It's Just My View

Film Review : Precious

2010-02-01T21:42:00.007Z

Another of those movies that are released around this time of the year that you just know is intended as Oscar bait. It's already been recognised gaining some acting honours at the Golden Globes (although you'd be excused for thinking that Mariah Carey had somewhat misinterpreted what was intended by a golden globes presentation!) and may well get more come Oscar time.

Notwithstanding that, this is a powerful story depicting the life of Precious who has been brought up in an abusive relationship and who is pregnant by her mother's partner for the second time at the age of 16. Given the opportunity to enrol in a school designed to teach similarly underprivileged kids to read and write and, in doing so, to help to develop the other social skills that they are lacking in, Precious learns to find herself and to begin to understand what is important for her future.

Debutant Gaboury Sidibe gives a powerful performance in the title role, seething with resentment about the life she is forced to lead but equally unable to break the ties from her mother. Played by Mo'Nique, the mother is a manipulative and selfish woman but who is equally trapped by the cards dealt her by life. However, it is hard to feel any sympathy for this woman and a number of scenes (some of which brought an audible gasp from many of the audience) lead you to despise the woman. I hope for Mo'Nique's sake, that's a sign of good acting!!

Paula Patton plays teacher Ms Rain and portrays someone with a commitment to helping her pupils although it's not made clear until later on what perhaps motivates her. However, she is in her own way as much of an outsider as the children under her care. She is also the only conventionally attractive women on display, and her glamour and the glimpses of her own lifestyle make a considerable contrast to the other lives depicted on screen.

Precious' first baby was born with Downes Syndrome and is used by her mother as a means of claiming further benefits although that is far as her interest in her grandchild extends. The second baby is born with the full compliment of health and Precious is determined that she will be a worthy mother.

This is a film that also manages more than creditable performances from singers Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz as an extremely dowdy social worker and male nurse respectively. Carey, in particular, is surprisingly effective as the social worker who manages to build a relationship with Precious and ultimately to a showdown with her mother.

The other classmates are a cosmopolitan group and it is a joy to watch their initial suspicions and fears subside as they bond over time.

Although their are many bleak scenes in this film, the ending is uplifting without being too saccharin. All in all, this is an excellent and thought provoking film that lingers in the memory long after you've left the cinema.

Film Review : Brothers

2010-01-31T23:09:00.006Z

This was a movie that didn't get much in the way of advance publicity (or, at least, none that I was aware of) until I saw the trailers which appeared in December. Despite its' top-notch leading cast, it looked as if it ran the risk of being a little too cut and dried in its' approach to its' topic.

Tobey McGuire and Jake Gyllenhall play two brothers, with McGuire being the dutiful son who married his childhood sweetheart - and who wouldn't if she looks like Natalie Portman - and Gyllenhall the black sheep of the family who has just been released from a prison sentence.

Sam (McGuire) is sent to serve in Afghanistan and is involved in an incident which leaves him missing in action. Believed to be dead, his family and friends mourn him and attempt to move on. Having made some attempt to sort himself out, Tommy (Gyllenhall) seeks to provide some comfort and support to Grace (Portman) and her two daughters.

Sam, however, is not dead but has been prisoner for some time and is eventually released after his hiding place comes under attack. However, his exposure to the horrors of war has been traumatic and deeply personal which have damaged him tremendously.

It is therefore a withdrawn, sullen and paranoid Sam who returns to his family. And for Tommy, Grace and the family an equally difficult set of challenges faces them.

As mentioned, the trailer suggested that this might treat the topic with some predictability and perhaps the script does this - the ending, in particular, is a little glib and unsatisying. However, the performances have an intensity and realism about them which makes this a gripping movie. McGuire in particular is excellent and is required to show considerable range from the loving father through to the mentally unstable soldier returning from combat.

Film Review : The Book Of Eli

2010-01-31T22:28:00.006Z

How many post-apocalyptic films is it possible to enjoy in quick succession. After The Road comes The Book Of Eli which shares a similar theme depicting the world after events which change the face of the earth forever leaving humanity of no doubt about its' place in eternity's pecking order.

It was clear from the trailer that although it shared a post-apocalyptic vista that this would be a very different style of movie from The Road. Starring Denzel Washington in the title role as a man with a mission although at first it's not quite clear what that mission is. More than ably supported by Gary Oldman in his best over the top villain mode as Carnegie who displays all the usual villainous trait used to win friends and influence people. Carnegie is fixated with finding a book and send his henchman all round the surrounding country to find it.

Of course, Eli has this book and it is also the key to his mission. The book is the last copy of The Bible on earth and Oldman seeks it to use the content to further cement his control of the survivors.

Whilst the violence that was displayed on The Road was used to demonstrate the depths to which humanity will quickly sink when every meal might be a matter of life and death, in The Book Of Eli it takes a more conventional movie form being the means by which the struggle between Eli and Carnegie is determined.

Throw in the daughter of Carnegie's concubine who joins Eli on his journey, and enjoyable cameos from Michael Gambon and Frances de la Tour as an old couple who have taken to eating human flesh, this films pull all the entertainment levers that The Road so studiously avoids.

As such, this can't compete (and, to be fair, doesn't attempt to) with The Road's grim attempt at realism but is nevertheless an entertaining tale, with a nice little twist at the end.

Film Review : Up In The Air

2010-01-28T19:00:00.007Z

Jason Reitman has made quite a name for himself with his first two films as director, Thank You For Smoking and Juno. Whilst he's worked with actors of some substance, he's now moved into the big time with this movie which boasts George Clooney in the lead part.

Clooney's character plays Ryan Bingham who works for a company who are hired to pass on the unwanted news to people that they are being made redundant. As such, he's pretty much perpetually on the move and as a man with absolutely no commitment genes he's able to live a life to his total satisfaction almost perpetually on the road and utterly in control.

His world is shaken as his company employ a bright, young thing called Natalie Keener played by Anna Kendrick who convinces the management that this type of thing would best be done remotely with the consultants stuck in the office and carrying out their interviews over a web connection. Needless to say this does not go down well with Bingham but, as the company's top man, he is asked to show Natalie the ropes of the business.

At the same time, Bingham has made an acquaintance of Alex (played by Vera Farmiga) who seems to share a similar commitment-free lifestyle and engage in a relationship which seems ideally suited to their preferences.

Needless to say, this confluence of circumstance develops as you might expect with Bingham discovering that he's not as commitment free as he thought, and the halt to his travelling lifestyle also means that he makes a connection to his family which has until now largely ignored.

Whilst reasonably gentle in tone, this still has a decent kick to it. Clooney and Farmiga have real on-screen chemistry, and Natalie Keener is excellent as the smart cookie who has to learn some tough lessons along the way. Although it sounds very much like the proverbial chick-flick there is much more to it than that.

Clooney has been one of the early front-runners for Oscar glory but, whilst he is good, I'm not convinced that he's doing enough here to make him rise to the top of that particular pile. In any event, after the first couple of rounds of awards, it's beginning to look like the cognoscenti have decided that it's Jeff Bridge's turn. The Dude deserves it too!

Bingham ends the film living life as he has become accustomed, except that some things will never quite be the same again.

Film Review : Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

2010-01-22T23:07:00.006Z

What more can you want from life? It is, after all, all your brain and body need. Ian Dury's iconic debut single for Stiff Records is the title of this biopic of the disabled singer who stormed the charts along with his superb backing band The Blockheads some (whisper it) thirty years ago.

Andy Serkis continues to build on his reputation with an excellent performance as the unlikely star who was disabled as a result of a polio attach at the age of seven. Truly gifted, manipulative and often lacking in self-confidence (despite all appearances to the contrary) Dury could be a complete and utter bastard to friends, family and anyone else who caught him at the wrong moment but who was nevertheless loved by all of them in equal measure.

Massively charismatic whilst, seemingly paradoxically, not wanting to be seen as a second class citizen as a result of his disability whilst using that self-same disability as a means to get his own way Dury's legacy has stood the test of time albeit this is based largely on a couple of singles with perhaps New Boots And Panties being his only truly satisfying album.

This film is less about the music and more about the man. Based largely in the period between the latter days of Kilburn And The High Roads and the return of Chaz Jankel (which makes it 1981 and the Lord Upminster album), it depicts Dury's rise to stardom and his fall from grace which was largely self-inflicted by his conflicted desire for fame and his bad reaction to achieving it. There are flashbacks to his earlier life bringing into play the influence of his father (played by Ray Winstone and as mythologised in the song "My Old Man") and his time in an institutions with other children with polio. Both had a significant impact on Dury the adult although he was largely brought up by his mother and two sisters in a loving environment.

The film does well to depict the complexities that made up this man including his manipulative relationships with the women in his life. The centrepiece of the movie focuses around his relationship with his son Baxter who is famously depicted on the cover of New Boots And Panties alongside his father.

Although there are a number of strong performances from the rest of the cast, the movie undoubtedly belongs to Andy Serkis. It's not very long into the movie before you fully believe that it is the late singer that you are watching on screen. He also does all of the singing backed by The Blockheads and does an equally remarkable job.

For those of you who liked or loved Ian Dury this is a film you will want to see. For the rest of you, I can only say that my wife couldn't stand Ian Dury but was impressed by Serkis' performance in the trailer and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I think that's what you call high praise indeed!

Film Review : The Road

2010-01-19T20:45:00.006Z

Following the success of translating Cormac McCarthy's No Country For Old Men by the Coen Brothers, director John Hillcoat was given the task of doing the same for The Road, McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale of father and son trying to survive in the grimmest of circumstances.

Those who saw Hillcoat's last movie The Proposition will be aware that he has all the credentials to turn McCarthy's bleak tale into a gripping movie. And the good news is that he has succeeded, although it's not something to be going to if you're looking for some light entertainment.

Unlike many post-apocalyptic tales there is no attempt to provide any alternative to the fact that life for those that remain will be anything but difficult, challenging and plain grim. There is added power to the narrative by never revealing what has happened to create such devastation in the world - we probably all have our preferred end of the world phobias and each will fit nicely into this tale which will help to increase your empathy for the characters.

The plot is simple and revolves around the travels of a father and son as they head for the coast in the hope that they might find something more hopeful for the future. Viggo Mortenson plays the determined but pessimistic father trying both to protect his son and also to prepare him to try and survive in an unforgiving world where those that remain are largely hostile in their own determination to survive.

The bleak outlook of the father are offset by some flashback sequences before the apocalyptic event with his wife, played by Charlize Theron. It allows you to judge the cost that's etched on the father's face during their journey to the coast.

The son, played by Kodi Smit-McPhee was brought up in a post-apocalyptic world but retains some optimism about his fellow man. This is not shared by the father who is suspicious of everyone and, in a harrowing scene attempts to teach his son how to shoot himself should he find himself out of other options.

The father carries a gun but it's soon clear that this is intended for use on himself and his son should that prove necessary rather than to shoot others. But his whole being is devoted to the protection of his son, and the intensity of Mortenson's performance is remarkable in conveying this as the journey progresses and the pair have to deal with a number of incidents along the way.

Supported by some fine cameo performances by Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce, the film concludes with the vaguest glimmer of hope. But perhaps that entirely relative given the struggle of the pair through a bleak, devastated landscape.

Film Review : Nowhere Boy

2010-01-17T23:15:00.020Z

When you tackle the portrayal of an icon on screen any director is playing with fire. Even moreso than a beloved novel, people have a vivid and perhaps fixed image of that person. In addition, the facts and figures of their lives may be well known to the target audience and woe betide any small changes in the name of artistic license.

