MUSIC LIST/ROCK
Last month’s gig by Throwing Muses provided the opportunity for the Tennents Live !/List Gig OfThe Month photography opportunity to get under way.
Each month this year we hope to feature one live band and the work ofan up-and-coming photographer. Throwing Muses were caught in action by Glasgow-based photographer William Mushat. Alastair Mabbott brought back the words.
Throwing Muses and The Sundays, Glasgow Queen Margaret Union, 17 February.
I go against the flow by coming down against The Sundays. Comparing notes as the mainly-student audience pile out into the layer between sets I tind that I'm the minority in feeling that the band have shot their bolt on their llrst single; I see little in the band to suggest that they’re much more than the sum of their intluences, easily assimilated at
THE MONTH
Throwing Muses, however, is a group I’ve been wanting to see tor some time, and one that demands repeated listening. Judging trom the reaction I’ve got it right this time. Maybe no one in the hall understands what Kristin Hersh is actually singing about, but they're hanging (almost literally, from the ratters) on her every word. Dathed in purple light and displaying all the hallmarks of ghastly American cerebral rock, they overcome their pretensions with bursts of undeniable excellence, when all tour members pull together, and the melted wax images ot pop and lolk flow and coalesce into something that’s uniquer the Muses’.
Even keeping oft-centre hardens into tormula, as the weak new LP ‘Hunltpapa’ shows, butthe Muses project the enthusiasm of the amateur rather than the tired complacency a similar band their stature might have fallen prey to by now. They come over as still being surprised by the possibilities of music, and the linest moments at tonight's set are surprisingly powerful. (Mab)
I McCarthy Edinburgh University. venue to be confirmed. Rarely do guitarsjangle with such conviction and power as they do in McCarthy's scurrilously subversive and endlessly tuneful attacks. Check out the new single. ‘Keep an Open Mind or Else‘. I Love Decree. We Free Kings. Deal Heights Cajun Aces and Wraygun and The Rockets Student Union. Teviot Row. A good collection of bands. but since it's to celebrate the centenary of the Union it's a gig for students and guests only.
I Mr Breeze Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. £1 after 9.30pm.
SATURDAY 11
Glasgow
I Pulsebeat Plus Halt Bar. 160 Woodlands Road. 332 1210. 9pm. Free. (‘ompetent and melodic Dundonian band. Probably worth seeing.
I Big George and the Business La Taniere. 15 Fox Street. 221 4844. 3pm. Free. See Friday 101h.
I Woltgang La Tanierc. 15 Fox Street. 221 4844. 9pm. Free. A thirteen piece band. which means that no audience is required and La Taniere will still be busy!
Edinburgh
I Brother Beyond Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 557 2590. 7.30pm. £7. £6. Feed all the white sanitised hits ofthe last three years into a computer and this is what you‘d get. Not that I'm sayingthey're bad.or anything. ..
I Dumpy's Rusty Nuts Venue. (‘alton Road. 557 3073. Leather. grease and guitars from the long-serving Dumpy and crew, who deserve a medal for perseverance. or something.
I Crocodiles in Cream Moray House Student Union. Holyrood Road. 5568455. Colourful and promising local band we‘re sure to hear more of in time.
I Bluelinger Platform One. Caledonian llotel.Rut1and Street. Residency for the Fifties-influenced pop group.
I Sharlol and The Rogues Negociants. Lothian Street. 225 6313. 9.45pm. Free.
I Bulb Cormorant Lord Darnley. West Port. 229 4341. Afternoon. Free. Residency.
I Alter Midnight Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. £1 after 9.30pm.
SUNDAY 12 Glasgow
I Rich and The Runaway Trains The Videodromc. York Street. 8pm. Good double bill. Despite their different backgrounds. Rich in a pop/ soul mould and the Runaway Trains in a janeg pop tradition. both appreciate the essence ofa good song. which means this should be a worthwhile gig.
I Close Lobsters Rooftops. 92 Sauchichall Street, 332 5883. 10pm. March seems to be a busier month for Rooftops in terms of live music. with this looking like the pick ofthe gigs.
