MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
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THE BOCKINGBIRDS lling Tut’s, Glasgow, 8 July. Cockiness is a redemptive quality in the right band’s hands. What Whiteout lack tonight in cut-glass clarity, they make up ior in the sheer rapture oi playing such pistol-packing peachy- keen choruses. Stumbling into an inter-song break, it’s cool to iind their lippy banter more entertaining than most bands’ sets. They maniiest a combination oi precoclty and snotty adolescence that old duiiers like llinky Machine couldn’t come within gobbing distance oi.
Whiteout are Scotland’s latest addition to the Record Collection llockers Association. They want to be
.aFacesiorthe90s(yes,the90s-in
the words oi their probable iirst single ‘llo Time’, they’ve “gotta live ior today’). Tonight’s startling revelation is that they are in iact a Moody Blues tor the 90s. So how about a cover oi ‘llide My See-Saw’ ior the ultimate Pop Valhalla, chaps?
They’re an ideal support ior The liockingbirds. Both bands are melody-
iripperies come later. Whiteout have the youth; The Bockingbirds have the experience, and, as Cliii once said, it takes. . . you know the rest.
You may have read oi The llocklngbirds in these pages before. It not, let’s briein reprise the trigger words: maudlin, soul, sarsaparilla/Jack Daniels (or insert your own bad trip dram), Gram Parsons, nail haircuts - these are the salient ieatures, grouped on the tip oi the (melting) iceberg. lleally, we’re looking at aiiectlng pop songs, rendered by simple country (and western) iolk. From Camden.
Tonight, they seem a little oil-colour, but it’s a mark oi their stature as a band that 1 immediately look to myseli tor the lault and not to them. Music this human, this atiecting, how can it tail to kindle iluiiy marshmallows in the stoniest heart? But ‘llarden lip Your lleart’, they exhort on the choice cut irom their iorthcoming ‘liockingbirds ’ll’ lls’ EP, ‘Time Drives The Truck’ that leads them down the dirt track to back street pub
t residency, so don’t let it happen.
4 liockingbirds ll 4 U. (Fiona Shepherd)
lovers in extremis; the generic
_ mxs
Barrowland, Glasgow, 9 July. In preparation ior the shock hysteria onslaught a iew thousand Take That tans will shortly wreak over Flnnieston, aiter years imbued with the disaiiection that comes irom watching boys’ bands in sweatbox venues, an lllXS gig seems like a good place to resume my teenybop apprenticeship. Playing the relative drummer’s dad’s garage-sized Barrode is the Aussie spunk merchants’ way oi touching base with the tans again. Intimate environment,
economical set, local support band,
the hit iactory in overdrive . . . and two thousand rampaging teeny hormones rubbing up against potential mates. There’s a sorry lack oi knicker- shaped projectile syndrome, but it sure is a neat way oi making new iriends. Beats school discos any day, and there’s alcohol-flavoured ilzzy pop on sale to boot.
Michael llutchence and his brawny 'sldeklcks are idols-and-a-hali. lleal men. The sate-sex iantasy ior the girl who aims that bit higher. When llutch attempts a mock scaling oi the seeder stacks or Iolls with ieline
energy atop a Marshall or curls himseli into a ioetal ball, you just think, well, what else are the amps there ior anyway?
But with lllXS, there’s always the music to talk about too. Cos they’re a
serious band as well, like Duran Duran.
llow tedious, then, to report that there’s none oi the camp, ilorid
. gestures, laughable but entertaining
lyrical ilourishes, or downright groovy pretentiousness that the Durannies exhibited a tow months ago in this selisame hall.
When the novelty oi multiple decibel screams at llutch’s every mumble wears oii, all that’s left to admire is the musicianship. And we’ve reached a sorry impasse when that’s all you can admire about one oi the world’s biggest pop/rock bands.
Here’s the token bit where I describe the music to prove l was there: ‘What You lleed’ is clipped and iunky, ‘Sulcide Blonde’ tails slightly short on the raunchometer and the new material is without exception terse and choppy (just tor a change, like). Pretty boring, huh? My point exactly. (Fiona Shepherd)
V BOOK NOW
Concerts listed are those at major venues, ior which tickets are on public sale at time oi going oi press.
ROCK
I GLASGOW BARROWLAND (226 4679) Galliano. 31 Jul: lggy Pop. 21 Aug; Levellers. 6—7 Oct; The Saw Doctors. 17 Dec.
I GLASGOW CELTIC PARK (227 5511) U2. 8 Aug.
