENGLISH CEILIDH, COIN STREET FESTIVAL INC HEKETY, GIG CB ETC + JULIAN DAVIES ETC
THE SOUTH BANK, LONDON, SATURDAY 02/05/07
The South Bank is one of my very favourite places anywhere, and especially somewhere I love to meander when I visit London. My usual approach is across the Hungerford Bridge from Embankment Underground Station. Turn right and you head towards Jubilee Gardens, the London Eye, etc (with The Houses of Parliament and Tate London etc. facing you north of the river). Turn left and you never know what you might find! The permanent features as you head east are the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, National Film Theatre, National Theatre, OXO Tower etc etc and eventually the Tate Modern (and further to the Tower of London and beyond, leg energy permitting!). I have spent very many happy hours over the years in all these places (and also the very wonderful Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI), sadly long gone). Touring exhibitions, concerts, films, plays etc keep the idea of creative movement and growth very much alive, and it is therefore probably inevitable that the area also attracts a wide range of street sellers and entertainers.
While in London last weekend for Hubby Andy's Birthday therefore, we were not surprised to see the usual irresistible spread of book stalls outside the National Film Theatre and hear the sounds of various street musicians all around us as we browsed (another 4 SF paperbacks for Andy!). What did surprise us was that a little further on, we found ourselves in the middle of a ceilidh! One of us joined in the dancing (guess who!) and we were both drawn into the delights of very traditional folk music, Morris dancers (male and female!), maypole dancing children and some incredibly delicious food (inc surprisingly yummy beetroot cake!), apple juice and cider (guess who had what!).
Fortuitously we were unexpectedly enjoying 'The English Ceilidh' celebration, part of the Coin Street Festival which is on throughout the summer (see links below). All the events were free (apart from the consumables, of course!) and the musicians, dancers etc were all absolutely brilliant. The ceilidh bands we stayed to watch, Hekety and Gig CB, were top class musicians and entertainers, bringing passers by into the throng to dance or just generally feel a part of it all. Fantastic fun, all the better for the sunshine and the surprise.
When we did eventually muster the energy to continue walking eastward - having already walked the entire length of Oxford Street and then some since breakfast! - we got as far as the Tate Moderrn and then needed another rest! We were again unexpectedly entertained, this time by the very beautiful voice and guitar of Julian Davies, whose mySpace link below I would urge you to check out.
A selective viewing of the gallery, our 3rd visit, was a very pleasant way to spend another half hour or so before we headed west again, entertained by further street music, most memorably a xylophone rendition of 'If I Were a Rich Man' (!), stopping only for a 'free hug', more Morris men (and women) and more apple based drinks!
A delightful surprise during a wonderful weekend. Who says London is unfriendly??!!
www.southbanklondon.com
www.coinstreetfestival.org/EnglishCeilidh.html
www.hekety.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
www.gigcb.com
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=62654071
http://eu.visitlondon.com/directory/detail/344410
http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~s-herbert/momiwelcome.htmReview added: 09:32 Friday, 8 June 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
GEOFF HIGGINBOTTOM
GLOSSOP FOLK TRAIN, THURSDAY 24/05/07
I'd heard of 'The Folk Train' and was always excitedly curious - what a concept! - but I didn't know quite how to go about it. So, when my Radio Starlion colleagues suggested it as an evening out for us all, naturally I was straight in there!
And so it was that 5 of us (inc Hubby Andy, happy to join in once again) met as planned at Manchester Piccadilly Station on Platform 2, ready to leap on to the 6.49 Glossop train, aka 'The Glossop Folk Train' ... just in time to hear the (concise and audibly clear for a change!) announcement: 'The 6.49 train to Glossop has been cancelled'. Oh dear! What to do?!
While the 'train' element of 'The Folk Train' was clearly missing, at least temporarily, the 'folk' element was certainly present, in the form of a guitar and a banjo carried by Geoff Higginbottom, whose lead we and the other eager folkie-passengers continued to watch for. We wondered if it was going to happen then and there on the platform. Just in case it wasn't going to happen, there or elsewhere, between us we discussed options.
In the time it took to glean some suggestions from my colleagues, most of them involving pubs (!), thankfully, the Glossop line problem - ? 'badger on the line' ?! - (see link below) had been resolved, and we all boarded the 7:19 train excitedly. It turned out to be the start of a truly delightful evening.
Geoff Higginbottom is a regular on the Folk Train and clearly knew how to keep us all entertained on the journey there, at our destination, the Glossop Labour Club, and indeed on the journey home. We were treated to a mix of traditional songs like 'Whiskey in the Jar', and 'Meeting at Peterloo' (about the 1819 Peterloo Massacre), Ewan MacColl classics like 'Dirty Old Town' and 'The Ballad of John Axon' (see links below), a wonderful rousing rendition of Paul Simon's 'Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard', several Richard Thompson covers (he's clearly a fan!) like 'Wall of Death', 'Meet on the Ledge', 'I want to see the Bright Lights Tonight' and, at my request, 'Beeswing', which he did beautifully and movingly, and, especially on the way home, basically anything he was asked to do, most surprisingly - apparently to himself as much as any of us! - the Rolling Stones' song 'Paint it Black'. He's effectively a human juke box!
