MUSIC LIST
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FRIDAY 31
Edinburgh
0 Goodbye Mr Mackenzie Hoochie Coochie Club, West Tollcross. 10.30am. At long last, after cancellations and false alarms, one of Scotland’s up-and-coming bands. Their official debut ‘The Rattler’ received rapturous reviews all over the place, as well as a sackful of Radio 1 plays, and they’re definitely a band to watch. 0 Warp Factor 10 Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. 9pm. Free. Covers of pop and soul classics, from the Vandellas to Sting. 0 Merlin Clowns, High Street. 9pm. Free. Pedestrian hard rock. 0 Billy Jones and Le Roux St Brides Community Centre , Orwell Terrace. A dance night, with cajun from Le Roux and folky pop from Mr Jones.
Glasgow
0 Lone Justice Queen Margaret Union. 9pm. £3.50. Great American band, with a superb singer in Maria McKee. Students and friends only. 0 Roadrunners Shadows, Bath Street. 9pm. Free. Regular HM spot.
0 The Nlen They Couldn’t Hang and Wee Free Kings Strathclyde University Union. 9pm. ‘The Men’ are a sub-Pogues bastardised folk band. This is bad news if you dislike The Pogues. ‘The Kings’ on the other hand, are from Edinburgh and play an altogether more pleasing variant on the folk theme, using acoustic instruments.
o Fini Tribe and Boy Hairdressers Third Eye Centre, Sauchie hall Street. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Part of Glasgow Style Fortnight. Fini Tribe are from Edinburgh. The Boy Hairdressers are friends of the BMX Bandits, which, apart from the name, is probably the most interesting thing about them.
0 Sydney Devine Pavilion Theatre. 6.20 and 8.45pm. £4.75. What’s he doing here? If you want a slagging off of him (and why not!) may I suggest Bing Hitler’s excellent live album.
0 Earthworks/21oz: Kilroy One Up, Dunn Street, Clydebank. Free. Earthworks are definitely not a 15 year-old schoolboy, anarchist punk band. So there!
Dunlermline
O Leaps And Bounds Warehouse, Kirkgate.
SATURDAY 1 Edinburgh
0 The Robert Gray Band Usher Hall, Lothian Road. See panel.
0 Red Smithereen University Union, Chambers Street. Students and guests only.
0 Splash Me I'm Drowning Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. 9pm. Free.
0 Back Beat Clowns, High Street. 9pm. Free. Covers from yesteryear.
Glasgow
0 Ultravox Barrowland. 7.30pm. £7.50. No doubt, a hero’s return for Midge. Remember it was not his music that made him a hero.
0 Sydney Devine Pavilion Theatre, Renfield Street. 6.20 and 8.45pm. £4.50. Your very own ‘Uncle Steak and Kidney.’ His words, not mine.
0 The Pastels/BMX Bandits Third Eye
Centre, Sauchiehall Street. 7.30pm. £3 (£2). Stephen Pastel will be premiering Spencer Railton’s designer anorak as his effort for Glasgow Style Fortnight. No NUJ members (exoept David Belcher) or Pastels critics allowed. The BMX Bandits will hopefully be adding a little humour to an evening which would otherwise be like a party in a funeral parlour.
SUNDAY 2 Edinburgh
0 Ultravox Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £8, £7. To begin with one of the more curious items thrown up by the New Wave. these days little more than Midge Ure and his band, full of nothing but hot air. Hardening of the musical arteries has rendered the structures of their songs more unyielding than their monolithic stage sets.
0 Tam White and The Dexters Preservation Hall, Victoria Street. Free. Raunchy ten-piece R&B troupe with tours and radio sessions behind them, doing their regular Sunday slot.
0 Lime (To be confirmed) Amphitheatre, Lothian Road. 10pm. £3.50. Hi-NRG band. responsible for a sackful of dancefloor hits. like ‘Agent 406’, ‘Guilty' and ‘Angel Eyes’.
Glasgow
0 Brother oi Craig/Zzazz Kilroy Cotton Club, Scott Street. 10.30pm. Showcase time again. Brothers of Craig are a competent local band who have just released their own single, ‘Tossing and Turning‘. Zzazz Kilroy used to be roadies for heavy metal bands in Glasgow. Now they are pop stars.