John Lennon is the latest such icon to have their life (or, more accurately, the most critically formative part of his life) portrayed on the big screen. Nowhere Boy depicts the tale of young John starting with the death of his Uncle George through to the death of his mother in a car accident (knocked down by a drunken off-duty police officer).

This period covers not only his meetings with Paul and George and the genesis of The Beatles, but also his relationships with his errant mother and his Aunt May which helped to form the crux of his artistic drive in years to come.

My bookshelves are crammed with many Beatles books so the background to the story was familiar to me, and the good news is that the story told was largely faithful to my understanding of what happened. The major piece of artistic license taken is to overemphasise the extent to which the younger John had ready access to his mother - it's rather suggested that she was persona non grata to him until his mid-teens but I do believe that she was often in his presence before then.

However, this is more than compensated by identifying the sudden death of his Uncle George as a key moment, and it was after this that there wasn't a balance in John's life to counter his Aunt Mimi's strictures. Whether or not he had regular contact with Julia before then, this was almost certainly the point at which he sought more comfort from his natural mother.

The relationship between John and the more talented Paul McCartney is well handled as well, and with Julia's death it's clear that the shared bond of music and maternal loss forged a strength in their partnership which took them to the considerable success they achieved.

Kristin Scott Thomas is excellent as the strict and regimented Aunt Mimi, whilst Anne Marie Duff portrays the waywardness and attitude which must have been appealing to the teenage John. In the main role, Aaron Johnson is excellent as Lennon. In the opening scenes, you struggle somewhat to picture him as the familiar icon, but once he discovers rock'n'roll and reshapes his hair into a quiff the image is complete. He also has the familiar stare that provided such character to Lennon's face - all, of course, due to his extreme short-sightedness and reluctance to wear spectacles.

Whilst Thomas Sangster is perhaps a little too geeky for Paul, his portrayal does provide a good, reflection of the precocious talent that McCartney had even at that age and his recognition of the more primal talents that lay within Lennon. And for the musical pedants amongst you, Paul's playing of Twenty Flight Rock to the slightly drunk John is present and correct (as is George's bus journey audition of Raunchy to cement his place in the group).

In spite of all the danger (sic), director Sam Taylor Wood has crafted an excellent movie that provides an insight into Lennon's formative years which is well worth catching perhaps even for those of you less enamoured of The Beatles than I am.

Film Review : Sherlock Holmes

2010-01-17T23:15:00.018Z

The resurrection of Robert Downey Jr's career over the last 10 years has been both to his personal benefit and also to ours as his presence is usually guaranteed to light up the films that he appears in.

Not so much of a resurrection but still needing some assistance was the career of Guy Ritchie after the mess that was Revolver which had followed on from the abysmal Swept Away (which was less of a title and more of a prediction). The stylish RocknRolla went some way to restoring some credibility but there was the creeping suspicion that he was only able to work in a limited genre.

The combination of both of these talents for a version of the much loved Sherlock Holmes certainly enticed but that was not without some concerns. Could Downey handle the extremely English Holmes? And would this simply serve to prove Ritchie's limitation?

The good news is that not only can Downey make an excellent Holmes, but that Ritchie has also directed a grand updating of Holmes for the 21st century and which has all the hallmarks of another successful franchise.

In addition, Jude Law is excellent as Watson played as equally formidable to Holmes rather than the lapdog version of the character as etched into legend by Nigel Bruce. The chemistry between the two actors helps propel the story along.

Also appearing is the delightful Rachel McAdam who is rather underused as an apparent previous but errant love-interest of Holmes, although it is her part in the story which leads to the clearest indication of a further celluloid adventure.

The bad guy is played by the excellent Mark Strong who is apparently resurrected after being hung in prison.

The uniformly strong cast do help to compensate for what turns out to be a reasonably predictable script but this is accompanied by terrific action scenes along the way which leave you thirsting for more from Ritchie and his ensemble.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to seeing Downey reprise his role as millionaire superhero Tony Stark in Iron Man II

Concert Review : Ian McNabb - King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow

2010-01-11T19:55:00.012Z

My last gig of 2009 was to see Ian McNabb play a solo gig at King Tut's in Glasgow. It was an extremely cold evening (and little were we to know just how long that would continue) and this may have had an impact on the attendance which was somewhat less than I had been expecting.

In addition to being one of the best songwriters of the past twenty five years, McNabb is also a superlative singer capable of wringing the last drop of emotion from a tender ballad as well as rockin' out with the best of them. It's something of a (beautiful old) mystery why his career has seemingly levelled out at what I would consider to be well below what he deserves. I do think that his songs are such that many could be covered by the Ronan Keatings of this world, but I do rather suspect that his own versions set the bar rather high for other vocalists.

Having led The Icicle Works through a series of excellent and varied albums to diminishing returns (and perhaps that variety is both where the interest lies for the hardcore fan but also makes it difficult to sustain mainstream success however deserved this might be), he set off on a solo career that looked as if it might hit the jackpot particularly with his second album, Head Like A Rock, being nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. Unfortunately for Ian, he seems to have been afforded winners luck for this award, despite not actually winning the damned thing! Nevetheless, his solo work continues to maintain an excellent level with many great songs that it's astonishing haven't found a wider audience.

He has a new album available called Great Things and many of the songs were shown off to great effect in the show. Making use of synths and other programmable devices, it does offer a different musical backdrop to recent albums without detracting from his consistent strengths. The new songs stood up well in solo performance (and I remain an adherent to the argument that if a song can't stand up in a bare acoustic versions that it's not a good song) and were not remotely embarrassed to be performed alongside the many classics from the McNabb back catalogue that we heard tonight.

Ian was a little tentative in the first half and wasn't as communicative as usual. Mind you, I think was very probably because he was absolutely frozen! It didn't take long for the audience to warm up and a starting duo of Fire In My Soul and You Must Be Prepared To Dream has them in good voice.

Ian was much livelier in the second half and was much more his usual ebullient self. He's always been a modest chap which is why one of the tracks on his album is called I Can't Help It If I'm Great which sits nicely in his songbook alongside I'm A Genius!! He is also clearly still in love with music and this comes over very clearly on all the occasions that I've seen him perform.

All in all, this was an excellent evening's entertainment although I do prefer to see Ian fronting a band. However, I suspect the economics of touring make that a less likely prospect these days. He has been in the habit of playing a gig with a band in Liverpool each December so I suspect I should aim to save my pennies for a trip over the border in 2010.

Film Review : Avatar

2010-01-01T22:46:00.007Z

To describe this movie as long awaited would be rather understating the point. James Cameron's first movie since the award sweeping Titanic is keenly anticipated on two levels. Firstly, it's twelve years since Titanic broke box-office records so this counts as a follow up. Secondly, we've been promised a ground-breaking experience with the technological advances that Cameron has been championing suggesting that this movie is ready to push the boundaries of movie making so much that things will never be the same again.

As for the latter claim, I'm not sure that's necessarily going to be the case but it is undoubtedly a marvellous experience and one that should be enjoyed in 3D. Cameron has undoubtedly managed to create a world which is entirely believable and where the boundaries between reality and computer generated animation are just about entirely removed.

This is not to say that the CGI creatures are what you would describe as "photo-realistic" (which always appears to be the aim of those working in this medium) - they're not really. But they do appear to be alive, and you have no difficulty in accepting this from very early in the movie.

What probably shows the technological advances is the depth and realism of the jungle surroundings of much of the film, including some stunning deep shots (e.g. looking over the edge of a mountain). Some of this has been done in other films but not with the sheer amount of details that you see on Avatar.

So the technology is a resounding success - what about the story? The tale is a fairly typical sci-fi tale of the human race looking to colonise for their own ends without consideration for those who have lived for years on the planet, or the traditions that they have lived under for centuries. Sam Worthington plays the role of the spy who turns, and eventually defends what he was sent to undermine.

All in all, the tale is well told but does suffer from too clearly obvious and perhaps cliched characters where it's pretty clear who's on what side of the baddy/goody line. In other words, pretty much like most James Cameron movies!

Notwithstanding that it does make for a thoroughly entertaining and engrossing movie, with the spectacle leading the way over the script. Indeed, I'm not sure if you would enjoy the movie in 2D format as much as would undoubtedly be the case for its' 3D compatriot.

Concert Review : Them Crooked Vultures - Corn Exchange, Edinburgh

2009-12-30T22:17:00.005Z

This certainly counted as a "bonus" concert as I had made no attempt to buy a ticket for this concert. However, the timing of my son's examination schedule meant I was the lucky recipient of his misfortune.

Unlike many supposed "supergroups", the combination of Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones and Josh Homme was kept very much under the radar until the album was ready to be released, and some relatively low key gigs announced.

The album was a thrilling combination of three exceptional talents - indeed, sufficiently so in Jones' case that it rather made me happy that there was no follow up to the Led Zeppelin concert at the O2 as it is somewhat doubtful that it would have been able to match the heights that Them Crooked Vultures have attained.

The gig more than matched the album. The entire album was played along with two new songs (which I trust is a sign that this will not be a one off) giving an 80 minute set. No encore (not really necessary) and no nods to any of the participants other bands.

It was great to see Grohl back behind a drum kit - the man is an absolute monster and handled the complex time signatures of some of the numbers with ease and also demonstrated that he would have been more than capable of filling John Bonham's shoes had that been open to him.

Josh Homme was a remarkably charismatic front man - or, at least, much more so than I had expected. His vocals were excellent, as was his guitar playing.

And then there was John Paul Jones. As cool, calm and collected on stage as was the case in the heyday of Zeppelin, he played a wide range of instruments with ease and was clearly enjoying himself thoroughly. Although the audience was on the whole of a generation not to have enjoyed Zeppelin, it was Jones who got the biggest cheer from the crowd which is only appropriate.

The band were ably supported by Alain Johannes, who has previously worked with Homme in Queens Of The Stone Age, who helped out on guitar, bass, keyboards and vocals throughout the evening. He seems more than talented enough in his own right to justify sharing the stage with the other three.

All in all, a remarkable evening from a remarkable band

Concert Review : Ray Davies - Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow

2009-12-30T21:45:00.005Z

Ray Davies turned up at the Concert Hall in Glasgow to provide a masterclass in songwriting, with a set whilst leaning heavily on the old classics still contained a healthy input from his last studio album, Working Man's Cafe.

Starting off acoustically and working through a number of classics before being joined by a full band, including Ian Gibbons who had been the last keyboard player with The Kinks, Davies was in good voice and prefaced many of the songs with amusing anecdotes. During the show he was perhaps a little too keen to test out the singing voices of the audience - I'm all for singing along to well loved choruses but his constant requests to sing louder with reprises of choruses did begin to wear a little.

The high points of the evening were an acoustic reading of Waterloo Sunset, and the full band (but still restrained) performance of Celluloid Heroes. From a lengthy catalogue of timeless classics, I do think these two might just be his best.

Support for the evening was provided by Roddy Hart. I previously saw Roddy supporting Jeff Beck earlier in the year but hadn't really been able to appreciate him fully as I'd slumbered through much of his set. This time round he demonstrated that the fault was my tiredness, rather than any lack of quality on his part. Another fine songwriter, with a strong voice and a confident stage manner, his set was filled with strong melodies that encourage investigation into his two albums. One to catch with his band at some point.

