LIVE REVIEW : THE FLESHTONES AT THE SHACKLEWEL​L ARMS 8/12/2012

As told in Joe Bonomo's book Sweat, the Fleshtones in the aftermath of a terrible English tour in the 1980's had sworn to never play a show in the UK again. That vow was first broken in 2006 when they played a one off London show and it was defintely burried this year with the short english leg of their fall 2012 tour. Organized by Dirty Water Club, the gig took place in the dancehall of the Shacklewell Pub in Hackney. The soundcheck started a bit late which meant opening act the DeRellas played to an already packed room. I must admit I wasn't very impressed by them and was glad their set only lasted 30 minutes (special mention to the bass player who despite his ugly mug was still confident enough in his "sex appeal" to display a unused condom popping up from his jeans backpocket...).

 After a short break, The Fleshtones came on stage and started playing "Hitsburg USA". The smallness of the room meant the band had to cut down on the stage antics that are usually featured in their show. We still got the wheel of talent routine where all the band members spin on themselves. The "shadows-like"choregraphed kicks in the air ended up with Keith Streng kicking a slightly over-enthusiastic female fan in the nose !!! The setlist was quite different from the show I saw earlier this year in Marmande (south west France) which shows that the band is not going through the motions and playing the same songs over and over again in the same order. Most of the bands recent lp's were quite heavily featured (for some reason I don't recall anything from "Take a good look" being played but I might be wrong). We didn't get "I want the answers" from Beachhead which is one my favourite Fleshtones track but that was more than compensated by rousing versions of "Pretty, pretty,pretty" and "Push-up-man" (followed by the usual push contest between Keith Streng and Ken Fox). The gig finished in grand style with Zaremba crowdsurfing over us which unfortunately involved him knocking a pint of cider on my girlfriends jacket...

LIVE REVIEW : THE NORTH SEA SCROLLS ST PANCRAS OLD CHURCH 6/12/2012

"Britpop survivors collaborate", that's the way Timeout summed up The North Sea Scrolls. That's selling the whole thing a bit short... Composed of musicians Cathal Coughlan and Luke Haines plus globe trotter / music journalist Andrew Mueller, The North Sea Scrolls was first aired at last year's Edinburgh festival. The show offers an alternative history of Britain where Oswald Mosley is lord protector, Enoch Powell a member of 70's prog rock outfit Gong and Chris Evans a martyr. A studio recorded version of the show has just been put out by Fantastic Plastic records and the small tour promoting it included 2 evenings at St Pancras Old Church.

For that second London date the place was packed (maybe because of that "attractive" blurb in Timeout...). Each song in the show was preceeded by a short story narrated by Muller (so hilariously good that even he struggled to keep a straight face). To give some gravitas to the proceedings, all 3 men were wearing pith helmets with added white army jackets with medals in the case of Coughlan and Muller. Songs are divided half between Haines and Coughlan. Haines songs are full of his usual lyrical wit (special mention to Enoch Powell : Space Poet) and catchy melodies, while Coughlan's ones need more repeated listenings to be fully appreciated. To add some extra sonic oomph to the Keyboard and Acoustic Guitar set-up, a Cellist was there (Audrey Riley). After concluding by inviting the audience to join in for "The Anthem of the Scrolls", the band came back for a  triumphant four song encore composed of Microdisney and Luke Haines solo songs.

LIVE REVIEW : GERAINT WATKINS THE UNDERBELLY HOXTON 29/11/2012

Geraint Watkins may not be a household name but his profile as a solo artist has increased considerably over the last 10 years. After releasing one solo album at the end of the 1970's, Watkins spent the best part of the two following decades being a highly sought after session man playing with the likes of Van Morrison, Paul Mccartney, Shakin Stevens, Dave Edmunds, Rory Gallagher. At the same time, he was the main driving force in the Balham Alligators, London's official source for cajun music, with whom he played in almost every pub in the city.

