MUSIC LIST '
o Tam White and The Dexters Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. Free. See Sunday 19.
0 Billy Jones Lord Darnley, West Port. 9.30pm. Free.
Glasgow
0 Straight Men Flamingos. Balloch. 8pm. 0 Scheme Rooftops. 10.30pm.
Duniermline
0 King Kurt Warehouse. Kirkgate. Sec Fri 24.
MONDAY 27 Edinburgh
0 iron Maiden Playhouse Theatre, Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £6.50, £5.50. Spectacularly successful British heavy metal band, seen in the Top 40 occasionally.
0 Pete Murphy George Square Theatre. George Square. 8pm. £4. Once singer with Bauhaus, monarchs of the Gothic scene, then model in all the Maxell tape ads, where his finest asset — his cheekbones - got the attention they deserved. If he can do nothing better these days than pathetic note-for-note cover versions ofother people‘s finest moments (hi, Howard) then he may as well just fade to black again.
0 Dr Feelgood Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. 7pm. £3.50. Tickets
5 only at the bar. Unusual this, in that
it‘s the first paying gig I can ever remember in this venue. With Britain‘s best exponents of R&B
(even without Wilko) playing, this will be one sweaty night. Their new single shows them in a mellower
1 mood. but the Feelgoods are a
well-oiled rockin‘ machine par
exceHence.
0 Bill Huggins Lord Darnley, West Port. 9.30pm. Free.
j Glasgow
0 Huey Lewis And The Newslaruce
Hornsby And The Range Hall 5,
I SECC‘. 7.30pm. Cruising down the
M8inaCitroen2CV withasun roof, and Huey Lewis on the hi-fi never
sounded right to me. Yuppies should
be out in force, so take a chance and
1 find out what a yuppie looks like. As for Bruce Hornsby, he may be alright. were it not for the fact that he
was ‘produced‘ by Huey Lewis.
. TUESDAY ‘28
' Edinburgh
0 iron Maiden Playhouse Theatre,
Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £6.50, £5.50. See Mon 27.
o Misty In Roots Coasters, West
Tollcross. Here's a treat. Probably
the best reggae act in the country.
Unmissable.
1 o Bald Cormorant Lord Darnley,
West Port. 9.30pm. Free. See Sat 20.
Glasgow
0 Assassin Shadows. 9pm. Free.
WEDNESDAY 29 Edinburgh
0 La Paz Queen Margaret College, (‘lerwood Terrace. 8pm. 50p Students and guests only.
O The Charge Lord Darnley, West ' Port. 9.30pm. Free.
0 WASP Playhouse Theatre, Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £5, £4. Outrageous (ho hum) OTT heavy metal band, grabbing a lot ofcoiumn inches (Ouch, that hurt), mainly due to the initials oftheir name, simulated women-beating on stage and the singer’s uncanny ability to shoot flames 18ft into the air with his codpiece. Their first single was called ‘Fuck Like A Beast’. Anyone fancy picketing this if it’s not too chilly?
o The Men They Couldn't Hang and We Free Kings Teviot Row Students Union. Students and guests only. Folk, fired with a bit of the old punk flame. The Men released their first LP in the middle of Pogues-mania, so unfair comparisons were inevitable. We Free Kings can be really good live, and their debut single Wild Colonial Boy was pretty outstanding.
o The Proclaimers Nicky Tams. Victoria Street. Free. See Thurs 23. o The Block Brothers Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. 9pm. Free. Covers ofVan Morrison, Little Feat, Springsteen, Bowie and ZZ Top.
0 Billy Jones Lord Darnley, West Port. 9.30pm. Free. Pop/folk.
0 The LS Band Clowns, High Street. 9pm. Free.
0 Chaser Stag’s Head, South Queensferry. Very over the top heavy metal band, probably really pissed off at missing WASP.
Glasgow
0 Styng Rites/Beat Poets Third Eye Centre. 8pm. Two bands soaked in Sixties influences. Good fun, if nothing else.
0 Misty In Roots The Plaza, Victoria Road. 9pm. £4.50. Skank along with superior British reggae band. Well worth the money.
0 Scheme Rooftops. 10.30pm. That surprised you — didn‘t it?
THURSDAY 30 Glasgow
0 Goodbye Mr Mackenzie Fury Murrays, 96 Maxwell Street. 10pm (To be confirmed). Should be the number one priority for every A&R man in Britain. Everyone who thinks they are anyone will be there,‘for what should be the best gig of the fortnight. o The Blood Uncles/Hook and Pull Gang Rooftops. 10pm. Any competition would come in the form ofthe Hook and Pull Gang, who are noisy, vibrant and tremendously powerful. And they have great song titles, like ’The Revenge of Al Green.’ Pity it’s not possible to be in two places at once . . . o Fini Tribe/The Boy Hairdressers Third Eye Centre. 8pm. Fini Tribe are an arty Edinburgh band, who you will either love or hate. I hate them. As for The Boy Hairdressers: well, Peter Easton of Rock on Scotland assures us that they are recommended by Douglas of the BMX Bandits. ‘Make up your own mind.’ 0 Energy Shadows. 9pm. Free. All the way from the Midlands to play in Shadows? Surely not?