Film Review : The Box

2009-12-30T21:24:00.005Z

Director Richard Kelly made quite an impression with his debut Donnie Darko which was an extremely satisfying if mystifying movie. Much of the expectation created by that effort was dissipated by his follow-up, Southland Tales, which contained just as much mystery but without the satisfaction.

Someone in Hollywood still loves him though, as he's been let loose on a new film. Based on an old short story from The Twilight Hour, The Box stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple who have to decide if they should open the box and receive a million pounds (which, as it happens, is nicely timed as both have just received news that very day that would make such a windfall extremely useful). The downside being that in accepting the money will result in the death of someone who they don't know dying.

Frank Langella plays the mysterious visitor who makes the offer and his presence throughout the movie is marvellously unsettling. This is assisted greatly by a disfigurement to his face which has much of his lower jaw missing.

Needless to say, The Box is duly opened and the story concentrates on the guilt taken on by the couple, along with an ongoing reveal of precisely who Langella is and his motives in making the offer.

Although not as successful a movie as Donnie Darko, this will go much of the way to repairing Kelly's tarnished reputation.

Concert Review : Status Quo/Roy Wood - SECC, Glasgow

2009-12-30T11:34:00.005Z

If it's December then it must be time for Quo at the SECC. But equally, it's also time for numerous plays of I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day as well so it was more than opportune that the support was provided by the legend that is Roy Wood.

Wood has to be one of the finest songwriters this country has ever produced and putting aside his brief involvement in the establishment of the Electric Light Orchestra his work as the mainman in both The Move and Wizzard along with his solo efforts gives him a eclectic back catalogue to be proud of.

He was a name on my list of artists I'd love to see in a live setting but his touring in the past couple of decades has been somewhat limited and also, as far as I am aware at least, lacking in visits to Scotland. The news that he was going to be providing the support to Quo on their 2009 visit to Glasgow was met with considerable enthusiasm.

Backed by a bass, keyboards, drums, a female singer plus a four piece horn section Wood ran through a whole range of the songs that stamped his name as one for the history books. Opening with California Man (and how awesome that was!) and closing, inevitably with I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day and stopping off with I Can Hear The Grass Grow, Fire Brigade, Flowers In The Rain, Blackberry Way, Ball Park Incident, See My Baby Jive, Angel Fingers, Are You Ready To Rock along with two other numbers (at least one of which was new) had me in a position that I'd have left the SECC thoroughly satisfied by the evening's entertainment. It was certainly the first time that I can remember the already full hall on their feet singing and dancing along with a support act.

I do hope that this is a sign of Roy becoming more active, and I'd love to see a full show from him. I might get Brontosaurus then which wasn't played despite my rather loud call for same.

Of course, having been so thoroughly enraptured with Roy Wood there was a danger that Status Quo might be something of an anti-climax. Especially as I knew their set was largely unchanged from last years show - although the reintroduction of Hold You Back got a big thumbs up from me and I was looking forward to this.

Although they have made some rather foolish moves in their career (cover albums, anyone!) Quo have always remained a powerful and consistent live act. I'd also make a case that Francis Rossi is both a superlative songwriter. (And just to leave some clear blue sky between me and other Quo fanatics, I hold no nostalgia for Alan Lancaster who, with only a few exceptions, was usually responsible for the poorest songs on any Quo album.)

Despite the high level of the bar set by Roy Wood, Quo managed to match it although it wasn't without some difficulties. Some earlier gigs on the tour had to be cancelled because of issues with Rossi's voice. These weren't totally resolved and some songs were carried more by the audience than by Francis. However, and it may have been to compensate, the band clicked big time and the power coming from the stage had the air guitarists among the audience in heaven. I'm also sure they were much louder than they had been last year - and that's not a complaint.

One of the Quo songs which seems to elicit most negative comment is Burning Bridges. Being a contrarian, it's one of my favourites and I hadn't been expecting it to be played (as per setlists from earlier gigs) but there must be something about Glasgow as they played it as their first encore. (It's always seems to get played here - must be the sight of me jumping up and down during the jiggy bit that gives them a laugh!). This was in addition to the usual encore numbers, so we still got Paper Plane, Junior's Wailing and Rock And Roll Music/Bye Bye Johnny to bring the evening to a hugely entertaining close.

Quo are an undervalued gem of the British music scene, but for all those that all too easily put them down they are still capable of pulling large crowds on their annual jaunts which speaks volumes. Roll on next year!

Concert Review : Porcupine Tree - ABC1, Glasgow

2009-12-29T22:45:00.005Z

In an age where Prog no longer seems to be a dirty word, Porcupine Tree find themselves as the standard bearers for the genre in the UK. Whilst their last two albums, Fear Of A Blank Planet and The Incident, have received almost universal praise I've yet to be convinced that they are on a par with the albums that preceded them.

Notwithstanding that the band remain a powerful live act and the ABC in Glasgow was treated to the final date on their 2009 tour in support of The Incident. (Ironically, we were the recipients of the opening night of the tour for the prior album).

The first half of the show was a performance of The Incident itself which is a 55-minute piece which takes up the first CD of the new set. Although I'm becoming more familiar with the piece I can't help but feel that this contains too much in the way of filler material to join the songs together. (Let's not kid ourselves on that this is actually a single piece of music - like many such prog epics, it is no more and no less than a bunch of songs with some additional material to link it together to make it appear as one continuous piece). Overall, I think it's a couple of good songs short of totally hitting the mark.

Seeing it performed live only tended to reinforce that opinion, and whilst it's an considerable achievement in some respects I do think they are not quite hitting the peaks of their earlier albums which concentrated on strong songs and was not encumbered by the epic tag to quite the same extent.

The second half was promised by Steven Wilson to be filled with the "ones we know". By and large, that wasn't the case as the band played some seldom played songs from their earlier career along with the less obvious selections from their recent albums. That's not a criticism by any manner of means as I do like to see bands that mix up their setlists. One of the delights of seeing Porcupine Tree in the last six or seven years has been that they have never allowed the setlist to get stale and each one is usually significantly different from the last (more than the mere presence of a new album would justify). It was only at encore time when the duo of The Sound Of Muzak and Trains from In Absentia (much, much better than either of the last two!) brought proceedings to a close.

There is a danger that this review sounds a bit whingy and negative but it's all a question of degree. Porcupine Tree remain an awesome live proposition and seem like they will remain so for some time to come.

Film Review : A Serious Man

2009-12-29T22:16:00.006Z

Having been on good terms with box office success with the Oscar-winning No Country For Old Men and the exuberant Burn After Reading, the Coen Brothers throw one to their core audience (all seventeen of us) with their latest film.

Based largely on their childhood experiences but without being autobiographical (which is either quirkily typical of the Coens or an attempt to keep the lawyers at bay), A Serious Man observes the life of an upstanding member of the Jewish community as he faces a turning point in his career (with the opportunity of tenure at the University where he lectures) and his life (where his wife is leaving him to his considerable shock).

Unusually, the film does not use any of the recognised members of the Coen fraternity. The titular character is played by Michael Stuhlbarg who does an excellent job belying the supporting roles that have been his career to date.

As a man of faith who has undoubtedly done all the right things in life, he seeks the advice of his local rabbis. Needless to say, they all in their different ways seem unable to assist. The whole thrust of the film is how these men with such a significant and crucial role in the Jewish community are able to cope (or not) with the everyday concerns of the members of their congregation.

This is a funny movie but more in the fashion of some of the earlier, darker movies rather than the more accessible Burn After Reading. For those of you that don't like those earlier Coen Brothers movies (Barton Fink might be the best barometer for comparison purposes) you may find it difficult to get above the general air of depression that surrounds the film. But the rest of you will cherish that the Coen Brothers can still produce this type of film despite their wider success.

Concert Review : Steve Hackett - The Ferry, Glasgow

2009-12-21T21:24:00.005Z

It's been about 20 years since Steve Hackett last performed in Glasgow, but the packed Ferry showed that he's still got a lot of loyal and committed fans in these parts. This seems to be very much the time for Hackett with all things prog being something approaching fashionable and also having a very strong album to promote in Out Of The Tunnel's Mouth which neatly covers all of the bases of his solo material in fine fashion.

Hackett fronts an extremely powerful band which means that the songs do come over as much more muscular and dynamic that they can appear on album. That is not a bad thing!

Featuring the new album in its' entirety alongside an eclectic range of material from his previous solo albums alongside some classics from his days in Genesis. The latter included a fine performance of Firth Of Fifth along with the inevitable Horizons. What was a surprise was the version of Blood On The Rooftops from the underrated Wind And Wuthering album.

However, Hackett has long since put his Genesis days behind him and the set concentrated largely on his excellent solo career. I've always found it difficult to work out where Steve lands in the bigger picture. It's not unusual to find blank stares when his name is mentioned but the large crowd tonight showed that his work is reaching a significant audience.

The range of Hackett's solo work suggests that it's always going to be unlikely that he'll be able to appeal to the masses, but it's that selfsame diversity that will make those already on his side will continue to be so.

Let's hope he doesn't leave another 20 years to return.

Film Review : The Men Who Stare At Goats

2009-12-21T20:49:00.005Z

This is another film based on a book much loved by its' readers. In the case, the book is not a work of fiction but a study of the somewhat unusual methods used in some sections of the CIA to gain advantages of their enemy of the moment.

I've not read the book but it's clear from other comments that the film is a very different take on this topic from the book. Whilst the book appears to be a serious study of the more ludicrous end of CIA activities, the film plays things pretty much for laughs coming across as Coen-lite.

Not that the end result is anything other than an enjoyable film. George Clooney plays the charming and committed idiot whose earnestness and dedication to the task more than overwhelms the absurdity of the situation he finds himself in.

Ewan McGregor plays an equally gormless journalist who decides to follow the story all the way to a middle eastern warzone as a means of proving himself to his wife. You can imagine how that works out.

Whilst both these characters demonstrate an amusing gullibility, Kevin Spacey adds a touch of ambition to the mix. Seemingly always bested by Clooney, his focus means he ends up floating to the top of the tree for the film's climax.

However, the film is pretty much stolen by Jeff Bridges as the soldier who sets the whole shebang up. If you can imagine The Big Lebowski's Dude in charge of a CIA operation then you'll love this performance.

As mentioned before, this is very much Coen-lite and makes the whole idea of what the CIA were doing an object of some ridicule rather than as something sinister (which is how I suspect its' presented in the source material). But if you can't laugh at some of these things that are done supposedly in our name, there'd only be one alternative.

Concert Review : Deep Purple - Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow

2009-12-21T20:10:00.005Z

Now that we're in a situation where Steve Morse has played more gigs as a member of Deep Purple than Ritchie Blackmore, it's probably long past the situation to consider him the "new boy" but it's always apparent from reading the views of fans that the spectre of Blackmore continues to loom large in their thoughts and opinions of the band.

Any new Purple material is always subject to comparison to their classic period and often held to be inferior. Notwithstanding that precisely the same standard if applied to the Blackmore-era reunion albums would result in the same conclusion. Indeed, if pressed I'd suggest that the best album by any post-reunion album would be the Morse-era debut Purpendicular. A better, fresher album than its' only near competitor Perfect Strangers.

That these two albums represent the first offerings of the respective line-ups from their respective time periods probably says something about the challenge faced by Purple. They do seem to find it hard to sustain a consistent level of creativity to match the burst that produced In Rock, Fireball and Machine Head in the 1970's.

