It’s an urban myth that the Stone Roses peaked with their first album, 1989′s Stone Roses. This may be controversial but, to me, their eponymous debut reads more like an early singles collection than an album proper. Yes, those singles were astounding, groundbreaking, excellent, but the capabilities of each Roses individual is pushed to the limit in a positive way on Second Coming.
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Saturday October 7th 2007
There is something strangely comforting about hearing your native accent when you live away from the place you grew up. Luckily for me, I can experience this feeling whenever I go to see Maximo Park. Paul Smith’s Teesside twang, to be mistaken for a Geordie accent at one’s peril, is music to my ears.
Manchester Apollo sold out months before this much-anticipated gig, and the treat of two hotly-tipped support acts, Blood Red Shoes and Good Shoes, was a none-too-shoddy (ha!) move by the Park. The North East’s most important band kicked off with the rabble-rousing ‘The Coast Is Always Changing’, highlighting an unshakable tightness that certain NE teams’ defences could take note of.
Monday October 8th 2007
When I think back to my favourite gigs of all time, it is not necessarily seeing my favourite band Blur for the first time at Leeds festival, nor watching the Arctic Monkeys in a dingy club before they got big. David Ford’s show in a small pub in Huddersfield at the back end of 2005 had that special something that you just can’t put your finger on.
Irish Centre, Leeds – 29.01.2007
Rarely has a band’s album release been so significant in the current cultural climate, and yet so overlooked because of this climate.
The Good The Bad & The Queen, Damon Albarn’s latest innovative project, brings together men from all walks of life to create music that defines today’s Britain. Albarn is now considered as an ethnomusicologist for his work with musicians in Mali and his world music mash-ups with Gorillaz. This is highlighted by his choice of bandmates: Paul Simonon, bassist for The Clash, steeped in reggae-rock rhythms; Tony Allen, an experienced Afrobeat drummer; Simon Tong, guitarist from indie stalwarts The Verve – but long time collaborator of Albarn with Blur. He considers The Good The Bad & The Queen to be the natural follow-up to Blur’s seminal Parklife album, both timely descriptors of London, its inhabitants and its hang-ups.
And so to the live shows, in which the band play the concept album in full and in its running order. In true Albarn fashion, the project has been sculpted to perfection – the support acts at tonight’s gig are a combination of circus acts, compered comedy and a Victorianesque bluesgrass group. The venue, Leeds Irish Centre, rarely holds events such as this, and the odd choice of venue is another clever Albarn choice – everything about The Good The Bad & The Queen commands attention.
As expected, TGTB&TQ sounds live exactly as it does on record – muffled bass, distant vocals and an eerie atmosphere mixed with beautiful melodies, African rhythms and lonely lyrics, on a greying landscape backdrop. It would almost have felt like being at a classical concert, if it weren’t for the applause in between songs. Albarn is the same as ever if you discount his wonky top hat, whilst Simonon is constantly active, throwing shapes and strutting just like he did in The Clash.
You get the feeling that the audience know that this project is highly intelligent and all-encompassing music – but it is music that welcomes everyone, and is probably relevant to us all, too.
In a country whose media is currently obsessed with race rows, Albarn pops up at just the right time with an album full of musical nuances that can be traced back through countless races, cultures and traditions and thousands of years of music. Clever, very clever.
Picturedrome, Holmfirth – 22.09.2006
For those of you unfamiliar with settlements in West Yorkshire, let me explain. Holmfirth is an idyllic place not very far from Huddersfield, and is widely-known as the place where Last Of The Summer Wine was filmed. Not too far from Sid’s Cafe, Hounslow’s The Bluetones were playing in a working, albeit antiquated, cinema.
The venue was unique enough for the band to comment on it; as they stood on the stage in front of the cinema screen, the audience squashed into a small standing space at the front, or sat in the worn old rows of cinema chairs. Mark Morriss and his band have been around so long that they barely raise an eyebrow in most circles, except for those who are surprised that they are still together.
