RECORD REVIEWS MUSIC
i VAN MORRISON E i
Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 19 April. When you’re a short, baldy bloke, it takes nerve to send a pretty boy with an angelic voice on first to warm up the audience. But there was no danger ; of Brian Kennedy’s white soul i
rendition of ‘Sweet Thing’ upstaging the Belfast cowboy. The more Van Morrison surrounds himself with talent, the brighter the light of his own
Morrison hasn’t just assembled a great band, he’s got a whole Stax soul revue behind him that turns on a sixpence at one wag of The Man’s ‘ finger. Tonight there’s no support, just , a continuous stream of showmanship } as Morrison conducts, cues up solos and signals, firmly, when they’re to stop. At one point Morrison yelled at the two-man brass section ‘mute yer trumpet’. Van’s happy to share the limelight . . . up to a point.
The backbone is provided by bandleader Georgie Fame, whose solid keyboards kept the two-hour-plus show rifting along while Morrison and his singing sidekicks improvise extended 8&8 workouts. Tina lyle’s vibes added a softer, jazzy feel to Morrison’s muscular arrangements, as the ‘hits’ like ‘Moondance’ and ‘Tupelo lloney’ collided with a clutch of blues and soul standards. A reworking of James Brown’s ‘lt’s a
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musical genius shines through. ‘ 2'
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Van Morrison: horn of plenty
Man’s World’ turned into an astonishing ten-minute anthology of black American music.
But whatever Morrison does, and whoever he plays with, it’s the voice that matters and, in the lirst of a two- night stand, Glasgow was treated to a belting performance. Morrison’s certainty about where to take a song is unwavering, whether he’s growling through his moothie mic or projecting, head up and unamplified, straight to the back of the auditorium. Three encores suggested even the grumpy old cuss himself enjoyed it. (Eddie Gibb)
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The 13th llote, Glasgow, 27 April. Every concert should have a raffle. This could be any of a thousand other nights down under The 13th llote — same red light, same heat, same smoke, same faces, same noises - but no, there’s something special happening. Tonight marks the launch of (another!) new Glasgow label Vesuvius, which brings together all the strange stuff that’s been festering and growing away from the light in the basements of The 13th Note/Sleazy circuit, places where it is, indeed, like :enage Fanclub never happened. Sort Sally Skull, the first of three acts culled from the expanses of the Vesuvius roster tonight, seem to sound better every time they play. With guts as hard as the steel of their ‘hogs’, S are the soundtrack to a llerschell Gordon Lewis flick about some vagrant band of llavalo killer-queens. Slinky. (look, just go with it, will you?)
Rising lights Lungleg - named after
_. .)‘ My. ‘\ ‘ .‘ W. ‘v R‘ ‘1" d 4.‘ J :i a ,’
' the cover star of Sonic Youth’s ‘Evol’,
fact fans! - entertain with their ‘angular’, ‘punk’, ‘shouty’ ‘pop’. Someone says they sound like Bow Wow Wow. Well, it takes all sorts, etc . . . Everyone loves Lungleg. Actually, that’s a lie. A lot of people hate them. llot me, though. (Well, it takes all sorts . . .)
flight about now, I win a cocktail shaker in the aforementioned prize draw and, due to the resulting delirium, can’t report much more about Starstruck than: 1) it’s good garagey stuff; 2) ‘Bad Boy’ rips off ‘Teenage Kicks’; and 3) their set falls apart a bit at the end.
Worth buying for the cover alone, Vesuvius’ first release. ‘In Spelunca’, captures all the above action (and much, much more) in ten black vinyl inches, preserving those hot times for future generations to unearth. And, as If that weren’t enough, features a guest appearance by Evel Knievel. Buy it, daddy. (Damien love)
'- 82. THE BLUESBREAKERS g +SAMUEL EDDY
GLASGOW GARAGE FRIDAY 19TH MAY 7.00PM
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The List 5- l8 May l995 49