That's not a unique problem to Purple - many bands of a similar age fact the same issues but it does mean that in the case of Deep Purple it is difficult for them to step out of the shadow of the Man In Black.

That leaves live performance as the main arena in which the band can continue to breathe and thrive. And they continue to do so as this performance in Glasgow on 11th November demonstrated.

Whilst the band were reinvigorated by the addition of Steve Morse, they have over recent years had a tendency to slip into the old bad habit of resting too heavily on familiar material and especially Machine Head. This time around the setlist showed some more variation with some welcome additions in No One Came (from Fireball) along with the return of the one true classic from the Morse era which genuinely stands shoulder to shoulder with anything from Purple's heyday in Sometime I Feel Like Screaming. We also got Wasted Sunsets and Not Responsible from Perfect Strangers - not necessarily the top of anyones list of songs they'd like to hear performed but welcome for that lack of obviousness.

The band played as well as I've seen for a while, although Gillan was clearly struggling with some of the higher notes. This is not uncommon in recent shows, but I'm at a loss why he continues to attempt to scream when his voice in normal register remains so strong.

Morse clearly continues to enjoy playing the old material and avoids simply replicating Blackmore's style bringing a different style to the songs. The other new boy, Don Airey is now being more adventurous having taken a few years to settle comfortably into the position previously held by Jon Lord. Nowadays, the band switch between keyboard and guitar rather as they did in their earlier years, before Blackmore's domination chipped away at that magic ingredient.

Paice and Glover continue to be the rock rhythm section par excellence. One notable item missing was Paice's drum solo - not necessarily a bad thing as drum solos are often an indulgence despite the excellence of the player - but I would equally have welcomed the absence of the guitar and keyboard solo slots in favour of a couple more songs.

Ian Gillan told us that the band would be recording a new album in 2010. It's five years since Rapture Of The Deep which was an enjoyable but not essential album. I'd like to hope that the gap can result in stronger material that can produce an album that can rival Purpendicular.

Film Review : Harry Brown

2009-12-08T19:50:00.006Z

Much publicised as possibly Michael Caine's last movie, this is a gritty tale of modern life in an urban wasteland. An additional appeal is that the story is set in the same part of London where Caine himself was brought up.

As such, he undoubtedly brings an emotional strength to the role of Harry who is a recently bereaved widower who also loses a friend who was murdered by the local gangs. These events result in his growing anger at what is happening all around to boil over, and the quiet retired man turns vigilante using the skills he learnt from his long service with the services.

Caine is compelling as you would expect, but you do feel that this is a role he has played many times before. However, the very clear emotional connection he has with the material does add punch to the tale.

Emily Mortimer plays a police sergeant out of her depth amongst the amoral behaviour all around. You suspect that, in real life such a well meaning person would simply not survive in such an environment but in the film, she is the one who sets the moral compass around which the tale revolves.

It's very easy to describe this as a British Gran Torino, and whilst there are many similarities in the tale it is, as you might expect, a more realistic and bleak picture of a crumbling urban environment.

It's also worth saying that whilst this isn't by any manner of means a happy-clappy film, it's not as unremittingly bleak as some of this style of movie can be. It was even enjoyed by my wife, and I lost my bet that she wouldn't enjoy it.

Concert Review : Andy Fairweather Low - The Ferry, Glasgow

2009-12-03T21:41:00.005Z

One of the great joys for me over the past few years has been the return of Andy Fairweather Low to the live arena in his own right. Having put his solo endeavours to one side after the failure of Mega Shebang to make a meaningful impression on the world, he spent the years since then acting as guitar for hire. Given that this included long term engagements with Eric Clapton and Roger Waters suggests the skill and talent that he brought to that role.

Of course, those of us of a certain age remember AFL as the teen idol lead singer with Amen Corner, whilst those less chronologically challenged will recall his biggest solo hit Wide Eyed And Legless which is a condition I well recognise from my younger years. Of course, his previous career never really gave a hint of what a fine guitarist he is.

I've written previously on this blog about AFL, and it will be no great surprise to find me waxing ecstatically about his latest appearance in Glasgow on 6th November. Whilst much of the set was familiar, the songs were given a different twist in that the keyboards were replaced with a horn player which gave them a different feel.

What was different - indeed, almost a month later it still strikes me as astonishing - was the size of the crowd. The previous gigs at The Ferry had been reasonably well attended but left no doubt that the boat was in no danger of loosening itself from its' moorings. This time, however, the place was packed. Not full by any manner of means, but the audience had increased by about three time since the last show.

I'm not sure what's happened in the interim. The tour he is on, and the gig at The Ferry in particular, was no better advertised than happened previously. There's no new album to have generated any more of a profile.

What was clear was that all the "new" folk in the audience were more than familiar with the songs that were played. Hell, there was even three women who started screaming - yes, screaming - when he played Hello Susie, the first of the old Amen Corner songs played in the set.

It made it quite a thrilling evening for me as AFL is someone I'm happy to continue to champion as, in my (admittedly not very humble) opinion, not enough people recognise his worth. It was clearly just as thrilling to Andy and his band who were visibly quite taken aback with the reception which started at noisy and built from there.

All the hits from Amen Corner, Fairweather and solo segments of his career were played along with a number of songs from his excellent last album Sweet Soul Music. As he has done since his comeback, the set also contained a sprinkling of old blues, gospel and country tunes that provided a grand potted history of the key styles of the last 60 years. Most enjoyable and touching was his tribute to the recently departed Les Paul, playing the song Just Because which was his first ever released record way back in the 1960's.

Encoring with Bend Me Shape Me and (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice had The Ferry in singalong mood. Bend Me Shape Me was always a favourite of mine and it's been marvellous to be able to hear AFL perform this live over the past couple of years.

I did notice that AFL will be supporting the Robert Cray Band on their British tour in the summer of 2010. Hopefully, that will help to (re)introduce Andy to a wider audience which can only be a good thing.

Film Review : The Fantastic Mr Fox

2009-12-01T22:07:00.006Z

The world is made up of two types of people or, at least, two types of film fan. Those who "get" Wes Anderson and love his films and those who most certainly don't and who would rather watch X-Factor than suffer one of his films. (Mind you, that does suggest that a very large number of people form the latter category!). I fall into the former category although it would be fair to say that there's a sameness to his movies that has the potential to pall somewhat. (And that might be aimed at you, Jason Schwartzman!).

This films marks something of a break with his other movies in that whilst featuring many of his regular ensemble, the principle parts of Mr and Mrs Fox are voiced by George Clooney and Meryl Streep respectively. The other significant break is indicated by the use of the term "voiced" - this is an animated feature. Not just any old animated feature, mind you. In an era of photo-realistic digital extravaganzas, The Fantastic Mr Fox is made using good old-fashioned stop-motion animation which gives it a unique style amongst its' peers.

Ironically, this does provide something of a hurdle for the viewer - well, it did for me! - as we are now so used to the latest technologies lighting up our screens that the decidedly old school feel of the visuals take a while to settle in. That they do is as a result of the tale based on Roald Dahl's book which like all of his work reveals a more challenging world than the apparently childlike veneer.

The titular character is a charming and over-confident fox whose bravado sets his family and their community at peril to local farmers who seek to rid themselves of the pests who are ruining their business. Being a Wes Anderson movie, the family and other members of the community are an angst-riddled bunch whose various foibles both assist and restrain Mr Fox in his endeavours to defeat his foes.

Clooney is his usual charming, debonair self as Mr Fox, whilst Meryl Streep plays his loving but long-suffering wife to perfection. With a certain air of predictability, the aforementioned Mr Schwartzman plays the young Fox, and the playing out of his issues with both family and friends forms the moral core of this tale.

It's worth pointing out this isn't really a children's movie - there's nothing inherently problematic about the film being seen by youngsters, but it does play as reasonably hard-core Anderson may make it a little incomprehensible to some. Indeed, that may make it incomprehensible to some adults as well, but that's why I like his movies.

This is an extremely enjoyable movie, and one that I hope will allow Anderson himself to recharge his creative batteries after The Darjeeling Limited which I thought was little disappointing and showed him to be in danger of parodying himself.

Concert Review : Wishbone Ash - The Ferry, Glasgow

2009-11-17T22:39:00.005Z

Fading a little into the distance, but Wishbone Ash played their second gig of the year at The Ferry on Thursday 22nd October. For the past number of years they have playing twice a year and although they are managing to retain the audience numbers you can't help but feel that the frequency might be a little too often.

I'd checked out the setlists from some of the earlier dates in the tour and had been disappointed to see that the numbers played were, with a couple of exceptions, pretty much the same as had been played at their last visit. I suspect that feedback of this nature may have worked its' way back to the band as we were treated to a reshaped set by the time they landed in Glasgow. Certainly, if they are going to make such regular appearances then continual recycling of the setlist is an absolute must otherwise there has to be a risk that both the band and the audience will get somewhat jaded.

New additions to the set from last time included Front Page News and Lady Jay whilst Vas Dis now took the opening slot. Runaway and Right Or Wrong were retained and these songs in particular allowed Muddy's funky rhythm playing to shine.

As ever, it's difficult if not impossible for the band to avoid Argus, but I would be glad to have a set that was devoid of Blowing Free. A great song it may be, but it's one I've heard just a time or two too often. Unfortunately, it was also combined with Bad Weather Blues - if I have to hear this song, I'd much rather hear it with its' own rather excellent ending than being contaminated with this workaday twelve bar.

On the guitar front, it was Muddy Manninen's turn to shine tonight. I've often found him to be too quite and a little too submerged in the overall sound. This was not the case tonight and he rather outshone Andy Powell who was solid enough but unable to match his partner's fire.

On the vocal front Andy Powell, who has never been the strongest of vocalists, seemed to struggle through many of the songs. Indeed, it was notable that Manninen seemed to mirroring some of the melody lines being sung as if to provide some further support. Anything that hit the higher register seemed to be a struggle. Perhaps he was carrying a cold but there was no indication that this might be the case.

I had been pleased to see that Errors Of My Way was marked down as one of the encore numbers, but unfortunately this wasn't played. I'd have been more than happy to have heard this rather than the Blowing Free/Bad Weather Blues combination mentioned earlier.

The issues between Powell and his erstwhile bandmate Martin Turner are well documented. One of Powell's claims is that he has been the one to have carried the band to this juncture including the recording of new music. He does rather undermine this claim by only having one song from any of the albums since Strange Affair. Also in the set is the extremely mediocre Engine Overheat from the execrable Twin Barrels Burning album. Powell seems to recognise in some way that the core of the band remains, as it always has, the series of classic albums from their debut through to Just Testing. Even taking into account the two reunion albums, it is always songs from these earlier albums that set the pulses racing.

That suggests a certain logical action. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon which is a shame

I've Been Away.....

2009-11-13T09:38:00.000Z

Circumstances have meant that I've not been able to post as regularly as I would have wished but will be attempting to catch up over the next week.

Whilst my posting has been missing, my activities haven't so hope to be sharing my thoughts on The Fantastic Mr Fox and The Men Who Stare At Goats, as well as concerts featuring Wishbone Ash, Andy Fairweather Low and Deep Purple.

Film Review : The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus

2009-10-19T20:32:00.010+01:00

Terry Gilliam's film career has generally never been one to court the easy option or to produce an "easy" movie. Where he's attempted the latter (e.g. The Brothers Grimm) it's usually been a bit of a failure. His best movies have tended to be the ones that have allowed his imagination full flow onto the screen - Brazil, in its intended form, being perhaps the best evidence of that.