While (relatively!) stationary at the Glossop Labour Club, we saw his wider potential as a performer, linking his broad song repertoire and requests with great wit, warmth and humour, telling jokes and introducing joke songs as though they were true stories! We were nearly convinced that Bob Marley did actually come to Macclesfield to discover 'No rum and no pies'! Tee hee! He had us all joining in - and he also managed to calm some restless natives!
A wonderful, enjoyable, unusual experience. I'd highly recommend.
Incidentally:
My fellow presenter, Dave Carter, recorded the whole evening for a future 'Free Time' show.
Geoff Higginbottom is appearing at one of the 'Folk Nights at the Bay Horse', The Bay Horse, Osbaldeston, Blackburn (on the A59) on 26 June (Contact Dave: 01254 57096). He's a 'confirmed Luddite' so no website but I found a pretty apt description of him and couple of youthful pictures of him at the links below.
www.hvhptp.org.uk/folktran.htm
www.beerfordbury.co.uk/FolkClub/artists.htm#GK
www.folkimages.com/GHL.html
Links re John Axon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Axon
www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/801.htm
www.atoc-comms.org/dynamic/toc-press-story/1000103/A-Fitting-Tribute-At-Chapel-En-Le-Frith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Thompson
The 'Badger on the line' reference is a (mis!)quote from '70s TV character 'Reggie Perrin', whose rail service to work daily gave excuses for the lateness of the train:
www.leonardrossiter.com/reginaldperrin/Train.html
BY THE WAY:
RADIO STARLION IS 30 YEARS OLD ON 29 MAY 2007 (TOMORROW!) - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
MY ETERNAL THANKS TO MY FELLOW PRESENTERS (PAST AND PRESENT) FOR KEEPING IT GOING ALL THESE YEARS, SO IT WOULD STILL BE THERE IN TIME FOR ME TO JOIN IN THE FUN, AND ESPECIALLY TO RADIO STATION MANAGER, ALAN SWALLOW.
THANK YOU!
xxxReview added: 12:29 Monday, 28 May 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
WHAT? THE FOLK! FEATURING SAM HAMMOND, JOHN STAMMERS AND LAURA LEIGH
UPSTAIRS AT THE CORNERHOUSE, MANCHESTER, SUNDAY 29/04/07
The Cornerhouse was a wonderful discovery to me when I first came up to Manchester in 1993. An arts centre that explores all possibilities such a description might suggest, with a cafe/bar that's also a great rendez-vous, I have had many happy and creatively stimulating experiences there, including seeing some unusual arthouse films not on general release and also sometimes just sitting with a drink sketching people while waiting for a friend or my Hubby.
So I was very pleased to discover they now have regular (free!) live music sessions there. They're held on alternate Sundays with a jazz session in the afternoon and a folk/acoustic session in the evening.
The evening I went, there were three acts on, all acoustic singer-songwriters: Laura Leigh, John Stammers and Sam Hammond. Of these, though clearly none is without talent, I'm afraid only John Stammers really grabbed me that evening. His finger-picking guitar style is clear and flawless while greatly moving, reminding me rather of the way Leonard Cohen played early in his career in the late 1960s. His mellow voice gently echoed in my mind while I watched, amazed, at his guitar playing. It's a lot to take in.
Sadly, much as I love the Cornerhouse, the way these sessions are set up, at the moment at least, is not conducive to an entirely enjoyable evening's listening. The stage area is right in front of the bar and there is a constant babble of talk from people who don't seem to be there for the music - if they are, shame on them for being so rude!
Maybe they'd be better off setting up these sessions in the gallery area on the 2nd floor of the Cornerhouse - and charge a nominal fee even. I doubt anyone would mind - I certainly wouldn't.
Also, as exciting as it is for me to know that there is a proliferation of 'folk nights' these days, I fear you can have too much of a good thing. Strawberries and cream are yummy but maybe you don't want them every day - and maybe they don't taste so good in a plastic tub with synthetic cream. To be selective is all.
For all that, I had a good evening, including some interesting and amusing conversations with some nice people. I would definitely like to see John Stammers again, give Laura Leigh and Sam Hammond a second listen under different circumstances, and indeed give 'What? The Folk!' another chance.
www.cornerhouse.org/events/info.aspx?ID=1081&page=0
www.myspace.com/johnstammers
Review added: 09:15 Wednesday, 2 May 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
RED DEER CLUB's 2ND BIRTHDAY BASH FEATURING DAN ARBORISE + STARLESS & BIBLE BLACK + DENIS JONES + HEPHZIBAH BROOM + TOM DALE + ...