Since 1994 he has been playing in Nick Lowe's backing band. His second (Bold as Love) and third (Dial W For Watkins) albums were recorded at the same time and in the same stusios as Nick Lowe's "Dig my Mood" and "The Convincer". His latest CD "In a Bad Mood" was released in 2008. Thig gig at the Underbelly in Hoxton was a launch party for "The Mosquito EP vol1" that will be followed by a vol2 and a vol3 and the release of a full album. Watkins doesn't play many solo shows with a full band so it was a rare occasion to catch him live playing with a full band augmented by a 3-piece horn section.

The gig started at 8.30pm with just Watkins by himself playing "Only a Rose" and "Easy to Say (Bontemps Roulez)" from "In A Bad Mood". While the band was setting up, he thanked everybody in the audience for coming along and joked that as the EP is only coming out on vinyl, we could buy it but most of us wouldn't be able to play it. The setlist comsisted mainly of numbers off from "In a Bad Mood" and "The Mosquito EP vol1" intersped with a couple of numbers from the "Bols as Love" (I recall hearing "Happy Day" and "Wonderful life"). Watkins's fantastic piano playing was showcased on a several covers (including a fantastic rework of "Johnny Be goode" that has been a mainstay of his live shows for quite a few years now). I was hoping for more of my favourites to be played ("Don't Stop", "Unto You", "My Love") but the band probably didn't get much time to rehearse and they stuck to the set-list they have been playing with Watkins for the past few years. Nick Lowe was in the audience, eagerly grooving to his "ever-soulful" piano player.

Photo by Sonia Ballot

ART WILL SAVE THE WORLD : A FILM ABOUT LUKE HAINES AT THE BASEMENT BRIGHTON 24/11/2012

To celebrate our 2 years together, my girlfriend and I had decided to spend the weekend of the 24th and the 25th of November in Brighton. Being my usual "canny" self I managed to fit something musical into the proceedings by taking her to see the recently released documentary "Art will save the world" about former The Auteurs frontman Luke Haines.It was showing at a small Art Cinema called The Basement and was due to be followed by a Q and A session with Mr Haines and film director Niall Mccan.

 

 

 The documentary is quite short clocking at 1 hour and 15 minutes (could have been stretched a bit more without becoming boring) and avoids the usal rock documentary format. Apart from the appearance of the first drummer in The Auteurs in a surreal sequence where he is brushing leaves off the ground behind Haines on a stage, there is no interview of anyone who played music with Haines (not very surprising considering The Auteurs were composed of hired-hands and of Haines's former partner Alice but a bit weird when it comes to former BBR associates Sarah Nixey and John Moore). Not a lot of famous talking heads, apart from Jarvis Cocker (who makes a really great contribution to the movie), we get two writers (John Niven and David peace, respectively authors of "Kill your friends" and "The Damned Utd", Lukes former manager, his former clip director and a guy who wrote a book about him).

 

Niall Mccan depicts Haines as a man of strong principles that doesn't compromise his artistic vision to pursue commercial success ("I don't write for the man on the street" says Haines in the movie). The film is a bit pretentious sometimes but very funny (a little bit like Haines in fact). I didn't quite get the sequences of people auditionning to be Haines but the bits where Haines revisits his hometown of Walton-on-thames are hilarious (deadpanning at its best). Sometimes for plot purposes, the facts gets twisted a bit,"Bad Vibes" is presented as a kind of "career saving moment". Maybe the book sold well but I don't think it garnered Haines more record or ticket sales. He says that in 2005 he was playing to audiences of 50 people. Well I saw him at the Deaf Institute in 2009 (after Bad Vibes had been released) and there was about 50 people in the place... Shame some subjects weren't treated in a more thorough way (Das Capital, the pop strike, Black Box Recorder).There is also nothing about "Property", the cancelled musical that Haines was writing inbetween the end of Black Box Recorder and the recording of the "Off my rocker at the art school bop" album. I would have been nice to get Dave Boyd former head of Hut Records to reminisce about working with Haines. But choices had to be made and long rockumentaries are not good usually (major example : George Harrison : Living in the material). Haines appearing after the screening with the director proves that he must be pleased with the version of himself that's presented in the movie, which would mean it's probably not for the man on the street ;).