Occasionally, the mainstream and Gilliam have crossed paths and both The Fisher King and Twelve Monkeys are examples of imaginative and popular cinema that we perhaps don't see enough of these days.

His latest film has received more publicity than most given that its' star, Heath Ledger, passed away during the shoot. Most people were probably ready to put this down as another piece of bad luck of the type that seemingly has nothing better to do than follow Gilliam around. After some thought, Gilliam decided that there was a way to finish the film (as appeared to be the desire of the others involved in the production) without impinging on the credibility of either film or Ledger's memory.

I'm delighted to report that this has been achieved with some distinction. The movie is full of the surrealism and imagination that we've come to expect from Gilliam, but the tale itself is remarkably linear. Certainly, those who perhaps enjoy the visual aspects of Gilliam in full flight but find themselves scratching their heads in puzzlement at what it all meant will find this to be a pleasure.

Ledger's absence was dealt with (as has been more than adequately reported elsewhere) by his character being played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. The general idea of looks being transformed when you step behind the mirror into Doctor Parnassus imagination is set early on so it's no surprise when Ledger's transformation into his three friends occurs.

The story itself is a morality tale involving the Devil (excellently played by Tom Waits) , the titular Doctor (Christopher Plummer in top form) and his daughter (played by relative newcomer Lily Cole - there's no doubt we'll be seeing more of her in the future). Parnassus having previously made a deal with the Devil to gain immortality had entered into a subsequent deal which allowed him to capture the woman of his dreams. As with all such deals this came at a price, and that involved any offspring from the union to become the property of the Devil on their 16th birthday. Needless to say, the story commences a few days before this event.

Ledger is introduced into the tale as a mysterious stranger who was found seemingly hanged. Who is he, and why was he found in that condition? Is he a friend sent to assist Parnassus, or a trick of the Devil to make sure that the consequences of the pact comes to fruition?

Parnassus moves around London with a travelling circus which allows people to enter his imagination via a mirror, and it is by entering this that the other characters covering Ledgers' part come into play. Each time a different element of the character is revealed until the truth is revealed about his life.

It would appear that all of Ledgers' shots were concerned with the "real" world before his untimely death, and the transformations to the other actors works extremely well and seems well in fitting with the story.

Ledger's performance is very good but not quite as all encompassing as his Joker. It is nevertheless clear that the film world lost an actor of the highest calibre with his untimely passing.

This is a wonderfully imaginative film that, whilst not quite up there with Gilliam's best, should do extremely well on the back of the unwanted publicity that it has received. Hopefully, it will encourage others to investigate some of the more challenging areas of Gilliam's canon.

Concert Review : Pallas - The Ferry, Glasgow

2009-10-18T12:41:00.005+01:00

There are times you might feel a bit short changed when the support act only plays three songs. But when two of them are fifteen minutes each, and the other is twenty minutes long then that can only mean one thing.

Said support act were Abel Ganz, a local prog band of some repute but which I hadn't heard until this evenings show. Short songs were clearly at a premium, but they had interesting and diverse instrumentation with strong vocals. From my perspective, they ticked the right box as melody and structure was prominent, with technical ability to the rear. (I always prefer musicians with the technical ability to appreciate that less is often better).

With a new album out (four tracks - what else would you expect!) they will probably be subject to closer investigation by these ears.

Headline act for the evening was the Aberdeen-based Pallas. The band made a bit of a splash in the early 1980's but whilst aware of them I never heard during this period. Reconvening in the mid-90's the band have made a series of fine albums, most notably The Cross And The Crucible which was my entry point into their world.

Since then, I've heard their 1980's albums and would suggest that they are a much better band now. Not least, because the music is shorn of some of the 1980's production values which are evident on both The Sentinel and The Wedge which, at least in retrospect, does nothing to enhance the music.

Original singer Euan Lowson left the band after The Sentinel - a powerful singer who also seemed to suggest that it was necessary for prog bands of that era to be fronted by a psychotic Scotsman - he was replaced by the diminutive Alan Reed who brought a very different style of voice to the band. That line-up remains intact to this day and they present a very powerful show that would easily transfer to a larger stage.

The performance included three new songs from their forthcoming album (written but yet to be recorded) which suggests that their fine run of form is likely to be maintained. The set featured recent material more strongly but still found room for some earlier material, including Euan Lowson featuring on a couple of songs.

It's probably usual to regret how a band of such obvious quality aren't able to reach a wider audience. However, the balance is that I suspect is that the quality of what they do is also a result of the band not being the be-all and end-all of their lives. The band have "serious" jobs which means that whilst their musical adventures have to be secondary - but that could well be the secret ingredient that makes what they produce when they are able to play all the better for it. And for that we should be grateful.

Film Review : Up

2009-10-13T23:03:00.007+01:00

I've always been a fan of the Pixar movies as they have never forgotten the primacy of the tale in their productions. They make great use of the latest technologies but not at the expense of a story you can commit to regardless of age.

This continues with their tenth film Up which has proven to be a runaway success in the United States where it was released in the early summer. That will almost certainly be repeated here in the United Kingdom following its' belated release last Friday.

Where it does move into fresh territory is in featuring a grumpy old widower in his seventies struggling to cope with the death of his childhood sweetheart. The first ten minutes of the movie presents a snapshot of the key milestones in their life together, and if you get to the end of this without a lump in your throat then you do need to check if you are the owner of a heart, lonely or otherwise.

This sequence has attracted some criticism for one particular scene where it shows that the couple were unable to have children. I'd got the impression that this was laid on somewhat thickly and have seen it described as overly manipulative but it didn't strike me that way at all. On the contrary, it seemed to provide a necessary understanding to why the lead character Carl found it difficult to build a relationship with young Russell when he appeared on the scene - an older man with a family would have been able to empathise much more readily than occurred in our tale.

Whilst the introduction is very serious and emotional (but without becoming too sentimental) the film moves on to the main story. Carl seeks to revisit the dreams of his youth and, in particular, to make the trip that he'd promised his late wife and to try and expunge some of the guilt he feels about his apparent failure for not being able to fulfil this whilst she was alive.

Needless to say, the inevitable children and animals are called in to support the tale, with Christopher Plummer voicing the villain in disgraced explorer Charles Muntz in grand style.

The film is primarily a 3-D movie (or, at least, in the Cineworld in Glasgow you can see it regularly in 3-D but only once a day in 2-D) and this is well done providing a real sense of depth and perspective. It's very light on tricks and a lot better for this in my opinion.

Next up for Pixar is Toy Story 3 which will be out next summer - the trailer looks enticing and there's no sign of the Pixar bubble bursting any time soon.

Concert Review : Man - The Inn At Lathones

2009-10-12T23:25:00.005+01:00

It's been a turbulent period for the Manband with the band disintegrating during the recording of a new album. The end result was that Martin Ace, Phil Ryan and Josh Ace have regrouped bringing in James Beck on guitar and Rene Robrahn on drums. The ejected George Jones and Bob Richards are looking to regroup themselves with some new musicians as well, but it's the new version of the Manband that have proven to be first out of the traps to hit the road.

Following the sessions which precipitated the split, the album was resurrected and with the addition of a couple of new tracks and the replacement and/or removal of George's guitar parts was issued earlier this year as Kingdom Of Noise (Bob remained on all bar the two newer tracks). The album shows every sign of its' difficult gestation and struggles to really cohere as a collection of songs. Perhaps most disappointingly was the seeming absence of Phil Ryan on the composing front, and the more background role he seemed to be playing on the keyboards.

The band toured Germany earlier on this year and bravely (or foolishly depending on your view) built their set very firmly around the new album and put some of the classic Man songs to one side, but also perhaps some of the style that I've come to admire went with it too. The recordings I heard certainly indicated a more than competent band but what was missing was that magic spark that has singled out the Manband in all its' varieties over the decades.

A brief British tour was announced for late September/early October and part of the schedule was a gig at The Inn At Lathones. This is actually about seven miles outside of St Andrews in Fife. Certainly, my initial intentions had been to give this a miss as it represented about a four hour round trip there and back from Paisley, and the combination of the albums and the earlier recordings rather made me feel that this wasn't worth the effort. A far cry from the times when I'd happily drive to Swansea for the once regular Christmas Parties!!

However, the indications from the earlier gigs (Lathones was the last date in the tour) were that the band had reinstated some of the older classics but, more importantly, were approaching the material with a fresh eye and consequently were playing with some vigour and purpose. From reports from a number of gigs came similar reports so I was forced to reconsider my position.

I am happy to report that I am extremely glad that I did. The performance was excellent and the familiar numbers had been sharpened up with some fresh arrangements - many of the changes were minor but had the impact of catching the ear turning, as an example, opener The Price into a much more substantial number than it had ever previously seemed to be. Similarly, the rhythms on Mad On Her were subtly amended which made it just a little less of a straight forward rock song.

Of course, the biggest questions would be answered by how the classics were tackled - the setlist included C'Mon, Spunk Rock (unusually in midset), Many Are Called But Few Get Up and, as part of the encore, Bananas. All were more than recognisable but there was no attempt to mimic what had gone before, and in doing so made the songs sound remarkably fresh instead of the almost 40 year old warhorses that they are.

Of the recent album, only three tracks remain and they held up remarkably well. They showed some fine tuning from the recorded versions - they probably reflected three of the four best songs on the album - which suggests that the band might have been better served by working this material out on the road before recording them.

New guitarist James Beck was impressive and seems to have stamped his authority on the songs, without ever stooping to attempting to copy or match what we've been used to by the Jones family. I've no doubt he feels a little overawed by the legacy he has taken in but he certainly gave the impression of wearing this lightly.

Josh Ace gave the most assured performance I've seen from him and his singing was the strongest I've heard from him. He's much more of a no-nonsense player than others in the band, and doesn't appear to have inherited any of his father's more extrovert genes.

New drummer Rene Robrahn adds a very different feel to his immediate predecessors. He can be as direct as we'd become used to by Messrs Richard and Weathers but also seems to be able to play at the lighter end of the scale when needed and, as such, is perhaps the closest the band have had to the style of the peerless Terry Williams.

Old hands Ace and Ryan weren't allowing the younger members to have it all their own way and gave every impression of thoroughly enjoying themselves. The older numbers in particular were used as jumping off points for some jamming and Phil made full use of his solos to impress.

Also worth mentioning are the vocals. There are now four voices in the band and many of the songs were enhanced by making full use of these. Phil also sang a delightful Dream Away which was impeccably delivered.

The venue itself was based in a pretty high end hotel and was formerly the stables in bygone days. It only held about 36 people and allowed for a wonderfully intimate experience. As a consequence none of the instruments were miked up via the PA but the sound was more than fine for all that. Lathones does seem to be a few miles beyond the middle of nowhere, but the surroundings make it more likely that I'll be seeking out some other suitable gigs there.

Following the recent splits, it's been far from certain what the future held for Man. Musically, last night showed that there is life left in the old dog yet and I'll certainly be looking forward to seeing this lineup again in the future.

No pictures from last night, I'm afraid, but there are plenty from recent gigs on the Manband Archive.

Music Review : Rod Stewart - The Rod Stewart Sessions 1971-1998

2009-10-07T23:22:00.006+01:00

Despite some of their sins over the years, most of the major artists of the 1960's and 1970's have tended to have their reputations rekindled in their later years. Elton John is in a fine vein of rich form (although I usually think the quality of his albums are in direct relation to how hard Bernie Taupin works on his lyrics) and Eric Clapton seems to turn up at many gigs like everyones favourite uncle. An exception to this appears to be Rod Stewart who, despite remaining very popular, has never been on anyones list of credible rockstars probably since he left The Faces.