FUEL CAFE, WITHINGTON, MANCHESTER, SATURDAY 14/04/07
Downstairs at Fuel is a vegetarian cafe/bar where I have now had two extremely yummy lunches in a very pleasant setting, complete with an enjoyably interesting choice of CDs playing in the background. Upstairs is a teeny tiny room, set up for gigs and with a similarly good feel but, well, no room to swing a cat ...
... I have of course seen Dan Arborise now twice before, will always see him again when I can and know that I will always enjoy him, whatever the circumstances. Oddly, 14 April was a hot steamy night (what's wrong with this Planet?!) not unlike the August 2006 gig at the Briton's Protection where I first saw him (see gig review 16/02/07) and again he cooled and calmed the sweaty, heaving human mass that was his audience. It can't feel good to play in a cramped, stuffy room, but he just seemed to carry on regardless and delight as always. The songs from his album are now familiar to me, and only 'I'd rather be dishevelled' (!) in his set is not on the album and remains 'a work in progress', a funny and clever homage to his hero, John Martyn, as you who know will have guessed. See him if you can.
I have also seen Starless & Bible Black several times now, and know they are a similarly reliable source of joyous entertainment. This is simply the most interesting band I've seen in recent years - and I flog their album to death too. They are essentially a folk/rock band but with a twist - a fascinating and very clever keyboard/computer synthesised twist. Sounds like it couldn't work, doesn't it? It does! Think Pentangle updated and you'll have an idea - and they are that good. The lead vocalist, Helene Gautier, is indeed French and sometimes sings in French. Together with the other core members, Peter Philipson (guitar, dulcimer), Raz Ullah (electronics, samples, drones), Paul Blakesley (double bass), Brian Edwards (drums) and sometimes a clarinet player, Ros Hawley (who I've seen but was not there that night), they make an absolutely lovely, original sound ... and they all managed to squeeze into the tiny room and excel too. Marvellous!
As these were the two acts I'd come to see, I admit to being less motivated to watching the others, especially as the sweaty crush of bodies around me and smoky fug of the air increasingly conspired to suffocate me (I exaggerate for dramatic and comedic effect!) and affect my concentration, and I did need to take a walk outside for air at one point. But what I heard was largely pleasing. I am especially curious to see Tom Dale again as I caught snatches of beautiful, accomplished and moving bluesy guitar as we (Hubby Andy - who gets roped into coming to a lot of these things with me (thanks Hub!) - and I) were squeezing our way out of the crowds, gasping for air, the atmosphere having long since passed the point of tolerable.
So, sadly, I also missed witnessing All FM DJs Graham and Graham in action (I know one Graham by association - and exchange of CD compilations! - but have never yet met him) and we never got to find out who the 'special secret guest' was. The guy Andy thought it was, convinced he was an ex-soap star ('that bloke out of Brookside'!) (I still don't know who he means!), turned out to be a sound engineer! Still, for all that, we enjoyed the friendly atmosphere, talked to some nice people (Anthony, Liam et al) and I was glad to have experienced a 'Red Deer' night at last, courtesy of the wonderful host/compere Duncan ('Dunk le Chunk') James.
I will definitely go to Fuel again for lunch but maybe only to smaller gigs there ...!
www.myspace.com/arborise
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=56248779
www.myspace.com/tomdalemusic
www.myspace.com/denisjones
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=87128430
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=29728511
http://eventful.com/venues/V0-001-000169268-5
www.hollowsphere.org/buffalogun.htmlReview added: 08:11 Monday, 23 April 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
STEVE TILSTON SUPPORTED BY NELSON PEACH & STEWART LEVER
THE RAILWAY FOLK & ACOUSTIC MUSIC CLUB, HEATLEY, LYMM, CHESHIRE, THURSDAY 05/04/07
I have seen Steve Tilston several times now and know I am guaranteed a wonderful evening's entertainment in the company of an exceptionally warm, intelligent and, above all, talented performer. Each time I see him I discover more songs that I've never heard and more albums he's made that I didn't know about (and this time also a wonderful DVD, 'Guitar Maestros') and am increasingly baffled as to why he is not better known or better admired. Talk about injustice!
The last Steve Tilston gig I saw was in November 2005 at the Briton's Protection, a tiny pub in Manchester, just behind the Bridgewater Hall, a venue he better deserves. There were problems with the sound system and he did the whole show entirely 'unplugged'. Completely unphased by this, annoying as it must have been, he brought joy and delight to a shivering winter audience, not used to such an accomplished performer, turning the place unexpectedly into a folk club with everyone joining in and absolutely loving him. His album 'Of Many Hands', largely his arrangements and reworkings of traditional songs, had been released that year and I bought it that night. (Why it did not win every folk award going that year remains a mystery to me.) Every time I have played it since (many!), I can recall the first time I heard those songs at that most delightful gig of his I've seen, his rapport with the audience and the sense of shared joy he engendered.
