MUSIC PREVIEW
T
THE
E crrr CAFE
OPEN
LUNCH Monday-Saturday Noon-2.30pm
DINNER Monday-Thursday 5. 30- l l pm
Friday-Saturday 5.30-Midnight
Sunday 6. 30- l 0.00pm
SUNDAY BRUNCH
Noon-3pm
APPETISERS l2 noon-8pm Daily
CITY
AFE
Tum“
‘lt’s aslcally inspired by what’s been happening in my home village, Taynuilt, overthe last ten years or so. The change is awtul. So many people are coming up here looking tor quaint retiral cottages or whatever and pushing the prices up. A vast number at tncomers have moved into the area.’ So says Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw ot the band’s new single, ‘Waiting For The Wheel To Turn’, their lirst release since ‘Coisich a ruin’ received unprecedented Radio One play tor a song sung entirely in Gaelic, and brought Capercaillie to the attention of audiences that might otherwise never have heard them. The song is, however, not an anti-English diatribe,
but ‘a complaint, a warning that these changes are killing the culture and way at lite ot the village, and it’s happening all over the West Coast. Too much energy and money being devoted to building up tourism. There’s already enough at that.
‘I’m an optimist in some ways that the culture will survive,’ continues Shaw. ‘1 have to be, but I wrote the song, as I say, as a warning.’
The intensely ryhthmic push under the fiddle, whistle and keyboard tront line is a combination of Donal Lunny’s production, tight bass and bouzouki playing, and percussionist Ronnie Goodman who will be joining the band tortheir Dueen’s Hall gigs.
The band enjoyed making the dramatic video torthe single, which uses images trom past and present tile in the Highlands. They taped it over three days near Dingwall, passing the evenings partying around a bontire with the locals as the cameras rolled.
The flip side is ‘Breisleach (Delirium)', originally a poem in Gaelic by Angus Machlicol tor which Donald Shaw composed an air; very much in the tradition, and in which Karen Matheson’s beautitul vocals are set over a simple synthesiser. (Norman Chalmers)
Capercaillie playthe Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh on Sat 31. (Two Concerts: 7.30pm, sold out; and 10.30pm.)
V CLASSICAL
In total contrast to what is going on up the road at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall with the lirst Glasgow lntemational Gala Season, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra is at the Stevenson Hall at the RSAMD to present their new series, Premiere, a celebration at new music. Over three evenings - one concert tor each ol three weekends - they will give no less than live Scottish premieres, as well as the world premiere ot the new ‘Trumpet Concerto’ the BBC has commissioned Irom Aberdeen-based composer John Heame with their own Nigel Boddice as soloist.
In the opening concert, conducted by Richard Bernas, Ursula Dppens gives the tirst Scottish pertormance oi Ligetl’s “Piano Concerto’, with Judith’s ‘Doubt and Resolve’ also receiving its premiere in Scotland. On Sunday 15,
there’s the Symphony No 4 by David Matthews and the Double Concerto tor oboe and harp by Lutoslawski, with the same composer’s ’Piano Concerto’ being heard in Scotland tor the lirst time on Sunday 21 . Alongside these works new to the ears ol Scottish audiences will be classics of the 20th century by more tamiliar composers, especially Sibelius, who appears in all three programmes, as well as Vaughan Williams and Tippett. The BBC SSD's commitment and skill in performances oI contemporary music is widely acclaimed and with their typical versatility they’re playing Brahms and Tchaikovsky at the Royal Concert Hall’s GIGS inbetween. (Carol Main) Premiere is at the Stevenson Hall, RSAMD, Glasgow on Sat 7, Sun 15 and Sat21.
~ He’s on his way to Scotland from
heart
Life’s a long, busy highway when you’re a world-class pop star like Midge Ure. Changing lanes, taking sharp bends, l keeping one eye on who’s
coming up behind you. . . And that’ll be Paul W. Hullah on the earphone.
I’m interviewing Midge on his earphone. Now that‘s fine, except — Midge being a busy man — he‘s hurtling along the M1 and every time he goes under a bridge, we‘re cut off. Consequently, our conversation gradually degenerates into a stop-start babble — nuggets of information punctuated by both of us barking ‘Are you still there . . . Hello. . . Can you hear this?’ down a buzzing, crackling line. But we should be thankful for the nuggets, for the brieftime Ure speaks, because he‘s a busy man, old Midge.
his London home to promote his new LP, Pure— from which is taken the exer.ueiating(ly infectious) single, ‘Cold, Cold Heart‘ — via a hectic schedule ofintervicws and radio plugging-sessions. And there‘s a couple ofgigs in November to think about — Royal Albert Hall, stufflike that. A busy man, to be sure. This is the unassuming Glaswegian who made his first Number One record fifteen years ago (’Forever And Ever‘, January 1976) fronting a
34 The List 30 August — 12 September 1991