The Bluetones suffer from a problem that is faced by many, many established bands: the need to get the new music across to an audience who have come to hear the old stuff. Morriss is almost apologetic in his cause, and promises to play some classics within the set. We are even treated to ‘Slight Return’, a song that the band vowed never to play again a few years back.
The songs from the new album sound like The Bluetones always have, and present songwriting qualities that show what has kept them in the business all these years. Their Britpop stylings are still obvious in new single ‘My Neighbour’s House’, which goes down well, as do the glut of old singles: ‘If’, ‘Solomon Bites The Worm’, ‘Keep The Home Fires Burning’ and encore closer ‘Bluetonic’.
Morriss coos “I don’t love you anymore” in the song of the same name, taken from their forthcoming self-titled album.
The question is, how can you fail to love The Bluetones?
Rosemary‘s ever-popular MySpace page informs the reader that the band are a “Retro yet modern London 3-piece”. In the internet world, where ‘hyperspace’ can be a literal term, this description is surprisingly bang on the note.
The first moot point when listening to any new band is that inevitable question: “Who do they sound like?” Well, for the record, Rosemary sound like an English pop-rock band; English in the way that Morrissey, The Jam or The Kinks are, for example. You know the word: quintessential.
Their debut single ‘Suburban Kings’ is a gallivanting pop-trip, much in the mould of Supergrass (think ‘Mansize Rooster’ for the rhythm section). Singer Tim Hill’s gravelly vocal is set off at delicious counterpoint with bassist Martin Brett’s honeyed response. It’s lovely and summery, and you can’t help but hope that Rosemary don’t remain as understated as Supergrass have in their decade in the business.
As a mission statement, ‘Suburban Kings’ may well sum up Rosemary’s sound and intentions. It has the simple but potent chord patterns that The Beatles used in songs like ‘I Feel Fine’, and intersperses some edgier chord changes in the manner of The Buzzcocks – always putting harmony first. But it could be hasty to make conclusions on this band from their first offering. Something tells me that the inevitable album will be a relishing and even more revealing prospect. Indeed, the buzz around their first release has led to it selling out.
The band have been on tour practically non-stop for almost two years, as the gigography on their website shows. This incessant gigging has clearly gone some way to creating the tight sound of the band, which will stand them in good stead and promises for an exciting live prospect.
You can catch Rosemary playing live at the following places:
Sep 21 2006: (DJ SET) Suburban Kings Clubnight Tap n Tin, Chatham
Sep 29 2006: PURE GROOVE CLUB NIGHT, London
Oct 11 2006: Club NME, Leicester
Oct 12 2006: Buff Club, Glasgow
Oct 13 2006: Reach Out and F*** Somebody Clubnight, Telford
Oct 19 2006: Suburban Kings Club Night Tap n Tin, Chatham
Nov 10 2006: Lucorum – supporting Bromheads Jacket, Barnsley
For more information, and to listen to the band, please visit their www.myspace.com/rosemarymusic
Funny how it all falls away… Let’s get things straight from the start. Pulp are up there with The Beatles, The Bee Gees and ABBA as the crème de la crème of world pop. Not that you’d ever hear ABBA singing about life oop north and its grimy bedsits, but that’s beside the point.
Hot on the heels of their top ten hit ‘Gravity’, Embrace continue their in-your-face chart success with their fourth studio album, Out Of Nothing. The Yorkshire collective seem to have digested all of their past exploits – extreme orchestration, frenzied eclecticism and numerous near misses – and have regurgitated a veritable classic.
Faux Eighties is back in a big way at the moment. Scary asymmetrical hairdos, gaudy stripes and plastic jewellery are what all the cool kids are wearing. So it’s no surprise that the music scene has followed suit.
“The Open†is a phrase that only ever used to get mentioned in my house when the golf was on, and we knew we’d have to fight my Dad for the telly. Things are different from now on, though, since I started championing a band called The Open. My Dad’s got Silent Hours on in his car, and hearing that phrase no longer fills me with dread.
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