Having now seen him several times, I also know that every gig he does will be different; he varies the set list, welcomes requests and generally goes with the flow. So, having seen him turn a pub into a folk club, and not having seen him in a folk club before, I wondered what he might turn that into! What it actually felt like was what it was: a folk club welcoming a very special guest and an old friend, as he has played there before. Like the Briton's Protection gig, though, the audience trusted him completely to take them with him wherever he chose. 'I don't think I'll do 'Slip Jigs and Reels' [his most famous song] this time, if that's OK', he said towards the end of the gig. Of course that was OK! We had already been treated to nearly 2 hours of his stunning guitar playing and warm voice delivering his usual mixture of original songs and unique arrangements - you mean there's more?!
Indeed, his set did include songs from 'Of Many Hands' like 'The Streams of Lovely Nancy' and 'Going to the West' and others I know and love like 'The Naked Highwayman' but also some I didn't know like 'Blue Heron's Eye' and 'Life Is Not Kind (To The Drinking Man)' (!) from 'Solorubato' a 1998 album which has been reissued more recently (and which I had to buy!), and a particularly beautiful version of an old Irving Berlin song I know well and love, 'Blue Skies'.
I urge you to help me right the injustice and check out this incredible performer, who really does deserve to be playing the Bridgewater Hall!
Sadly, I missed most of the support acts' sets (albeit for a very lovely reason - I was interviewing Steve for a future edition of my show on Radio Starlion, 'Folk Connections') but I saw enough of them, and of the Railway Folk Club, to want to return some time, and I'm sure I will.
Thanks again to Steve Tilston for letting me use his track 'Willow Creek' as the signature tune for 'Folk Connections', agreeing to the interview, etc., etc., and thanks also to Stewart Lever, who runs the Railway Folk Club, and all the other friendly people Andy, my husband, and I met there and hope to see again.
www.steve-tilston.co.uk/index.htm
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/railway_folk_club/home.html
http://nelsonpeach.hopto.org
www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk
Review added: 09:20 Thursday, 19 April 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
DRIVE NORTH WEST
THE TOWN HALL, ECCLES (IT'S A PUB!), SUNDAY 04/03/2007
Indeed, the venue wasn't Eccles Town Hall as I'd originally thought from the website! I found out in time that there is actually a pub in Eccles called 'The Town Hall'. I quickly realised this was not going to be quite such a grand affair as it appeared. I was advised to dress down!
I'd been curious to see Drive North West since I got chatting to their rhythm guitarist, Dave Buckley, at Cropredy last year while we were both queuing up to get our copies of 'White Bicycles' signed by author Joe Boyd. I was first in the queue and he was happy to swap his 2nd place with me so I wouldn't look quite so 'sad'! He clearly had no shame whatsoever, while I had just the teensiest smidgeon remaining! We 'anorak'd' for some time and during our fun conversation he told me about his band.
I hadn't appreciated, even from their website, quite how good Drive North West would be. For the 'Town Hall' gig they did mostly blues-rock covers and generally things known to get toes tapping, heads bobbing, etc. This was surely a deliberate strategy to please and pacify the locals, who seemed from the outset a rather unpredictable bunch! Heckles started during the sound checks and early on in the gig I found myself being patted on the head by a bald stranger. Pethaps he was jealous of my full head of hair! I thought better than to ask! He incorporated this odd act into a strange kind of dance involving one leg outstretched while the other was bent outwards, and he bobbed up and down, bizarrely balletic! I don't know quite what he, or some of his other pub-chums, said to me but I retreated to the relative safety of the back of the bar before waiting to find out! The furthest reaches of humanity were here in the audience it seemed, including a Grizzly Adams lookalike and perhaps the tallest, largest woman on Earth!
From the back of the bar, however, I found I could observe my surreal surroundings relatively unnoticed while enjoying the music without being entirely deafened (not a great venue acoustically) and generally jig about and thoroughly enjoy the fantastic sounds coming from the stage.
Even from the opening number, Badfinger's 'No Matter What', it was clear that this wasn't just another covers band. They made very much their own interpretations of familiar songs. My favourite was actually 'All Along the Watchtower' which was respectfully somewhere between Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan's versions, and then some! The two lead guitarists, keyboard player, rhythm guitarist and drummer are clearly all phenomenal musicians in their own right. The lead vocalist has a powerful but melodic bluesy voice which blends with the backing harmonies who sometimes take the lead themselves.
Overall they are all clearly talented musicians who work extremely well together, while giving each other the space to shine as individuals. They obviously enjoy themselves, and their enjoyment is infectious. Even the restless natives were placated it seems!
