THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO King Tut's. Glasgow. Fri 24 Feb
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Roddy Woomble finds that as much as we like to complain, the show must go on.
It's been nice weather recently, so I've been taking a few walks around the place. looking at all the new buildings appearing at a daily rate. Made me think about that quote by Henry Miller about ‘the magnificent emptiness of progress’.
It's true, though. how remarkable a new building can look at first glace. only to quickly become part of a landscape. taken for granted and ignored most other days. I think that‘s why the Scottish parliament building turned out as it did. It tries so hard not to be ignored that it can‘t be. Especially in a nation of people who love to complain. It's the ultimate complaint. I like it.
These are the thoughts I've been thinking anyway. all while eating the delicious cakes in the Hummingbird Cafe. I‘m savouring every bite actually; last week I had food poisoning. which, for any readers who've suffered from it will know. is the equivalent of a season in hell. The chef that made you feel that way becomes the ultimate object of hate as you groan and weep on the bathroom floor. It fell at a really bad time as well Since I was singing that night With the folksinger Kate Rusby at the Radio 2 folk awards in London. Luckily, everything stayed in. although I gave strict instructions that. should I vomit. to carry on with the song regardless.
Lastly, I'd just like to make a correction. that in my last column it was Marillion that I discovered in 1986. not. as it was stated. Marilyn. Don’t get me wrong. I like Marilyn Monroe as much as anyone. especially in The Misfits. but it’s just not tme that I had some sort of epiphany at her alter when l was ten. That was all strictly reserved for Fish and Misplaced Childhood.
I ld/ewi/d's album Warnings/Promises is available now on Par/ophone.
62 THE LIST 16 Feb» 13 Mar ZUUG
POP ISOBEL CAMPBELL ABC. Glasgow, Sat 25 Feb
‘l‘ve got bigger balls than him!’ squeals ethereal snow pony Isobel Campbell as somewhere Screaming Tree Mark Lanegan, a man whose testicular girth one wouldn’t normally call into question, cowers in shame. Miss Campbell is, we assume, not speaking literally. Rather she‘s referring to her superior role in the studio during the recording of her and Lanegan’s rather remarkable Ballad of the Broken Seas album.
Taking as her cue the leather and lace country/psych duets between Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, with a rustic, clanking production nod to Tom Waits and Johnny Cash’s American recordings, Campbell, who produced and wrote all but one of the tracks herself, has undoubtedly created her finest solo record thus far. Although Lanegan’s growling presence supplies a gravitas earlier Campbell efforts have lacked, it would be remiss to dismiss her music as mere saccharine whimsy. There's always been a darkness beating at the heart of this particular angel.
“It’s kind of irritating when people talk about this record being dark,’ she complains. ‘Because they've all been dark. As much as I like a lot of pop stuff, that’s not the kind of stuff I can create. I read an interview with Mark
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and they asked him what he liked about my music, and he said it was the darkness underneath the prettiness.‘ Introduced to Lanegan's sonorous tones through an ex- boyfriend, Campbell immediately knew she'd found the grit to her whisper. ‘lt’s Adam and Eve, innit? I’m fascinated by the human voice, and the mix of different voices. The thing about Mark's voice is that men like it and women like it. Men like it because it's deep and masculine, and women like it because it has certain rumbling frequencies which are a bit . . . hmmm.‘ Quite. Campbell has dueted in the past, of course, most obviously with former beau Stuart Murdoch in Belle and Sebastian, although her duet with the band's guitarist Stevie Jackson on 2000’s Before the Sunrise is the most obvious antecedant of her new LP. Unfortunately Lanegan won’t be joining her on this, her first solo tour, his boots filled instead by Glasgow legend Eugene Kelly, with whom she has worked in the past. As for future collaborations Campbell is threatening to get quite astonishingly funky on yo' ass. ‘l'd quite like to do something with a brother,’ she declares, presumably referring to a black gentleman, rather than a man of the cloth. ‘I really like 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani stuff, even though my friends laugh at me.‘ Isobel Campbell and 50 Cent - a match made in ghetto heaven, obviously. And you just know who’s got the biggest balls out of that pair, right? (Paul Whitelaw)