It's always been way to easy to suggest that Rod lost his way after the break-up of The Faces. Certainly, Atlantic Crossing was a weak album with watered down rockers on the one hand with some asinine ballads on the other. On the other hand, it did contain a superb reading of Danny Whitten's I Don't Want To Talk About It which (just) managed to keep on the right side of the saccharine line. However, once he got his touring band together and used them for his albums the quality level increased markedly. Unfortunately, this coincided with his squiring of Britt Ekland and his seeming efforts to look as ridiculous as possible.

Topping and tailing that period with Do You Think I'm Sexy which suffered from the twin sin of utilising a disco rhythm as well as being the polar opposite of his earlier guise as just one of the lads.

Like many artists of his vintage, much of the 1980's were a time of poor choices and poorer production values (although it's hard to beat Dylan in this regard for plumbing the depths in this decade) but since then he's reverted to sound choices of covers and his albums recovered an aura of consistent if not outstanding quality.

It does seem that the days of Stewart the songwriter are gone but he does remain a superb interpreter of the right material. Although much maligned by many, I thoroughly enjoyed the American Songbook series (although he was stretching it at four volumes) but I was already a convert to the quality of the songs from that era.

To counter that, his album of classic rock covers Still The Same really was scraping the bottom of a very mucky barrel with most of the songs barely qualifying as rock and almost none of them worthy of the use of the word "classic"

Whilst there has been much talk of a reunion of the surviving Faces (and this proceeding or not seems to be entirely down to Rod) he is continuing his endeavours with a new album Soulbook featuring his interpretations of a number of soul classics. Many of the songs selected for this look like they might be good choices for him but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

All of this is a long introduction to the four disc set that's just been issued covering sessions from 1971 through to 1998 of outtakes, demos and alternative versions as well as some songs that never saw the light of day. This appears to be a precursor to a wider release programme for his post Faces material - Atlantic Crossing and A Night On The Town have already appeared in special editions.

Like many of these kinds of collections, there is a range of material on this set. Some that you really enjoy hearing, and others that you wonder why they were allowed to see the light of day. In the latter category is included an early version of Maggie May which opens the set. That's early as in before he'd really settled on a melody or written any words for it! It's no more than Stewart extemporising over the backing track clearly seeking to come to terms with what the song might later become. It really doesn't add anything to your appreciation of the finished article, or have anything much to offer in its' own right.

However, there is much to enjoy on this album. By its very nature, the versions here are less produced than they might otherwise have been and that's usually to the benefit of the performance. As we progress through the years, there's a greater preponderance of songs that didn't appear on albums and in many cases these seem to be truer to his spirit. You can't help but feel that this is better material than was issued, and that he was on the end of some poor advice about where he should be heading. Perhaps too keen to put out something modern sounding rather than good listening!

The set ends with a delicious version of the late John Martyn's May You Never. You only need a cursory knowledge of the song to know that this is the type of song that Rod could readily make his own.

If you're a casual fan, this is certainly not going to be of interest to you. However, for those who have loved Rod and perhaps those who wondered where it all went wrong, this provides an interesting alternative history that suggests the last thirty years have been perhaps unfairly maligned.

Now, Rod - do the decent thing. Stop fannying around and get back with Ronnie, Mac and Kenny!

Film Review : Pandorum

2009-10-04T22:02:00.006+01:00

This will be brief and to the point. This film is pure and utter drivel with a story that would like to be admirably complex but is in fact ineffably stupid.

Dennis Quaid should be ashamed of himself for associating with such tosh.

I've already wasted a couple of hours of my life - it doesn't deserve to take any more

Music Review : King Crimson - Red

2009-10-03T21:00:00.005+01:00

It's 40 years since King Crimson helped to create the genre known as prog by releasing the seminal In The Court Of The Crimson King. To commemorate this, the KC catalogue is receiving yet another brush up and the equally seminal Red is the first to be released.

This is an album whose reputation has grown over the years, and it's clear when you listen to many of today's prog bands (and particularly at the heavier, more dynamic end of the spectrum) that they've taken a lot from this collection.

The third album from the second major phase of Crimson's career (and, yes, that means I'm counting the first four albums as phase 1 to which I know some would suggest should be split into two or three!) the momentum was somewhat dissipated when guitarist (and undoubtedly leader) Robert Fripp decided to disband meaning that the music was never able to develop further in live performance.

The band has slimmed down to a three-piece with Fripp being joined by the excellent Bill Bruford on drums and percussion with John Wetton on bass and vocals. Wetton's vocals talents came to the fore for the first time in Crimson and he adds a weight of authority to the songs performed. They are augmented by a bunch of others on the album who help to spice up the sound without getting in the way of the dominant trio

Weight, of course, is something that certainly isn't lacking in the music on this album. The songs that made up the original side 1 of the album form a trilogy (of course, they would. It's prog after all!) with crashing riffs, great dynamics and some melodious singing from Wetton. This music still sounds very modern not least because there's so many bands now trying to recreate the power and authority of this music - although many of these attempts are worthy, they all fail to reach the high water mark set by this album.

Side 2 contains two longer tracks one edited down from a longer in-concert improvisation, and the second being the utterly peerless Starless which brings dignity, poise and grace to one of Crimson's most distinguished creations.

In addition to the original album, we are also treated to bonus tracks from the sessions, and also the full version of the aforementioned improvisation. And on top of all that, the album is also available on DVD with a 5.1 surround mix from Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson and some old video of the band featuring some songs from the previous two albums.

The series continues with the classic debut itself (and which comes in a variety of packages including a 5 disc set including rehearsals and new mixes) and Lizard, their third album. Lizard was actually the first Crimson album I heard - I was fourteen at the time - and it was as astonishing then as it is now.

Throughout their history and the many line-ups, Fripp has maintained Crimson at the cutting edge of the times. With prog now being in danger of being hip once again, it's a great time to introduce yourself to one of the genuinely innovative and challenging bands to bear that trademark.

Music Review : Big Star - Keep An Eye On The Sky

2009-09-30T20:22:00.006+01:00

Undoubtedly an influential band, but if they had been able to turn that kudos into cash in the form of record sales when they were in their heyday, how would history be rewritten? Perhaps no need for Tom Petty. Certainly, no room for Teenage Fanclub either. And Cheap Trick might never have got out of Rockford, never mind travelled to the Budokan in Japan.

More crucially, would Chris Bell have risen above his troubles, and been able to avoid his fateful path to an early grave? Would Alex Chilton have been able to remain fully focused and avoided becoming the erratic maverick that he has become?

So many questions, and no answers that can be given with any certainty as we aren't granted the gift of knowing our alternative futures when we turn left instead of veering to the right. What is certain is that this much loved band couldn't sell shit when they were around, although their reputation was still quite high at that time.

I can't even claim myself to be one of the few who were into the band when they were nothing! My first encounter with Big Star was buying a 2-for-1 set which featured their first two albums - that must have been around 1978.

This boxset covers almost everything you might need from Big Star. All of the songs from their three albums from the 1970's are included, alongside other unreleased or hard to find songs from predecessor bands and solo activities. Most notable in the latter category are the tracks from Chris Bell's posthumous album. To cap this all of, the fourth disc features the three piece band in concert which, despite being a guitar down, still captures the verve of the songs perfectly as well as featuring a bunch of interesting covers.

I do say almost everything - whilst all of the songs are present in the case of #1 Record and Radio City some of the versions are alternative mixes or versions to that which appeared on the original album. Needless to say, the original albums have also been reissued so if you're feeling completist then these are needed purchases as well.

The music sounds terrific with the electric material having a bite and attack missing from previous versions, with the acoustic songs having a brightness and depth which makes them sound extremely contemporary.

The third album still has the ability to generate opposing views. In one sense, it's very different from the band that recorded the first two albums but, on the other, it remains a compulsive listen. Certainly, over the years Alex Chilton has struggled to even hint at the quality contained here. Poor Chris Bell didn't have the chance of a tilt at failure.

What's not included are the recent reunion album, In Space, or the previously released live material. This may offend the completist, but I think the golden era of the band is best served by keeping a little distance from material that, however enjoyable, doesn't compare in quality to their 1970's work.

Listening to the albums now, it does seem apparent that there was always an edge to the band which would always just knock the edge off mainstream appeal. That's probably where the longevity in these albums is sourced, and which made it less likely that there was much hope in them scaling the heights when the albums were first issued.

Film Review : The Soloist

2009-09-29T22:54:00.007+01:00

There are some things outside of the tale itself that you can take from this film.

Firstly, that three films into his career on the big screen suggests that Joe Wright is a seriously major talent that we can look forward to delivering terrific movies over many years to come.

Secondly, that sobriety suits Robert Downey Jr who continues a fine run of great performances in this movie as journalist Steve Lopez.

And finally, that Jamie Foxx is an astonishing actor who has the gift of inhabiting the characters that he plays. In a role where cliche and stereotype might hover uneasily in the background, he creates a powerful and affecting portrayal of a man of great talents who is also blighted by mental illness.

The story itself revolves around the relationship between journalist Lopez and his chance meeting with Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx. Lopez' attention is grabbed by Ayers playing some repetitive but haunting music on a two string violin, and subsequently includes him in his regular column in the LA Times.

As Lopez finds out more about Ayers past, the story moves into the ambiguity about the growing relationship - with growing interest in his abilities via the reports, where is the line that crosses over into exploitation? And are the efforts to help him going to help Nathaniel, or does he even welcome them?

The positive response to the stories in Lopez column generate additional interest in Ayers, and Lopez seeks to assist him in pursuing his undoubted talent for music - he dropped out of Julliard when his mental illness overtook during his second year of study, retreating from his family and living a life on the streets with his possessions (and his life) contained in a shopping basket.

The developing relationship between the two characters is the fulcrum around which the story relates. It has the potential to be too maudlin or sentimental but it avoids this by avoiding any suggestion that there are easy answers to dealing with Ayers condition, and by making clear the many frustrations faced by Lopez as he attempts to do what he sees as the best thing for his welfare.

This film has not done well in America but it's easy to see why. There are no nice and comfortable happy endings (although the film does resolve itself but in a less overt manner) and it shines an uncomfortable light on the plight of the homeless and disadvantaged in American society, although this is a point that's not overly laboured (and more powerful for that).

This picture is based on a real life and Ayers sister has established the Nathaniel Anthony Ayers Foundation For The Gifted Mentally Ill. As you will see from the site, the story is a relatively recent one but no less powerful for that. I think the book on which the film is based beckons now.

Film Review : Surrogates

2009-09-28T22:55:00.007+01:00

Occasionally you see a film where a couple of days contemplation allows you to consider the hidden depths in the ideas expressed, and to perhaps feel that a second viewing might be necessary to understand the complexities of the gripping story line. Surrogates isn't one of those films.

Which is not to say that it's not a perfectly servicable popcorn movie - but it's one that you can safely disengage the more distant parts of your brain when watching.

Bruce Willis plays.........well, he plays Bruce Willis as a police detective in a world where real life has been replaced by a virtual reality played through robots...or surrogates....which allow people to live their lives and do just what they want to do in a society that is almost crime-free.

