MUSIC LIST/ROCK
sax-accompanied set.
I Mike C. Smith Trader \‘ie's. Victoria Street. 225 656‘). 9.30pm. Free. Acoustic singer-songwriter.
THURSDAY 16 Glasgow
I The Waterboys Barrowland.2~14 (iallowgate. 552 460]. 7.3llpm. More!
I The Cookie Crew and MC Duke f-‘ury- Murrys. 96 Maxwell Street. 221 651 l. lll..‘~llpm. If their recent chart single is representatiye of what the ‘( ‘ookies‘ are about then I will not he at the front ofthe queue for this one. yet that queue may well he a longone.
I The Thanes and The Primevals (‘ollege of Building and Printing. 6() North l lanoyer Street. NI 1355. 9pm. (ilasgoyy and Edinburgh’s two most fanatical rock and roll hands on the one hill. Sounds goodto me. and in addition this is an official Anti Poll Tax gig.
I Sugarloaf'l'he ()uthousc. 1155 ('athcart Road. 6490184. 9pm. I't'cc. lirontedhy the line yocals ol(icrry .\lc( ‘usker. thisis their first gig for some time. and their first under the name Stigarloal'. haying preyiously heen Sugarloat Main.
I Albaroot and Cool Breeze (’arter's. Bridge Street. Paisley. 0pm. £2.50. Scottish ('arrihhean fusion t‘rom Alharoot and (‘ool Bree/c are another local reggae hand. (iood to see that Scottish reggae suryiyes post Man at the Window
I Loose Cut l.a Taniere. l5 l~o.\ Street. 221 48-1-1. 9pm. Free.
Edinburgh
I D.C. Ellis Venue. ('alton Road. 557 3073. See panel.
I The Dan Blocker Experience .‘s'egoeiants. Lothian Street. 225 63 l 3. 9.45pm. Free. To be confirmed. Possibly l lillhilly Deluxe will be appearing instead.
I Dave Robb St James Oyster Bar. ('alton
’One of the few jewels that shine out of this bad, bad, world’ — LIST
‘If I could be a fisherman I would, you know.‘ —John Lennon, 1970.
‘I wish I was a fisherman, tumbling on the seas.’ - Mike Scott, 1988.
It's not really that long a trip down rock'n’roll, when you think about it, from the Patti Smith tribute of the first Waterboys single, ‘A Girl Called Johnny', through covers of Dylan's ‘Maggie’s Farm’ (and Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’!) to the stage where The Waterboys, shacked up in Dublin and absorbing Irish folk music through their pores, release an album called ‘Fisherman's Blues’ and can count among their numberJay Dee Daugherty, the drummer from the Patti Smith Group.
Waterboys have come and gone (notably Karl Wallinger, who went on to form the seemingly-disappeared World Party),and Pete Frame could probably make an eyebrow-raising Bock Family Tree out of the story, but the long-standing partnership between Mike Scott and saxophonist/ mandolinistAnthony Thistlethwaite that began in London in the early
TH WATERBDY
Eighties has expanded overthe years to
take in fiddle player Steve Wickham, who persuaded them to move to his home town of Dublin, where they met Belfast bassist Trevor Hutchinson. They, and the other assorted souls that make up The Waterboys can be seen posing on the tront of ‘Fisherman’s Blues' like a raggle-taggle bunch oftroubadours. If Mike Scott wants to be an Irish Bob Dylan (or a Scottish Van Morrison), then this is his Band, and like that outfit they do an immaculate job of slipping between the cracks of genres, in this
case rock and folk, employing the power of the former and the subtleties ofthe latterto bring a light and shade to Scott‘s songs.
There's no doubting the stirring sweep of the ‘big music’, and the sell-out shows of their tour (Monday 13 at Edinburgh Playhouse and Glasgow Barrowland on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16) are more than adequate testimony to their appeal. You wonder if they've not gone slightly overboard though, in moments like ‘The Stolen Child', their musical adaptation of Yeats’ poem, all ‘leafy island’ and ‘drowsy water-rats',which I suspect even leaves their fans puzzled.
The Sold Out signs, incidentally, shouldn’t worry ticket-holders who have heard about the incident on the opening night of the tour, when a disparity between the Brighton venue’s fire limits and the number of tickets printed left approximately 300 ticket-holders locked out of the gig. This was an isolated incident between promoters JLP and Brighton Top Bank. (Mab)
Road. 9pm. Free. See Tues 14.
I Texas Breakfast Ryrie‘s. Haymarket Terrace. 337 7582. 9pm. £1. Rhythm'n‘hlues. alternating week about with Bo'VN'eeyil.
I Johnny Steele Trader Vic's. Victoria Street. 225 656‘). 9.30pm. Free. Acoustic singer-songwriter.
I The Brothers Preservation Hall. Victoria Street. 226 3816. 9.30pm. Free.
’The immaculate poo conception’ —- SOUNDS
’All the ingredients of a good time are here — Buy it’ — NME
’When the world takes stock of its treasured record collection... There’s certain to be a win album. And this is the one’ — OFFBEAT
Now listen to this — ’FREAK Y TRIGGER’
ALBUM, CASSETTE AND COMPACT DISC INCLUDES — ’WHA T’LL YOU DO TILL SUNDAY, BABY’
AND ’LOVE UNITS’
FRIDAY 17
Glasgow
I The Wonder Stuff and Jesus Jones Barrowland. 244 (iallowgate. 552 4601. 7.30pm. A busy night for sure and The Wonder Stuff have thrilled Glasgow audiences at smaller venues already this year. There is no reason to think that they
Listen to this - ’Freaky Trigger is a pop artifact of surpassing brilliance... A tale of theft, madness & genious’. — NME ALBUMREV/Ewrro) -
will do otherwise this time. and as an added bonus. Jesus Jones. whose single is knocking on the door of the top forty. are in support.
I Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra ( ilasgoyy School of Art. 167 Renfrew Street. 332 0691 . 9pm. One of the most bizarre and interesting musical ventures of recent months. and with the potential to he a great gig.
J
The List 10— 23 March 1989 43