MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
V LIVE
LOVECRAFT
Venue. Edinburgh. 17 Mar. lfrrrioting is to be successful. let it be subversive as well as blatant. Huggy Kill talk sense but speak shite. their sound and (crap) fury obscuring the message and thereby dulling the impact. Still. an agenda‘s been set. a crude manifesto set out. the male-o-centric body politic of the music biz set straight (well. they‘re getting there). And now of course any band who are cocky rather than cock are rrrioting — when really most them arejust rrrevolting. Lovecraft don‘t preach but they let their music do the rrrebelling. Me and the fourteen other people at their first Scottish gig had a Good Time. our collective socks rocked by their unabashed heavy metal. Lovecraft are Blondie with their dirty dark roots showing. Their single. ‘Medicine'. is PJ Harvey without the feral miaow. Their live-ness is The Cult without the bare-chested chest- beating. ‘Medicine‘ is the most intricate. built on kittenish/wildcat vocals being fed through wolfish riffs. Tasty. Most else is over-the-top. gargantuan rock — feet on monitors. gurning faces. thrusting pelvrs. ‘Surrender’ has aside- on sneer and a clanging tambourine (that's where the Cult reference comes in). ‘Who Do You Love‘ digs deeper. excavating the lumbering might of Alice In Chains.
who better than Old Uncle Neil? Lovecraft‘s cover of ‘F!*£in Up’ is pure ragged glory and a perfect song for these
But still the nagging question hangs: if Lovecraft weren‘t not- lads. would their brand of fired-up (enthusiasm over ability'?). frill—free (safety over adventurousness‘?) rock be accorded a second glance? I‘ll get back to you on that one, Tonight though. Lovecraft are the HP sauce: ‘It‘s true what they say.’ cackles singer Cleo to the uncrowded crowd. ‘Size isn‘t everything!‘ (Craig McLean)
But for that rrrighteous spleen and bilious anger.
1 , . l 7. - '1
five not—lads Londoners.
l 1 l
l
mourn Musrcmus SKUDBIE ouen ORCHESTRA
King Tut’s Wall Wah llut, Glasgow, 17 Mar.
Skuooobie Duuubh, where are yoooouu? Ducklng in and around the stalks of bluegrass, that’s where. The Orchestra - get the way that word adds Instant clout and authenticity? - are zydeco zealots and folk-fuelled fiends, swilllng from a flagon of Scots savvy. What they’re carrying is contagious, yet only four souls are sufficiently infected to make up the requisite corners of an impromptu square dance. The rest of us may appear to have been innoculated with
1 presbyterian reserve, but privately
toes are tapping and mental barn dances are enacted. Shaggy, Velma and the gang must know the restraint is all an iceberg front. But we would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been for those fiddling kids.
The Skuobies’ extempore wobble board was a common or garden road sign in a previous life, but by the time Mouth Music take to the stage the battery of Instruments, looking like they could surer find their intended niche as domestic cheesegraters or somesuch, has increased tenfold. It’s like that in the global village - find two solid bits of matter, hit them together at regular intervals and bingo! tribal frenzy. Add eight musicians, stir vigorously and partake of their subtle, airy starter ‘Bimam’ -
Mouth Music
a light entrée to their aromatic ethno- stew.
Most of the set comes from their acclaimed ‘Mo-Dl’ LP, an album so fine-tuned and scrubbed, that to scuff it with a live interpretation scents to be asking for an anti-climax. That’s reckoning without the superb fluency of Jackie Joyce’s and Michaela Ilowan’s vocals though, and the sustained convivial spirit. Unlike the record, which was more to do with shifting moods, the gig tends towards getting the crowd moving. The dance input is far more pronounced - from the still relatively sparse ‘lle Mandu’ on, it feels like the birth of the Ethnic House Sound of Edinburyi. Capercaillle couldn’t be further from the agenda. From an album that promises comes a show that delivers. (Fiona Shepherd)
ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT
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This is one helluva hoe-down. From their front porch Atlanta swamps, Arrested Development have brought their barnyard props, their bayou magic, their rapturous kaleidoscope of lucky-bag rap, roots, and mo-funkin’ hip hop. Two thousand whooping, hollering lit-living, even tambourine- bashlng adherents are transfixed. It’s hard not to be.
A celebration ‘of life, of death and of the struggle of the black man’ as main-man Speech puts it - that’s what AD are all about. For this extenuated family of heart-tugging vlbe-mllkers,
the first step forward for any revolution Is to get everybody on your side. It’s what makes this act so special. It’s why an hour tonight touched more chords than a lifetime’s worth of charity appeals. This is a revolution anyone can join in, so long as they’re not afraid to show it. It’s a revolution that starts within the self, and spreads Infectioust outwards. It’s simple as ‘woah-woah-Ing’ along to the chorus of that ode to loving those poorer than yourself, ‘Mr Wendall’, or getting all dewy-eyed to the plangent sighs that trickle down through ‘Raining Revolution’. Speech introduces the popular funky front of ‘Everyday People’ by defining a ‘nigga’ as a ‘black man who knows he’s oppressed and wallows in that oppression’. The divide and conquer vitrio of Public Enemy and Ice-T holds
3 ' . no sway in AD’s rapidly expanding '; hinterland.