Needless to say (and you can see this coming, can't you) things are not quite so straight-forward and real humans find themselves being killed via their surrogates, which had not been thought possible. Of course, Bruce is required to solve the mystery in typical Bruce fashion.

As seems to be a contractual obligation, Bruce's marriage is a little shaky and this (along with the protaginists reasons for his actions) form the human element of the story. However, what the film doesn't really attempt to do (and which might have run the risk of making it a bit too cerebral) was to consider the impact on the individual of living your life as what amounts to no more and no less than a fantasy. The human element revolves around two family deaths but which in themselves are no different from the tragedies we need to deal with in our own reality.

Having said that, the film was a perfectly enjoyable hour and a half of my life that I can't feel too bitter at having lost but it simply doesn't wrestle with enough challenging (or even unchallenging) ideas to raise it above that.

Film Review : Creation

2009-09-28T22:34:00.008+01:00

There has been a considerable profile to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, and the 150th of his landmark book "On The Origin Of Species". Being the modern world that we live in, these events could not possibly be allowed to pass without a film being made. And so it has come to pass.....

Creation is a film less about the theories expounded in Darwin's book or the longer progression of his studies to reach the conclusion that he ultimately reached. It concentrates more on his family life and, in particular, the death of his daughter at ten years of age. This all happened when his studies were at an advanced stage, and seemingly played a large part in his reluctance to publish the book at all.

Whilst it is a very human tale - Darwin drowning his grief by retreating into science, whilst his wife does so by retreating into religion. It doesn't any kind of genius to see the familial tensions to be built up against the backdrop of Darwin's then controversial conclusions.

The Darwins are played by real life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connolly and they play their parts well, with Bettany in particular excelling at communicating the torment that he feels. The real crux lies in the fact that they were cousins, and Darwin believes that this is a contributory factor to their daughters early death.

There's an engrossing tale to be told here but I'm afraid that this movie, whilst enjoyable enough, really doesn't engage sufficiently to really grab. There's insufficient backstory of Darwin's progression to this point, so at times the movie degrades into a science v religion tale which serves an injustice to the characters portrayed.

Music Review : Small Faces, Big Footprints

2009-09-24T20:58:00.013+01:00

Of all the classic British bands from the 1960's perhaps the band who have been dealt the most unfair deck has been the Small Faces. Rather unjustly viewed as a mere forerunner for Humble Pie and The Faces by many, or just a vehicle of convenience for two of the finest singers to have been produced in these isles in Rod Stewart and Steve Marriott, their own more than ample achievements seem to lie unrecognised.

Although there has been ample footage of the band from their prime, it is only now that we are able to see a quality DVD which brings all of these together. (Of course, YouTube has made much of this familiar along with DVD-R's shared amongst fans). My point about their status as part of the bigger picture is rather confirmed by the fact that this appears as part of a series under the heading of "British Invasion" (alongside acts like Dusty Springfield, Herman's Hermits and Gerry And The Pacemakers - you see what I mean?). Nevertheless, beggars can't be choosers and this is a superb and long anticipated addition to my collection.

Made up of TV appearances (both live and mimed) including their now legendary appearance on Colour Me Pop playing the thematically linked songs from Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, it's a thrilling reminder of just how innovative and experimental the band were and just how many excellent songs they have committed to eternal memory.

The quality of the songs simply reminds you that the records (and primarily those recorded for Immediate Records) deserve to be recognised as amongst the best of the era. And sonically, they have aged extremely well - certainly better than much of the early Stones as well as The Kinks (who always did suffer from sub-standard production in their 60's pomp).

Regarded by some as perhaps a little insubstantial owing to songs like Itchycoo Park and Lazy Sunday, their case is much strengthened by songs like Tin Soldier, Song Of A Baker and Afterglow. All great slices of psychedelia at its' peak.

The great tragedy of the band is that in an era where older bands can tread the boards with dignity and respect that we won't get to see them again. Steve Marriott was killed in a house fire in 1991, whilst Ronnie Lane died of pneumonia in 1997 following many years fighting multiple sclerocis. They would both just have been in their early sixties had they lived.

Nevertheless, their bandmates Ian McLagan and Kenny Jones continue to wave the flag and talk both movingly and passionately about their departed colleagues. (I did get to see McLagan perform last year with his Bump Band at King Tut's in Glasgow. A superb evening including more than a few Ronnie Lane songs, and ending with my meeting the man to scribble his name on his most recent album. Ian's had his share of tragedy in the last few years having lost his wife Kim to a needless road accident).

The Small Faces matter. Get this DVD, and then get the albums. You won't regret it.

Read Even More About It...

2009-09-17T20:52:00.003+01:00

I mentioned in my previous review of Sci-Fi/Fantasy magazines that DeathRay had encourgaed my interest in checking out its' sister publication Filmstar. (How do you tell if another publication is a sister or brother of its' companion? Answers on a postcard, please).

I had been well impressed with the approach and style of DeathRay and it looked as if many of the same, positive features were shared by Filmstar. Having bought and read most of the latest edition, I am pleased to confirm that it's every bit as good. I think the review and articles are fuller and more substantial than Empire (and that puts it miles beyond Total Film) and whilst it needs to maintain that quality has the potential to stand proudly alongside Empire with every possibility of overtaking it.

I'm not yet ready to drop Empire so this will be yet another magazine to add to the monthly haul, but it is a welcome addition.

Film Review : Dorian Gray

2009-09-17T20:15:00.008+01:00

Oscar Wildes' tale of the perpetually young, handsome and charismatic Dorian Gray is well know to many people, and has been subject to many interpretations over the years. In an era of remakes and reimaginings it's no real surprise that another attempt to tell this tale is now showing in our local movie theatres.

Gray is played by the disgustingly handsome Ben Barnes who came to prominence as Prince Caspian in the second of the Narnia films. He starts the film as the young, impressionable man who inherits his family's wealth and who is introduced into society by the devilish Lord Henry Wotton played excellently by Colin Firth who delights in talking a good game but who clearly prefers setting up his young protege to walk the talk. Ably supported by Ben Chaplin as Basil Hallward who paints the legendary picture which will carry the fate resulting from Gray's life of debauchery.

The film is beautifully shot, and Barnes plays the lead character well from the impressionable young man through to the older (but identical) 45 year old who realises just how empty his life is despite the apparent benefits of eternal youth. Barnes is excellent in the later part of the film and he does generate the sheer emptiness of the life that he has lived and an appreciation of the damage he has done.

The whole story pivots around the relationship between the returning Gray and Wotton's daughter (played by the excellent Rebecca Hall). The one weakness in the film, and I believe this is in part to ensure that it retained an appropriate rating, is that Gray's debauchery is largely depicted as someone having a damned, good time. Indeed, you might imagine that these are the type of things that someone like Jack Nicholson is still getting up to although he looks every inch of his seventy-plus years.

Admittedly, murdering your fiance because she wasn't to keen on you playing away from home might be considered extreme, but it's not really an indication of the debauchery you'd expect in return for committing your soul to the devil. The murder of Gray's friend might venture nearer to this territory but there's any number of films that have characters murdered by friend in the interest of self-preservation that don't involve any paintings in the attic.

Nevertheless, despite this the film remains an enjoyable one that is carried by the excellent look of the film and series of performances which maintained this viewers interest for its' duration.

And my attic is way too full with CD's and DVD's to have room for a painting. So that explains why I look the way I do!

Music Review : The Beatles Remasters - Everything You Might Ever Need.....

2009-09-14T13:19:00.025+01:00

Its now been a week since I've posted something on here. Whilst I appreciate that it's not necessary to get a note from a responsible adult to explain this absence, it is certainly appropriate in the context of this post to attempt to share with you the event that's been consuming much of my spare time (both in anticipation and participation)

Last week, almost unnoticed to the mass media, The Beatles back catalogue was reissued (along with a version of RockBand about which I confess to being absolutely unable to pass comment on) on CD. The albums were made available on CD in 1987 and, apart from some specific projects since then (Yellow Submarine Songtrack, 1, Let It Be...Naked, and Love) their canon has been allowed to wither on the vine somewhat as technology has progressed and allowed older recordings to shine in the new digital era.

However, it would be unfair to describe these new editions as something that allows the recordings to simply shine. What they do is completely reinforce the towering achievement of the band during their relatively brief recorded lifetime from 1962 through to 1970. They are that good, and anyone who is wondering whether purchasing something that you may already have is worthwhile, then think no more - it absolutely is, and may be the best purchase you make this year. Or any year, for that matter.

Those of you who are familiar with the original stereo mixes on vinyl will be well aware of the extreme panning that was present with it sounding like the singers and musicians were separated by the musical equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean. We were thankfully spared these on the 1987 CD's where the early albums were issued in mono. The new stereo versions do manage to fill out that chasm although the vocals are still noticeably off to one side (whether that's to the left or right probably depends on how your speakers are connected) but they do provide a vibrant and involving soundstage which was utterly absent on the vinyl.

The later stereo albums are simply superb with the White Album and Abbey Road revealing many hidden features that wasn't apparent on previous releases. None of this is to the detriment of the music, or your memories of it. Quite the opposite, and the White Album will almost certainly be the beneficiary of some revisionist thinking about its place in the Beatles canon.

The mono versions of the album - yes, I am one of those who indulged in both the stereo and mono box sets - are much punchier and provide a different listening experience. Not better or worse, just different. As such, I can just about justify the purchase of both boxes.

An additional bonus for the mono box is the delightful covers which are facsimiles of the original album covers. And not just that, there is also an appropriate dust sleeve (including the black sleeves for the White Album), inserts (yup, you've got the Sgt Pepper cut-out sheet and the White Albums poster and photograph) but perhaps the icing on the cake is the cover of Magical Mystery Tour with the booklet present and correct on the centrefold.

There's been considerable debate about the way in which the albums have been presented, not least about the availability of the mono versions only being by purchase of a boxset - the stereo versions are available individually. That will make things frustrating for those who can't afford such an expense and who would have preferred to be able to build up their Beatles collection more slowly. That was never an issue for me, though, and I was always committed to buying both boxes from the moment that the releases were confirmed.

Having spent most of my life with the work of The Beatles stamped on my DNA it would be fair to suggest that there are times when the sheer quality and consistency of their work has been taken for granted. These new editions mean, if nothing else, that they take their rightful place at the top of the tree. I, for one, will be spending many a happy hour reacquainting myself with the delights on these albums. And perhaps, despite my prodigious purchasing habits over the years, there really isn't any need for anything else to let you know all about what matters in music.

Film Review : District 9

2009-09-07T12:30:00.011+01:00

This film comes with the legend "Peter Jackson Presents...." and as a lover of what he did with the Lord Of The Rings that was more than enough to guarantee my presence to see this at the earliest opportunity.

The premise of the film is that an alien ship comes to Earth and comes to a halt hovering over Johannesburg in South Africa. The occupants do come down but are herded into what ends up as a ghetto. After a couple of years, a decision is made to move the aliens to another site to take them away from the urban sprawl and the story tells the tale of the man appointed to lead the team after he has become infected by exposure to an alien liquid discovered during the team's searches.

One of the great strengths of the movie is that the theme of apartheid is ever-present but without being explicitly made. The parallels between the townships and the alien ghetto, together with the prejudice shown towards South Africa's majority population and the aliens (referred to as "prawns") are obvious and any overplaying of this would have been to the movie's detriment.