I would still like to hear some of their own compositions, but understand and respect why they tailor their gigs to suit particular audiences! For all that, it was indeed DNW's own versions of 'Riders on the Storm' (complete with phenomenal keyboard solo), 'Rockin' in the Free World', 'Fool for your Loving', 'Long Time Gone', 'I'm a Man' etc, etc that I heard and was very much drawn into and swept away by.
Weird venue - great gig!
www.drivenorthwest.co.uk
www.fairportconvention.com/cropredy.php
www.joeboyd.co.uk
Review added: 15:03 Tuesday, 6 March 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
DAN ARBORISE + MARY HAMPTON + LIZZY
THE LOCAL AT THE KING'S HEAD, CROUCH END, NORTH LONDON, FRIDAY 16/02/07
I first saw Dan Arborise at a Pop Art gig (see link below) at the Briton's Protection in Manchester last August, just before the release of his debut album, 'Around in Circles'. It was just coming to the end of the heatwave none of us in the North West could ever seem to get used to, and we all started to roast the second we entered the tiny pub venue, but his stunning guitar and beautiful soothing voice delivering lovely original songs soon transported us to refreshing ocean breezes and cool country air - well, with a little imagination! I bought the album soon after and ever since I have been regularly allowing it to transport me to places of peace and great natural beauty.
So it was with great pleasure then that I planned one of my regular visits to see friends down in London around a second opportunity to see Dan Arborise perform, this time at a very 'happening' Crouch End venue - the London equivalent of Manchester's Briton's Protection of course!
A little more imagination was needed on a cold grey-city February night for transportation to balmy summer night breezes but of course Dan Arborise was able to paint the same beautiful pictures musically and lyrically, as he is truly an artist who can cross many boundaries. Geographically you could be anywhere you want to be when you listen to him, and I guess artists that good are bound to transcend genres and eras too. There is an ageless, timeless quality about him and his music. There are some clear influences - comparisons to Nick Drake and John Martyn are inevitable and often made - but there is very much else besides. This is a man who I believe completely lives his music and lives through his music, and is generous enough to invite you to journey with him when he plays. Pure delight!
Unexpected pleasure was also provided that evening by Mary Hampton and Lizzy. Mary Hampton has a similar ageless, timeless quality to her music, especially her voice which says pure English folk at the first note. Close your eyes and you could be listening to Anne Briggs in a folk club 40 years ago, but listen on and blending into that you can hear an original contemporary feel to her arrangements and accompaniments which tells you how much she loves her music and how much she understands its origins. Accompanying her on Friday were Alice Eldridge on cello and double bass and Jo Burke on violin and harmonies - and they all sounded wonderful together. I bought Mary Hampton's CD 'Book One' at the gig, and it's been delighting me all week. Its 6 tracks are a mixture of English and American traditional folk songs (the latter she makes sound very English), adapted poems and own compositions, all lovingly and expertly arranged by Mary herself. I'd never heard of her before and it is always a very special joy to me to enjoy an unknown act I've gone to see unexpectedly.
The other act that night was billed simply as 'Lizzy'. A young singer-songwriter performing largely her own material, she opened for the other two acts in a very charming and pleasurable way. Sadly 'Googling' her name bore no fruit but I will definitely keep an eye and an ear out for her. The evening was entertainingly introduced, and presumably put together, by a really nice friendly guy called Howard Monk. He hails from Rochdale, oddly. Between us, apparently, we are bridging the North/South divide!
A truly lovely evening.
www.myspace.com/arborise
www.myspace.com/maryhampton
www.myspace.com/thelocalcrouchend
www.myspace.com/popartrecords
www.goldilox.co.uk/engfolk/frames/anne_briggs.htm
PS: Dan Arborise was also generous enough to agree to an interview, which was sheer joy to do and which I will include in my Folk Connections programme soon. Huge thanks!Review added: 10:28 Thursday, 22 February 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
BARBARA DICKSON
THE PLAZA THEATRE, STOCKPORT, SUNDAY 11/02/07
Barbara Dickson seems to me to be one of those artists you know has been around for years but ask you to name a song of hers and you'll probably go 'hmm', scratch your head and then say 'Oh er, um ... didn't she do that one with Elaine Paige?' or, worse still, in my case, 'that one with Elaine Paige that Harry Hill did with Stouffer the Cat'!!! I exaggerate a little - I do remember very clearly songs like 'Answer Me', 'January, February' and 'Another suitcase, another hall', I also knew that she started her career as a folk singer and that she and Billy Connolly used to pass each other on railway station platforms as they travelled up and down the UK on separate tours of folk clubs. I also knew that she'd been in stage shows 'John, Paul, George, Ringo and Bert' and 'Blood Brothers', as well as 'Chess' and 'Evita' but sadly when she did 'I know him so well' on Sunday, naughty Harry Hill kept flinging himself (and Stouffer the Cat!) into the forefront of my consciousness! I can only hope she didn't see stifling my giggles in my 7th row (return ticket!) seat!