I King Bees Duo La Taniere. 15 Fox Street. 221 4844. 9pm. Free. Acoustic blues. Residency.
Edinburgh
I Tom Robinson Queen‘s Hall. South Clerk Street. 668 2019. Come on. name the last memorable song the Robbo wrote. Not easy is it? He‘s a relaxed and relaxing performer. though, settling into early middle age along with many ofhis audience.
I Holocaust Moshpit. Venuc.Ca1ton Road, 557 3073. 7.30—11pm.£1.50. Scotland‘s leading thrash metal hand. all set for their debut release on Blast Furnace records.
I Warren Peace St James Oyster Bar. Calton Road. 9pm. Free. Mainstream pop. Residency.
I Charlie and her Sheepdogs Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. £1 after 9pm. Rock and blues.
MONDAY 13 Glasgow
I Elephant Noise La Taniere. 15 Fox Street. 221 4844. 9pm. Free. Describedas being like “The Smiths with a mental guitarist'. Could be interesting.
Edinburgh
I The Waterboys Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 557 2590. 7.30pm. SOLD OUT. See panel.
I Johnny Sunbeam Negociants. Lothian Street. 2256313. 9.45pm. Free. Residency.
I Said Florence Preservation l lall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. 9.30pm. Free.
TUESDAY 14 Glasgow
I Farewell Parade and The Thomas Crown Altair Napoleons. 128 Merrylee Road. 637 5238. 9pm. Second of the new series of gigs at Napoleons.
I Sneak Preview La 'l'aniere. 15 Fox Street. 221 4844. 9pm. Free. (‘over versions band. formed by ex member of Jamie Barnes and Cochise. Repertoire varies from (‘limie Fisher to l leart.
I Bobby Wishart l lalt Bar. 160 Woodlands Road. 332 1210. 9pm. Free.
Edinburgh
I Dave Robb ()ddfcllows. Forrest Road. 220 1816. 8.30pm. Free. Accompanying himselfon a resonant bouzouki. the ex-Rua man who‘s enjoyed personal endorsement from The Proclaimers. sings a set of his own crafted and evocative material.
I The Tex Fillet Five Negociants. Lothian Street. 225 6313. 9.45pm. Free. Country. I Catch the Pigeon Preservation l lall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. 9.30pm. Free. I Los Supremos St James Oyster Bar. Calton Road. 9pm. Free. (‘ountry blues. Residency.
WEDNESDAY 15
Glasgow
I The Waterboys Barrowland. 244 Gallowgate. 552 4601. 7.30pm. (,iigofthe week certainly. and among many others 1 can‘t wait to discover how Mike Scott and cohorts succeed in bridging material from Fisherman‘s Blues with earlier songs. Readings of W.B. Yeats poetry at the expense of A Girl (‘alled Johnny will not be appreciated. yet the potential live power ofthe new album's title track. We Will Not Be Lovers and World Party is huge.
I Third Party Fixx. 86 Miller Street. 248 2859. 10pm. Free. First gig for some time. Third Party will hopefully have developed from their promising gigs oflast year.
I Marino's Men Halt Bar. 160 Woodlands Road. 332 1210. 9pm. Free. Regularfolk session.
Edinburgh
I B.B. King and Horse Playhouse Theatre. Greenside Place. 557 2590. 7.30pm. £9.50, £8.50. £7.50. The guv‘nor ofthe blues guitar has returned. not put off by the senseless heckling he was forced to endure the last time he played at this venue. Strong men have been known to fall on their knees before B.B. 's quicksilver blues solos, so be warned. Added incentive to attend, were it needed, is provided by support group Horse from Glasgow.
I Splash Me I'm Drowning Venue. Calton Road. 557 3073. Their first gig for quite a while. The talented SMlD should have assembled a fair catalogue of funky pop songs in the time they‘ve been away.
I Woodrow Wilson Negociants. Lothian Street. 225 6313. 9.45pm. Free. Exceptional soul singer. begging to be heard by a much wider audience than he is at present, with low-key guitar- and
42 The List 10- 23 March 1989