" I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Squeeze.
26 Sept; Jethro Tull. 11
J Oct; Mary-Chapin
Carpenter. 2| Oct; Bobby Vee. 11 Nov; Moody Blues. 10 Dec.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Suzette
Dorsey. 17 Aug; Blues
Band. 27 Aug; Errol Brown. 19 Sept; Liberty Mountain Elvis Show. 14 Nov; Nazareth and Uriah Heep. 21 Nov.
I GLASGOW SECC (227 5511) Aerosmith. 29 Oct; OMD. 4 Dec; Status Quo.
5 Dec; Gary Glitter.
23—24 Dec.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHDUSE (557 2590) Bootleg Beatles. 21 Nov. I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Indigo Girls. 30 Jul; Blues ‘N‘ Trouble. 6 Aug; Tam White Band. 20 Aug; Maceo Parker. 21—22
Aug.
I EDINBURGH USHER HALL(228 1155) Squeeze. 24 Sept; Mary-Chapin Carpenter. 24 ()ct.
JAZZ
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Bilk and Ball. 12 Oct; Syd
Lawrence Orchestra. 30
Oct; Glenn Miller
Orchestra. 18 Nov.
I EDINBURGH DUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Benny Goodman Tribute. 7 Aug;
James Morrison. 8 Aug;
Bilk and Lyttelton. 9 Aug; Jazz from Down Under. 10 Aug; Leon Redbone. 11 Aug; Fats Waller Celebration. 12 Aug; Ronnie Scott. 13 Aug; Jazz Ball. 14 Aug; Martin Taylor. 19 Aug; Tam White Band. 20 Aug; Carol Kidd. 19—20 Aug;
Cauld Blast Orchestra. 21
Aug; Maceo Parker. 21-22 Aug; John Surman.
22 Aug; Craig McMurdo.
1—4 Sept.
' FOLK
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Maddy Prior. 26 Sept; Tom Paxton. 3 Oct.
I GLASGOW PAVILION (332 1846) Ronnie Browne. 16 Oct.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019)Cau1d Blast Orchestra. 21 Aug: Battlefield Band. 23—25 Aug; Michael Marra and Peter Nardini. 26 Aug; Boys of the Lough. 27—29 Aug.
LIGHT
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Pasadena Roof Orchestra. 27 Aug; Rebecca Storm. 17 Oct; Dominic Kirwan. 4 Nov; Tammy Wynette. 7 Nov; Patsy Cline Tribute. 28-29 Nov.
I GLASGOW SECC (O31
' 557 6969) Johnny Mathis, 1 26 Sept.
1 I EDINBURGH ususn
1 HALL(228 1155) Rebecca 1 Stonn. 12 Sept; Tammy
i Wynette. 6 Nov.
5 CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CONCERT
{ HALL (227 5511) NYOS.
11 Aug; All Souls Orchestra. 14 Aug; 100 Summers with
. Tchaikovsky. 8. 15. 22
1 Aug; Gorecki Sym 3. 14 Sept; Wilheimenia Fernandez. 17 Sept; Bolshoi Orch. 18 Sept; Scottish Celebration. 19
Sept. I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Hilliard Ensemble. 9—10Aug; Festival of BYO. 14 Aug—4 Sept; Academy CO. 12 Sept;
' Leda Trio. 23 Sept. I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590)
All Souls Orchestra. 13
Aug.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) NYWO. 15 Aug; Festival Morning Concerts. 16 Aug—4 Sept; Chilingirian Qt. 15 Nov;
, lmai and Vignoles. 6 Dec; Emperor Qt. 17 Jan; Schubert Ens. 7 Feb; Endellion Qt. 21 Mar.
I EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
‘ 15 Aug—4 Sept.
Programme and tickets
‘ from ElF Box Office. 21
Market Street. Edinburgh
EH1 lBW(O31225 5756).
i I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL
I FRINGE Tickets are available now by credit card booking on 031 226
g 5138; in person sales from
; the Fringe Box Office.
' 180 High Street. begin on 2 Aug. See programme for postal booking form.
| I SUBSCRIPTION
SEASONS Programme
' details and tickets for
1 RSNO. SCO. BBC 880.
and CGPO concerts are
available from
i Ticketcentre. Glasgow
’ (227 5511); Usher Hall, Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen‘s Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9000); King's
Theatre. Edinburgh (229
1201).
indigo Girls
32 The List 16—2‘9'Ju’iy 1993