So, if even I know more about her than a lot of people seem to, why is she not more famous than she is? More importantly, why is she not more successful than she is? Perhaps she is just one of those artists that is just really good at what she does, whatever she does, and just keeps a steady career going without any outrageous scandals or dramatic peaks and troughs of fortune. The Press must hate her! But what does she care? Clearly her audience loves her and rightly so. When you're that good, perhaps you can just afford to be understated.
Her set on Sunday was really lovely and included several Beatles covers, including 'If I needed someone', 'Here comes the sun' and 'Across the Universe', which she rightly reminded us were all written by George Harrison (another understated talent, it has to be said), two Bob Dylan covers, 'Don't think twice, it's alright' and 'Blowin' in the wind' and most of her better known songs, not least 'I know him so well', which was in fact No. 1 for 4 weeks in the UK in 1985 and, actually, once I'd managed to shift Harry and Stouffer to the back burner of my mind long enough to allow me to hear HER singing it, I enjoyed it for the beautiful song it is, beautifully sung as ever. Her set also included some traditional folk songs, my favourite of which was 'The Great Silkie' of which I've only ever heard the Trees version, all beautifully arranged and played by her extraordinary band including, not least, Pete Zorn, who I first knew about from an obscure 1970s US band, Fishbaugh, Fishbaugh and Zorn (F, F & Zee to you!) but who I now realise I have also seen touring with Richard Thompson, Blue Tapestry, Joan Armatrading etc etc. They were all top class musicians and, together with Barbara Dickson's beautiful voice, extraordinary ability as an interpreter of songs and genuinely lovely stage presence, they ensured a delightful evening's entertainment.
Harry Hill, you've a lot to answer for! Barbara Dickson, I hope you'll forgive me!
www.barbaradickson.net
www.barbaradickson.net/the_band.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Silkie_of_Sule_Skerry
www.bluetapestry.co.uk
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=113277579
www.harry-hill.tv
www.stockportplaza.co.uk
Review added: 08:02 Thursday, 15 February 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
LMHR (LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM)/COMEDY NIGHT
THE RECOVERY CLUB @ THE LATE ROOM, MANCHESTER, THURSDAY 01/02/07
COMEDY: JASON MANFORD/TOBY HADOKE/AVA VIDAL/DUNCAN OAKLEY/MIKE BELGRAVE
MUSIC: FRAME OF MIND/JIM BOB (CARTER USM)/DENISE MORGAN
MC: KEV ROOK
Billed as: ‘Love Music Hate Racism’ Fundraiser: A night of glamorous indie rock n roll and comedy.", I was prepared for just about anything really, and I think that was just as well!
I'd gone primarily to see Denise Morgan, a young Manchester based singer-songwriter who's lately received an increasing amount of local media attention - and rightly so. When someone you know says 'I'm a singer' and hands you a CD, you instinctively reserve judgment but, from the very first note I heard Denise sing on that CD, I was gripped! I've been playing 'Bruises' over and over again at home since December and, as promised, this week I also played it on the live request show I co-present with Dave Carter on Radio Starlion, 'Wednesday Wireless'. Dave was impressed too. I'd say it's the strongest of 3 tracks on the CD, though those ('Happy Song' and 'So Sad') have been slowly growing on me too. Of course I was keen to see her live, and I wasn't disappointed either. 'Bruises' was equally powerful live (accompanied on guitar by brother Dom from Frame of Mind) and, though sadly this gig started earlier than these things usually do and we missed the beginning of her set, I loved the other two songs I heard too: 'Oogly Song'(??) and 'Crazy Makes me Love You'. I think we can safely say 'Watch this space' - and actually these days we can also say 'watch MySpace'! I'd urge you to do so - and not just 'cos I know her!
Stand-up comedy can also be a bit hit and miss but there were some wonderful moments across the five featured acts and I laughed a lot. I was especially thrilled to see Jason Manford again. I can hardly believe it's eight years since he won the title 'North West Comedian' of the year. I saw him in one of the earlier heats and again in the final that year, and was quite sure he was a worthy winner. 'A master of observational comedy' says the BBC. I'd go along with that. His English teacher at school is quoted as saying 'Jason thinks he's some kind of comedian'! Absolutely right! He's also now some kind of DJ, presenting the Breakfast Show on XFM - surely worth getting up early for. The 'LMHR' theme rippled across the rest of the comedy section, at times less contrived than at others, but with laugh aloud funny moments from all the stand-ups and all beautifully held together by resident MC Kev Rook.
