MUSIC REVIEW
estaminet
“KING OF BARS”
'3 you don’t like it, you don't deserve it, and if you haven't 6am you wouldn't know."
219 FENWICK ROAD GIFFNOCK G46 041-638 6797
5/9 BYRES ROAD GLASGOW G11 5RD 041-339 851 1
"QUALITY BREEDS QUALITY"
POCTPOIIOBHlI
THE WORLD'S GREATEST CELLIST
MONDAY 29 JULY 1991 AT 8.00PM
Rostropovich
plays J.S.BACH
Suite No. 2 in D minor Suite No. 3 in C major Suite No. 5 in C minor
Tue GLAscov ROYAL CONCERT HALL
£20.00, £17.50, £15.00, £12.50, £10.00 Box Office: 041-332 3123
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Andy McCluskey ol 0M0
0M0
Playhouse, Edinburgh, 5 July.
‘You would not belieeeve what‘s going on back there! I've just seen the girls lrom The Human League rubbing Nik Kershaw with sweetcorn relish white Howard Jones stroked a garlic baguette!’ Onlyjoking. Dram l? Watching DMD is a bit like taking a trip back to the early 803, when no hipster was complete without his wedge (burgundy optional), and accordingly the cred-conscious are giving this show wide berth. Those who‘ve come, however, are thunderously
enthusiastic. 0M0 —two keyboard players, one drummer and Andy McCluskey— get a hero‘s welcome. With the departure at his long-standing partner Paul Humphries, McCluskey has a lot more to carry, and, boy, he looks lonely outthere. His hyperactive dancing — rather like a cartoon rabbit with its arse on lire - comes across as overdone, too much like a man who has a large space on stage to tilt and still isn't cominrtable playing the extrovert. I want to tap him on the shoulder and remind him that it's only 3000 people he’s got to vibe 5 up, not an entire stadium. Let no one ' say that McCluskey doesn‘t give it all he's got, BUT. . . one ortwo otthe l oldersongs, notably ‘Joan 0t Arc‘, ' seem perlunctory and come to an i abrupt halt. ] I
His voice isn't a particularly expressive vehicle, and lrankly his songs are not much more than (very) competent synth-pop. While, in the last lew years, every studio rat going has , tollowed McCluskey's and Humphries‘ lead, grasping the nettle ol technology and reshaping pop music in the process, 0M0 have stuck by what they know. With some exceptions, the l music played tonight consists at i variations onathemethat‘sbeen ' tamiliartora decade. What is memorable,though, isthe warmth the i audience leels torthis awkward, { gangling lrontman, and the completely unallected way he returns it. (Alastair ; Mabbott)
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THE RHYTHM KITTENS/WHITE OUT
Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, 4 July.
The singer wore his mum’s best bedsheet round his shoulders and over his head. It was scrawled with gralliti. She won't be chulled when he gets home. Not that the parents of White Out probably care any more. This band are clearly the Mother ol all Bands—or at least aspire to be.
While their monkey-laced pals tried gamely to rock it up down the lront, the band lreaked out. Lank hair was tossed, grins were leered, two-linger salutes were proltered, genes were in-bred. We were supposed to be impressed, intimidated even. We weren’t. Humoured, yes, atthis ludicrous, Manic-like shambles. Not so much mods as mode-ish, White Out are a Woodpecker-fuelled teen party running out of control. I like it. Fast, lurious and lunny as llip. They'll go lar.
The Rhythm Kittens are altogether more relined. Their early demos held a discordant chaos, but their recent ‘Sway‘ EP had a tightly-clenched confidence. Likewise tonight. ‘Don't Talk To Me' leatured the intriguing delayed vocal ol Richard Cairney, while guitars that slash like strobes llash belore our ears. When sibling Ros
Rock out with White Out
takes the stand, things bet up. Her blocked-tube vocals add a ‘C-86' cuteness, a levity to lighten their 5 mock-gothic lorce. ,
At other times the 4A0 aura is ditlicult ; to dispel. 0n ‘Bob‘, actual lyrics are ' eschewed in lavour at atmospheric ! leaps ol the female Cairney‘s larynx. A renegade ambulance siren wail that’d ‘ be entirely at home down This Mortal I Coil way. f
Only on the last track do they resort to - some loot pedal gimmickry, clearly aware that wah wah backwards reads haw haw. Here, though, it’s only a bit player. The voices have enough charisma, the strumming enough steely edge to make their mark where melodic content may be lacking. The overall grip at The Rhythm Kittens is tantalising and extreme. (Craig McLean)
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40Thc List 12— 25]uly1991