NOTEBOOK
0 Check out your attics, nostalgia butisl For the Edinburgh District Council Recreation Dept has announced an exhibition to be held at the City Art Centre in December. The exhibition is called ‘Disc-Cover’, and its subject Is the art of the record sleeve lrum1958-1986. The Department is already canvassing record companies, designers and anists tor their display, which will also leature gold, platinum and silver discs. For another section, on rock and pop memorabilia, the organisers are appealing tor rare examples oi concert programmes, photos, letters, posters, etc. All items will be looked alter by museum professionals and there will be tight security tor all the exhibits, which will be returned to their owners when the exhibition closes. Anyone who might be able to help is asked to contact the Recreation Marketing Unit, City at Edinburgh District Council, 1 7 Waterloo Place, Edinburgh or phone 031 5571255. The exhibition runs trom 13 Decemberto 24 January.
RECORD REVIEWS
0 The Shop Assistants: I Don’t Wanna Be Friends With You (Blue Guitar). Their tlrst release on Chrysalis subsidiary Blue Guitar, and their most polished pertormance to date. Although the tllpside's live standout, Looking Back, is the Shoppies we know and love —Alex’s ice-cool tones over a short, satistylng thrash. Friends could getthe Shoppies on Top ot the Poppies. A blueprint tor a classic pop single that tells just that tiny bit short ut the mark. 0 Role Kapelle: These Animals Are Dangerous (lntape). What worries me about Role Kapelle is the impression l getthat so steeped are they in rock’s glorious past, that at the first snitt ot genuine success they would rather do the cool thing and sell-destruct that carry it through. What I like about them is they set up this menacing beat (that’s present in all their songs even it you can’t hear it) and twist it whatever way they like, throwing in a till you though went out with the Ark, but is still warped enough to dodge positive identification. A similar delight in repelling and tickling an audience as The Fall. Anyway, Dangerous itselt is pretty pedestrian, but turn the record over tor Sunday, one at their prettiest and most conventional songs, which, like a sleeping bear, lies there so sweetly, but still emits enough growls to remind the unwary at its intentions. o Zerotlme: Downtime/Rocktime (Zerotlme). Cut-up mix ’n’ match, hip-hop style. Sound like it must’ve taken weeks to record, adorned as it is by snatches, no more than a second long, ot heavy metal guitar, big band, the kitchen sink even. A bit ot a reeling of ’so what?’ once it's tinished, but I like it. it's probably best listened to
with two strobes, set out ot sync with i each other, at opposite ends at a dark | i
room. A least, that’s how i tried it . . .
o The Wild lndians: Penniless _ (Rosebud). From the same label as Pop : Wallpaper, and the A-side isn’t a trillion miles away lrom them. § Sophisticated MGR/upmarket pop. 2 whatever you’d call it, the strings , arrangements are too dainty tor words. Take A Tumble takes me tumbling back 3 a decade or so and a tew thousand miles west, but it uses its talk and country-rock intluences well. Very nice, and all that, but The Wild lndians need time to grow on you. (Mab)
BEACON BLUE/THE BIG DISH/SANDIE SHAW
Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow Two much-vaunted Glasgow bands: the Big Dish and Deacon Blue. Both have all, or at least most, ot the qualities to be megastars. However, the evening belonged to the Big Dish, and their set ol tracks predominantly culled trum the f superb debut album ‘Swlmmer’, was , stunning lrom the point at view of its § emotion, the quality ot the songs, and z the power oi the live presentation. Highlights, and there was no shortage at them, came in the term of ‘Another People’s Palace’, which starts like Simple Minds’ ‘Allve and chklng’ and turns into a momentous piece oi classic rock and ‘Beyond the Pale’, played as an encore and scattered with Americanisms. Stephen Lindsay proved himselt as one at the nation’s . iinest songwriters. Not tar behind in the f league is Ricky Ross oi Deacon Blue, whose band seemd to suffer a little trorn a poor sound mix. Nevertheless, the quality at songs such as ‘Raintown’, ‘Just Like Boys’ and ‘A I Ship Called Dignity’ is undeniable, and this concert did nothing to put me oh their next live outing.
Sandie Shaw was predictable, but entertaining in a quaint sort ot way. We got what we expected, and in many ' cases, wanted. The best other Sixties hits- ‘Always Something There To Remind Me' and ’Message Understood’, and a version oi ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’ — were joined by some uninspiring versions oi songs by Lloyd Cole and the Waterboys. Two hopelessly crawling, to the point at being embarrassing, tributes (7) to Morrisey and Johnny Marr respectively.
The moment oi inspiration came in the form ot “Hand in Glove’, although the lacklustre musicianship meant that _' it lacked the sharpness oi the Smith‘s vinyl version. Good but not great, Sandie Shaw is just on the right side ot the pop/cabaret divide, is quite endearing, and ‘rlght on’ to the extent i at wearing a dress liberally covered with CND signs. Don’t be surprised it .‘ she is still around in ten years time. . . i
w- _- l The List 17— 30 October 31