Sadly, it was only the 'stayers' that were still there when the headlining music acts came on. I knew that Jim Bob was the former lead singer of Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (USM!) but had never heard much by them though I've known people who've raved about them, so I was curious. Jim Bob's accoustic set took me a little while to get into - and it was pretty late by then - but I'd really warmed to him by the end, and I especially enjoyed 'Let's Get Tatoos' and 'The Only Living Boy in New Cross', a witty London twist on a Simon & Garfunkel song I love. I would definitely like to hear more from him and will check him out. It was past midnight by the time 'Frame of Mind' came on so sadly I didn't stay to the end but I was impressed by what I heard, though it was clear to me that they'd be much better to see in a larger venue. Indeed, having now toured as support with Chuck Berry, America and Status Quo no less, this gig must have felt to them like being trapped in a shoe-box. Still, I was curious to see Denise's brother and his chums in action, and I wasn't disappointed.
www.lovemusichateracism.com
www.ents24.com/web/venue/20447/Manchester/Life_Cafe_&_The_Late_Room.html
www.jim-bob.co.uk
www.frameofmind.org.uk
www.myspace.com/denisemorgan
www.jasonmanford.com
www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=3090229390
Review added: 10:30 Friday, 2 February 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
JOE BROWN
THE PLAZA THEATRE STOCKPORT, SUNDAY 28/01/07
No, not Jo Brand! Joe Braahn! That's 'ow 'e'd say it, see. Mind you, 'e ain't a true Cockney at all! There, that surprised you! In fact he was born in Swarby, Lincolnshire (in 1941) but grew up in London's East End. Still, to the ears of most of his Stockport audience on Sunday he's probably about as Cockney as you can get, and for me, a displaced Southerner of many years, it is still strange for me to hear 'cockney', whatever its origins out of context. It was stranger still for me to see a performer who was already a household name by the time I was born (not far from the East End, incidentally!), still lively and lovely as ever he was nearly 50 years later. But what a showman, and what a delight he is!
He came on to the stage at 7.30 and, but for a 20 minute break, for a change of shirt (no he didn't say 'dickie dirt'!) and a cup-a-tea, he and his very talented band (including son Pete - but sadly not daughter Sam on this tour) kept us all completely entertained until nearly 10.30, playing everything from acapella gospel to rock'n'roll via country, cajun, bluegrass, rockabilly, blues and er .. well, nearly folk. Actually the only thing I'm still trying to forgive him for is declaring that he hated folk music and then proceeding to play the worst version I've ever heard of the Irish folk standard, 'She Moved Through the Fair', a song covered by just about everyone and his tin whistle playing dog (inc Ronan Keating) and a song I generally love. Oh yes, and then following it with a song made famous in 1977 by Ram Jam which I can't bear - (whoa) 'Black Betty' (bam-ba-lam!). However, it's very hard not to forgive him because the rest of the show was basically a joy a minute.
I've heard him on radio interviews recently so I had an idea of what to expect, but I'd never really appreciated just what a brilliant - and versatile - musician he is. In those stimulating couple of hours he switched with ease many times to rhythm, lead and slide guitar, mandolin and fiddle, startlingly accomplished on them all, and using them to create a delightfully unpredictable set list featuring Buddy Holly's 'Well All Right' and 'I guess it doesn't matter any more', Paul Simon's 'One Trick Pony', Bob Dylan's 'Well, Well, Well', George Harrison's 'That's the Way it Goes', Hoagy Carmichael's 'Lazybones', Led Zeppelin's 'Gallow's Pole', McGuinness Flint's 'Malt and Barley Blues', Status Quo's 'Down down', Elvis's 'All Shook Up' and Chuck Berry's '40 Days', etc etc etc. In amidst all that were some of the songs he's most famous for, 'Picture of You', 'Sea of Heartbreak' and (oh dear!) 'Enery the 8th'!, and more current songs like 'Ruben' and all linked together of course with very warm and funny - and presumably true! - anecdotes from his many years in the business.
This is, quite simply, a remarkable man who has never stopped, and will never stop, making great music, making everyone smile and making the hair of everyone (including himself!) stand on end!
www.joebrown.co.uk
www.stockportplaza.co.uk
www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Brand
The wonderful 1930s built Plaza Theatre holds regular coffee/organ recital mornings, and the next is on Saturday 3 February 10.00am to 1.00pm.
All proceeds from the event go towards the Plaza Restoration Fund.
Tickets: Free Admission.
Review added: 15:15 Thursday, 1 February 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
PALACE FIRES + THE DRAYTONES + WAIGER + BELIEF SYSTEM + DANNY CURWEN
NIGHT & DAY CAFE, MANCHESTER 23/01/07
I've been to several gigs at the Night & Day. It's a good venue and they always have an interesting mix of music on. I have to say, though, I'd prefer 1 or 2 (or even 3) acts spread out than a whole bunch of them crammed in. I don't think it does them the best justice really. However, Palace Fires was certainly a band worth waiting for and an interesting mix of support acts kept me entertained while I waited.
