LIVE REVIEW : KEN STRINGFELLOW AT THE LEXINGTON 15/11/2012

Ken Stringfellow is touring Europe to support his new album "Danzig in the Moonlight". Since the demise of the Posies in 1998 after the release of their "Success" album, Stringfellow has been involved in a myriad of projects. First he got recruited to play keyboards with REM on their Reveal album. He stayed with them till trelease of "Around the Sun" in 2005 and the subsequent tour. In addition to his touring commitments with REM he still managed to :

- Reform The Posies with Jon Auer and release two albums (Every Kind Of Light and Blood Candy),

- Form a new band called The Disciplines with Norwegian musicians and put out 2 albums with them

- Record 4 solo albums (This Sounds Like Goodbye,Touched, Soft Commands and the recently released Danzig in the Moonlight)

- Double as a bass player and a tour manager in Big Star, which involved putting together tribute for Alex Chilton and his music after his passing.

- Be involved in a myriad of projects, wether as a musician, songwriter or producer.

How does the guy manage to find the energy to do all that, I haven't got a clue... Stringfellow usually plays solo going back and forth betweem Keyboards and electric guitar.He was playing the Lexington, a small venue that's located above a pub of the same name. For that night his opening act was a Scottish band called "The Hazey Janes" that played a fine half hour set. Stringfellow usually plays solo going back and forth betweem Keyboards and electric guitar but for this night he was due to be joined for a few songs by "The Hazey Janes". Having played solo shows for years and years, Stringfellow has mastered the art of grabbing the audience and keeping a hold of their attention. Thanks to the small size of the venue AND the very respectful audience (and bar staff), he managed to sing quite a few songs without any mic. He played almost all of the songs from his latest CD, most performed in a different way from the recorded versions. We still got some numbers from Touched and Soft Commands. "When U Find Someone" was introduced by a funny speech about Mitt Romney, Mrmons and gay rights in America. The Hazey Janes joined him on stage for three songs. First was excellent version of "Down Like Me" from Touched (Liam the lead singer and guitar player from The Hazey Janes perfectly reproduced the Pedal Steel Solo that's on the record). Following that, Stringfellow introduced 60's singer-songwriter to duet with on "Doesn'it Remind you of Something" which was followed by a rousing "Don't Die". The gid ended with a cover of the Buffy Saint Marie song "Ask Me No Questions". A really good gig by an artist who has just put out his strongest and most diverse album to date.