 

Link to preview : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3H61oDvflc

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.

LIVE REVIEW : RODRIGUEZ AT THE ROUNDHOUSE 14/11/2012

Seventies Detroit singer-songwriter Rodriguez is making quite a fantastic comeback. After vanishing into obscurity for almost 30 years, he was invited to tour south-africa in the late nineties prompting a gradual comeback that culminated in the release of a documentary last year entitled "Searching For Sugar Man". In between those two events, there was live dates in the UK and the US andf the re-release of his long out of print albums by Light In the Attic in 2008. To show the effect that "Searching For Sugar Man" had on Rodriguez's popularity, you just have to compare the venue he played for his last London gig in 2009 (The Union Chapel) with the venues he was playing this year (3 nights at the Roundhouse and one night at the Royal Festival Hall). I managed to get a tickets for the 1st night at the Roundhouse. When I booked the ticket I was expecting it to be a Rodriguez solo show but discovered that he would be backed by a band from Brighton for the whole UK Tour. I had seen him on youtube playing a gig for KEXP radio in Seattle and the backing band was superb so I was hoping that the English guys would live up to that. Rodriguez arrived on stage guided by a minder, he's in good shape physically but his eyesight seems to be really bad. For the first 3 songs, he had a mic attached to his mouth but the sound coming out of it wasn't very good so it was removed and replaced by a normal mic on a stand.

The first impression I had was that the band hadn't had enough time to rehearse with Rodriguez. The bass player was doing a good job but the drummer and the guitar player were stiff. They didn't seem to be able to lock with Rodriguez's groove. Despite this shotcomings Rodriguez's seemed really pleased to be there. Highpoints of his first album got the most applause ("I Wonder", "Sugar Man", "Establishment Blues"). "Sugar Man" was described by Rodriguez as a "descriptive song not a prescriptive song" followed by a "be smart, don't start" slogan that got him a few boohs from several audience members. Originals were intersped with cover songs ranging from Franck Sinatra to Elvis Presley numbers. In-between song banter give Rodriguez the opportunity to share some really awful jokes (one about minnie mouse and goofy was particularly bad), but they were told with a kind of laid back charm that made them funny in the end. Best moment of the evening was his solo version of "Learning the blues" played during the encore. Hopefully next time he'll play the whole gig like that. I encourage everybody to check out his two records (especially the first one "Cold facts"), they're really worth it.

LIVE REVIEW : THE ZOMBIES ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALLS 26/09/2012

This year sees The Zombies celebrating  the 50th anniversary of their 1st get together in St Albans. After touring America this summer, they did a UK tour in September followed by a short visit to Japan. A rather hearty touring schedule for a band whose members are nearing seventy !!! I had seen them in 2008 performing Odessey and Oracle in its entirety at the Hammersmith Apollo with Chris White and Hugh Bundy from the original line-up.This show at the Islington Assembly Halls featured the touring version of The Zombies that includes founding members Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent, Jim Rodford on bass guitar, Steve Rodford on Drums and Tom Toomey on guitar.

The set list featured quite a few numbers from their latest LP "Breathe Out, Breathe In" which sounded really good early sixties hits and songs of Odessey and Oracle. All the material from that album was grouped together in the middle of the show (played in that order : "A Rose for Emily", "Care of Cell 44", "This Will Be Our Year","Beachwood Park", "I Want Her She Wants Me" and finally "Time of the Season"). Songs from Argent's and Blunstone's post-Zombies material were also included in the set. It blended well with the rest on some occasions ("Old and Wise", "I Don't Believe in Miracles") and less well on others ("What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" and the repetitive "Hold Your Head Up"). The band was genuinely pleased to be there and kept thanking the crowd for coming over to see them. The only mishap of the evening was when Rod Argent made a rather insensitive reference to original guitar player Paul Atkinson's passing while introducing new recruit Tom Toomey. The gig finished with an energetic version of "Just out of Reach" and their cover of George Gershwin's "Summertime".