My favourite of these was definitely 'Belief System' who had a very '80s feel (in a good way!) to them. The lead singer's voice is very dramatic in a kind of Morrissey/Tony Hadley-ish way, but not a copycat by any means. His breaks into falsetto caught me unawares but, sparingly, I think these are good. The songs were all original and interestingly different, and I was especially impressed by the keyboard player who also sometimes played lead guitar. Their entire set had me gripped and my feet tapping, even if I did keep visualising them (sad old thing that I am!) bouncing in their prams as babies to the sounds of the '80s!
There were some fine moments among the other support acts too. It's a brave man who walks alone on to a stage as an opening act and Danny Curwen (not to be confused with early Fleetwood Mac legend Danny Kirwan!) did it well. Waiger played what I would describe as experimental, almost prog-rock, synth/guitar based music. I found them rather self-indulgent and quite tedious but, with a loyal following including Radio 1's Steve Lamacq, I doubt if they care very much what I think! The Draytones took me completely by surprise though. A three-piece with an unexpectedly prominent drummer, there was something very tastefully Beatley about their harmonies and arrangements - strong original songs, great fun, and just what I needed to keep me awake for Palace Fires!
Billed as 'Alt. folk-rock' in the Metro (freebie newspaper that usually ends up carpeting Manchester buses!), I was curious to check out Palace Fires. Their website confirmed that this would be a good one. I was also excited to discover that drummer, Matt James, and guitarist, Steve Mason, were former members of '90s band Gene, whose albums 'Olympian' and 'To See the Lights' I have and really like. I'm not sure I would describe them as 'alt. folk-rock' myself but then 'a rose by any other name' and all that. This is an Indie-type rock band who write and perform beautiful melodic songs and have musicianship and stage presence fine enough to remain understated and still sound - and be - wonderful. I hope that doesn't stop them from getting the recognition they clearly deserve. I was sad that Gene split but it really does look like a phoenix is rising from the flames in Palace Fires, if you'll pardon the cliche!
A long, late evening - but a good one!
www.palacefires.co.uk
www.thedraytones.com
www.waiger.com/cgi-bin/biog.cgi
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=121376009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_(band)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_KirwanReview added: 09:57 Thursday, 25 January 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]
RICHIE HAVENS WITH THE NUDES, SUPPORTED BY DEVON SPROULE
QUAYS THEATRE, LOWRY CENTRE, SALFORD 12/01/07
My first gig of the year - and the first I'm reviewing for this webpage!
If you've ever seen the film 'Woodstock', you'll have seen Richie Havens - he was the opening act - and even if you didn't ever see or hear him again, you'd have remembered him! You'd have remembered his deep, rich, soulful voice and his strong, driving, percussive rhythm guitar technique with a large left handed solitary thumb playing barre chords in a way that doesn't look humanly possible!
If you are nodding and smiling at this, then I'm happy to tell you that Richie Havens is alive and well, and that he brought that very same endearing stage presence - and the spirit of Woodstock somehow - with him when he played the Lowry on 12 January 2007.
Ably supported by Canadian born singer/songwriter Devon Sproule, whose intriguing performance entwined her own beautiful compositions around gentle folky-blues covers like 'My Baby Just Cares For Me' and The Beatles' 'The Night Before', and hauntingly backed by The Nudes (guitarist Walter Parks and cellist Stephanie Winters), Richie Havens left us all nodding and smiling once again, 38 years later!
His set, linked with a warm, humorous audience rapport, was a well balanced mix of his own compositions/adaptations, among them 'Freedom' (his take on 'Motherless Child', a famous spiritual, and the song he opened Woodstock with) and songs everyone knew but didn't necessarily know he'd ever sung them. Among these were the Beatles' 'Here Comes the Sun', Van Morrison's 'Tupelo Honey', Joni Mitchell's 'Woodstock' and several Bob Dylan songs like 'Maggie's Farm', 'Like a Woman' and the song he opened with 'All Along the Watchtower', all made very much his own.
He also managed to turn his final song of the evening, Pink Floyd's 'On the Turning Away', which I know well, into a rather haunting chant so beautiful and deeply spiritual sounding that I was left thinking 'Now where have I heard that before?!' It also left me feeling incredibly moved that this lovely man had shared with me a piece of his soul. It's a feeling that I know won't leave me.
What joy!
www.richiehavens.com
www.nighteaglecafe.org/artists/nudes.html
www.devonsproule.com
Devon Sproule is playing the Britons Protection, 50 Great Bridgewater Street, Manchester M1 5LE on 24 March 2007Review added: 08:41 Thursday, 18 January 2007
[ Main Menu | Back | Next Page ]