It’s not always going to be this easy.
' How long before their catch-all
cosmopolitan appeal, their organic geniality, their mesmerising pageantry of world pop seem nothing but a compromise? How long before the patriarchlal spiritual adviser, old grandaddy Baba Die, appears merely
; the Deep South’s David lcke? How long
do we allow this revolution we keeps chantin’ and dancin’ for to truly arrive?
For one ioyous, one-for-all hour tonight, that ...:ters not a lot. God was in his Heaven, good gumbo’s in the pot, and Barrowland is in a united state of Tennessee. Let the rain shine down. (Stuart Goldberg)
V BOOK NOW
Concerts listed are those at malor venues, for which tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BARROWLANO (226 4679) Lemonheads. 10 Apr; Poison. 20 Apr: Hothouse Flowers. 30 Apr-l May; Stereo MC‘s. 21 May; Brian May. 6 Jun.
I GLASGOW CELTIC PARK (227 5511) U2. 8 Aug.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Boney M. 15 Apr; Everly Brothers. 19 Apr; Alvin Stardust. 23 Apr; Neil Sedaka. 28 Apr; The Silencers. 16 May; Crystal Gayle. 23 May; Showaddywaddy. 24 May; Bay City Rollers. 29 May; Nanci Griffith. 8—10Jun; Jethro Tull. 11 Oct.
I GLASGOW GREEN (()3l 556 1212) Fleadh. 5 Jun. I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Five Blind Boys of Alabama. 3 May. I GLASGOW SEGG (031 557 6969) David Iisscx. 8 May; Michael Bolton. 9—10 May; Iron Maiden. 21 May.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Pat Metheny. 12 Apr; Boney M. 16 Apr; l'iverly Brothers. 21 Apr; Bjom Again. 4 May; Brian May. 4 Jun.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Loudon Wainwright 111. 10 May; Average White Band. 17 May.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Suzanne Vega. 14 Apr: Neil Sedaka. 27 Apr; Buddy
Guy. 23 May.
Jim
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Glenn Miller Orchestra. 18 Nov. I GLASGOW CITY HALL (227 5511) Dankworth Generation Band. 6 May. I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Pat Metheny. 12 Apr.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Holland- Darling-Friesen. 9 Apr. Maceo Parker. 22 Apr; Courtney Pine. 7 May: Wynton Marsalis. 3 Jun; Carla Bley. 30 Jun; Georgie Fame. 8 Jul.
I EDINBURGH USHER
.HALL(228 1155) Syd ' Lawrence. 5 May.
FOLK
g I GLASGOW CITY HALL ; (227 551 1 ) Battlefield
Band. 9 Apr.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Wolfstone. 9 May.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Banal and Gleus. 30 Apr; Two Women of Song. 8 May; McKenna and Jackson. 15 May.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Altan. 11 Apr; Scottish Folk Charity Concert. 23 Apr.
LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Pat Boone. 9 Apr; Carpenters Tribute. 13 Apr; Elaine Page. 20 May; Patsy Cline Tribute. 28—29 Nov.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Rita Mtichil. 29 Apr.
I GLASGOW SECC (()31 557 6969) Barry Manilow. 14 Apr; Johnny Mathis. 26 Sep.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) ltzhak Perlman. 20 Apr; Victoria de1.os Angeles. 7 May: St Petersburg Phil. 1 1~12 May; Leipzig RS(). 17 May.
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Iidin Youth ()rch. 9 Apr; BBC SS(). 17 Apr; Cancons y ()bres de Piano. 23 Apr: Scottish Ensemble. 23 Apr. 12 Jun; ()pera Gala. 24 Apr; Acad Cham Choir. 29 Apr: Fou Ts‘ong. 30 Apr; Sergei Babayan. 30 Apr; Smith Quartet. 2 May; Academy Nowl. 6~7 May; Banks- Martin. Cook and Rojas. 8 May; Chamber Group of Scotland. 9 May. 13 Jun: King‘s Consort. 14 May; Boyd and Tomes. 14 May; Les Cuivres. 15 May; Acad Wind Eris. 21 May; ()wen Murray. 21 May; Kathryn Stott. 21 May: Jun Cham ()rch. 5 Jun; Glas Cham Orch. 6 Jun; Zoe Alambicum. 19 Jun; St Mary's Concert. 20 Jun; Jun ()rch. 26 Jun; Magic Flute. 28 Jun~1 Jul. I GLASGOW THEATRE ROYAL (332 9000) Norma (CrUsaid). 21 Apr.
I GLASGOW TRAMWAY (227 551 l ) VS (SCO). 20—23 May.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Duncan McTier. 10 Apr; Thomas Martin. 1 1 Apr; Reginald Baker. 16 Apr; Leda Trio. 17 Apr; Scottish Ensemble. 25 Apr; Florilegium. 28 Apr; King's Consort. 13 May; Kathryn Stott. 20 May.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Kevock Choir. 24 Apr: SCO
()pcra Gala. 12 May.
'51
32 The List 26 March—8 April 1993