0 Scheme Rooftops. 10.30pm. l have
For a young blues/soul singer to scrape together a living these days is remarkable enough; to achieve the meteoric rise that Robert Cray has is astounding. Little known outside the American West Coast until the release ofthe LP Bad Influence; The Robert Cray Band has, in two short years, gone from playing small London clubs to playing on the main stage at Glastonbury and supporting Eric Clapton at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre. Georgia-born Cray, a guitarist for 21 of his years, formed the band with bassist Richard Cousins in Oregon, and their big break was playing as backing band to Cray’s hero Albert Collins, a gig which was to lead to an appearance in National Lampoon’s Animal House as part of Otis Day and The Knights. Although an association with the late John Belushi never led to the anticipated record deal, an outfit called Tomato Records issued the band's first LP, Who's Been Talkin’, in 1980.
it took another four years before another label took the plunge and released the watershed LP Bad Influence which, like its follow-up False Accusations, topped the British independent charts, a remarkable leaf
ROBERT CRAY
a.
for a soul-influenced blues band. This was due at least in part, it must be said, to the hyping oi Cray by all the trendier papers as “the future oi the Blues‘ (a phenomenon being repeated now with young jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine), a tag which embarrassed him no end, but earned him a number ofTV appearances and ensured good attendances at the gigs.
And now he’s back for his third British tour in a year, taking in Edinburgh’s
Usher Hall on Saturday 1 Nov and Glasgow's Pavilion on Sunday 2 Nov. A new album, Strong Persuader. is released to coincide with the tour, and Who’s Been Talkin’ Back is back in the stores again. And just before coming over lorthistour Cray was in St Louis, having concert footage filmed for the forthcoming movie Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ’n' Roll, also said to feature Keith Richards, Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.
run out of things to say about Scheme. Residency by popular local band.
0 Robert Cray Band and Kick Reaction Pavilion Theatre. Renfield Street. 7.30pm. £4.50. Highly recommended American blues/soul singer.
O Facade Cue Ball Club, Rutherglen. 3pm. Jazz-funk — competently played.
MONDAY 3 Edinburgh
0 Ultravox Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £8. £7. See Sun 2.
0 GD Ferrit Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 9pm. Free. Close Lobsters. The Mission. Victoria Street. From Paisley, and with a track on the NM E C86 compilation, a sparkling jangling band here to bring a little cheer into our lives.
Glasgow
0 Owen Paul Pavilion Theatre. Renfield Street. 7.30pm. £4.50. Sounds like a waste of time, if you ask me. No one who looks like David Essex and sounds like a relic from the Bay City Rollers is to be trusted.
TUESDAY 4 ‘ Edinburgh
0 DMD Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £6. £5. Oh dear. another group that‘s gone badly downhill in recent years. if there was ever anything there to start with. which one is beginning to doubt. At times in their career they‘ve seemed to be losing their grip on the last shred of sanity. Let's hope they’re feeling better tonight.
0 Jurtiezul Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 9pm. Free.
Glasgow
0 Dream Coyotes Shadows, Bath Street. 9pm. Free. Better than the average Shadows band — if that is any recommendation.
0 Big Audio Dynamite Barrowland. 7.30pm. £5. B.A.D. live shows are innovative and exciting— more than can be said of most bands these days. Support band are Sherrone and Pure Sex.
WEDNESDAY 5 Edinburgh
0 Big Audio Dynamite Playhouse Theatre, Greenside Place. 7.30pm. £5. B.A.D. are one of those rare jewels, a group i actually look forward to seeing again. Their debut album, with its mixture of rock, ultra~trendy hip-hop and their own sheer nerve. was one of the most enjoyable mainstream records of last year, and their show at the Queen‘s Hall was a resounding affirmation that they’ve hit on something unique to themselves. And what‘s a little piliering anyway" Gershwin did it.
o The Peristalsis Brothers Boston Bean Co. St James Centre. 9pm. Free. Acoustic skiffle-era duo seen on The Tube.
0 Billy Jones Canny Man's, Morningside Road 8.30pm. Free. POp/folk.
The List 31 Oct — 13 Nov 35