The film is presented with news and commentary throughout to place what happens in its wider perspective and works very effectively. The opening scene uses this to cover the appearance of the alien mothership and the history behind the creation of District 9 which takes you straight into the narrative having effectively filled out the required back story.

Sharlito Copley is excellent in the lead role of Wikus van de Merwe who is selected to manage the migration. He is a family man, but his position is complicated by his family connections as his father in law is a senior employee of the company responsible for the move. This inevitably plays out as the film progresses.

He tries to deal with the "prawns" in a manner which must have been reminiscent of earlier times in South Africa - a patronising approach but with the certainty that there is no option but to move, with the inevitable consequences that a refusal will bring.

The aliens are well-represented and integrate well into the surroundings - there's none of the usual sniggering that can take place when the humans and aliens share screen time. And as the film progresses, when Wikus has to fight alongside the aliens to protect himself, the emotional connection gets stronger as well.

This is a gripping tale and one that leaves room for a follow up should it be successful. I think that latter point is already taken as having been proven. The interesting thing is that there are a number of avenues that a sequel could take.

What is also clear is that director Neill Blomkamp (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is a man of considerable talent and on the basis of this film will be worth watching for in the future.

Film Review : (500) Days Of Summer

2009-09-04T23:42:00.010+01:00

Interviewing Quentin Tarantino a few weeks ago Jonathan Ross asked him if he was a fan of romantic comedies - or rom-com's to use the preferred bastardisation of the language. To his surprise, Tarantino said that there were many films like this that he did like. However, he pinpointed quite accrurately the downside of all of these movies which is the inevitable final fifteen minutes.

The good news is that (500) Days of Summer is just such a beast but entirely lacking that inevitable final fifteen minutes. It's promoted as not being a love story, but a story about love and that just about hits the nail on the head. It could also be described as a rom-com for people who don't like rom-com's!

It's an utterly delightful movie with two characters (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel) that you can really empathise with and a witty and sharp script with a number of twists and turns as it goes back and forth to view the characters at different points during the titular 500 days.

Gordon-Levitt has more than a touch of the late Heath Ledger about him, and there is a very apparent chemistry between him and Zooey Deschanel which further cements your belief in these characters.

The films goes through the highs and lows of a relationship and takes the audience on the ride as well. The audience at Cineworld tonight were certainly going all the way with the characters and as well as chuckles at all the right points, they clearly shared the disappointments along the way.

It would be difficult to provide much more information about the film without revealing more of the plot, and I think this is a film best seen without too much other than an understanding of the basic premise. But what I would stress is that this is a film that you should make the opportunity to see - it's warm, witty, sad, mournful and utterly life-affirming. And all with an indie-centric soundtrack (where The Smiths and Belle And Sebastian loom large).

Whatever you do, though, don't let any prejudice against romantic comedy stand in your way of catching this.

And I've got through this without making any salacious remarks about Zooey Deschanel!

Concert Review : Brian's Back!

2009-09-02T22:37:00.009+01:00

It was little sort of astonishing to long-time followers of Brian Wilson when he started to tour again in the late 1990's. His retreat from the road in the 1960's as leader of The Beach Boys was a major part of his legend. As was the virtually abusive treatment by those close to him who frankly should have put their concerns for their wallets on the back burner rather than all but force a reluctant Brian back to the helm of the Beach Boys in the mid-1970's.

His return didn't appear to be lacking ambition - it was not long before he was touring concerts halls with an orchestra and performing Pet Sounds in all its' glory. Even then, the idea of him venturing outside of the USA seemed a little remote.

Times have indeed changed, and last night I saw Brian perform for what must be about the fifteenth time I have seen him lead his truly excellent band through their paces. That's encompassed seeing the aforementioned performance of Pet Sounds (albeit without the orchestra), watching him debut SMiLE after so many years and, most astonishingly, present a new album in the form of a concept album on Southern California which not only recalls some of his previous acheivements but manages to stand more than proudly beside them in the Wilson canon. Besides them a number of shows that merely claim to present his greatest hits seem almost routine.

His troubles with mental illness over the years are as well documented as his music. Indeed, it's unusual to see too many articles on the man that don't mention both. Over the years, Brian has given the impression of being an awkward performer leading some to speculate wildly that he's being badly advised in some way in performing as he has been doing. However, on the contrary, what I've seen over the last decade seems to be almost Brian taking steps in his own reconstruction by facing his musical past head-on and then moving beyond that to create new music of equal value to his consderable legacy. The change in the man has been palpable, but even now he does still come across as the adult child of yore, still full of enthusiasm about music and the impact it has on him. All the while as we marvel at the impact that his music has on us.

All of which acts as a long introduction to the fact that Brian presented himself to a loving audience at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow last night. After the artistic peak of the Lucky Old Sun tour (where I caught three shows one of which - in Edinburgh - was one of the best shows I've seen Brian give; by definition, that means it was the best concert I've ever attended) the idea of a greatest hits tour as this was advertised almost seemed like a let down but given that Brian is largely playing festivals whilst fitting some more regular concerts in between, we should consider ourselves lucky that he chose to bless Glasgow with his presence.

Starting off with California Girls, after an introductory blast of Lucky Old Sun, two things quickly became apparent. The band sounded as awe-inspiring as ever and when the first blast of harmonies from the chorus hit the soul soured with sheer joy. But Brian was very low in the mix and his vocals were difficult to make out.

This continued throughout the first half despite some shouts from the audience to turn Brian up. However, what was also noticable was how tired Brian was and, presumably as a consequence, he seemed more prone to switching off when he wasn't singing. It seemed like he was struggling to get himself "up" for some of the songs.

I had come to the conclusion that one of the issues with the volume of the vocals was that the mike was slightly too high for Brian's singing position. I did realise later that the mike was perfectly positioned - when Brian did, as he usually does, sit up his mouth was at the right position. However, he was slouching back in his seat for much of the time and this was at least a contributory factor. I have seen it recorded that an enquiry was made with the sound engineer at the interval and they were informed that he'd been asked to keep Brian down in the mix.

All in all, there were points in the evening where Brian simply looked uncomfortable. His long term friend and colleaue Jeff Foskett was more than usually attentive to Brian during the show. (During the past decade, a sign of Brian's increasing confidence has been his decreasing need to rely on Jeff's musical and physical presence, with the exception of those falsetto vocals that Brian can no longer reach).

All in all, this was the most inattentive I've seen Brian. I'm not going to speculate on the cause of this, but he did look very tired and prone to more errors than we've been used to - indeed, he had to stop Please Let Me Wonder and restart the band on the second verse. He also introduced a song out of its' planned sequence at the start of the second half.

Now did this ruin my enjoyment of the concert. To be honest, not too much. Given Brian's life and the sheer wonder of seeing him perform at 67 years of age I'm prepared to forgive him what was an off night for him.

In any event, his band quite noticably upped their game for the evening as did the audience who were noisy and exuberant. By the second half, Brian was responding positively and his own performance level was raised by a good few notches. The performance of Midnight's Another Day (from the Lucky Old Sun album) was a spine chilling moment with Brian's vocals pitched to perfection and aiming the song straight for the heart.

If I had any complaints about the song selection then it would be that there were too many of the early songs - Custom Machine, 409, Shut Down - when I'd have preferred some of the later Wilson classics. As ever with Wilson's immense back catalogue, that is simply churlish on my part.

Tonight, Brian and the band are performing in Liverpool. I rather suspect the current schedule might be a bit much for Brian and a schedule with at least a day between gigs might be more appropriate. He is, after all, 67 years of age and still has to fight a natural shyness and awkwardness that he's always exhibited on stage.

There's nothing left to prove for Brian Wilson. I know with a sense of certainty that when my son is regaling his grandchildren of the concerts he's seen that the fact that he's seen Brian Wilson many times (and at my expense!!) will mean something significant.

Film Review : Mesrine - Public Enemy No 1

2009-08-31T15:57:00.007+01:00

I've previously extolled the many virtues of the film which formed the first part of this series. Everything that was present and correct in the first film is similarly so on the follow-up. Nevertheless, it is still a very different movie.

Picking up from where Killer Instinct left off (and making no allowances for those who haven't seen it) it soons become clear that the break in the story made necessary by having to tell it over two movies marks the apogee of Mesrine's career. This movie follow's Mesrine through his last decade to his inevitable demise (and no spoiler there as his ultimate fate was laid out clearly in the opening scene of the first movie - and the aftermath of which is visited here in the opening scene again).

After spending some years in prison Mesrine springs another headline grabbing escape with a new partner. The difference is that now he is a little too taken with his own self-image and the headlines he generates. This comes across humourously in his frequent corrections to the way his name is pronounced, to his tantrums when other crimes or atrocities keep him from centre stage.

His self-delusion leads him to believe he is fighting for the overthrow of the system, and this leads him to other routes and opportunities to create his mayhem.

Of course, whilst this is going on the police are running short of patience and the seeming inability of France to hold him in any of their jails, leads them to forget the finer points of policing in their efforts to stop him.

I'd like to be able to watch the two films back to back. It's a story that would be worth seeing in total but, equally, the two halves to tell a different tale of this fascinating French criminal.

Film Review : The Hurt Locker

2009-08-29T21:35:00.007+01:00

In a world where films are accompanied by loads of publicity from getting the greenlight all the way through to its' initial showing, the first I had heard of this particular was when I saw the exemplary review in Empire magazine. Of course, this meant that I turned up at the cinema this morning with a sense of expectation that I might not otherwise have had.

It would be fair to say that the expectation was well and truly met. This is an excellent movie that works just as much on the basis of what it's not, as much as for what it is.

Focusing on an elite Army Bomb squad in Iraq the film focuses on the job that they have to do, the risks that they face each day out on the streets and, ultimately, the effect this has on the soldiers themselves.

It would be wrong to reveal too much of what happens - in some ways, the story is no more and no less than the team getting through about a month of the war in Iraq when that will mean the end of their post.

It's a powerful drama that has you overcome with tension as you get a real sense of the danger that exists in every street, and where lives are at risk all the way. Don't be fooled by the star names appearing in the film - this story isn't about them and they make brief appearances. The focus is very much on the Bomb Techs and the absence of any obvious "star" means that you have no sense of who may or may not get through the month.

The film's effectiveness is magnified because it focuses exclusively on the team, and makes no attempt to questions the rights and wrong of the war that they find themselves a part of. Although set within a current conflagration, the circumstances that the team find themselves in and their varied reactions to it would apply equally in any modern war.

If you're looking for a night's light entertainment then this movie isn't for you. However, if you prefer a meaty drama which tells you something uncomfortable of the world we live in then this film could be for you. I'd certainly recommend it highly.

Film Review : Funny People

2009-08-28T21:58:00.007+01:00

I've generally thoroughly enjoyed the films which have been associated with the multi-talented Judd Apatow, although Year One and Step Brothers were notable exceptions to this. The films where has previously taken on the roles of writer, producer and director (The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up) have managed to be both intelligent and amusing which is a combination often missing in the same film.

On that basis, expectations are high for Funny People where Apatow takes on the full weight of responsibility for the movie. Starring Adam Sandler, the inevitable Seth Rogan alongside Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman, Eric Bana and Leslie Mann this is actually a serious film set in the world of stand-up comedy. As such, there are jokes but they are mostly there to expand on characterisation and form more of a backdrop to the tale to be told rather than being the point of the exercise.

Sandler plays comedian George Simmons who has a succesful career as a stand-up comic and actor who discovers that he is suffering from a rare form of leukemia. Whilst undertaking experimental therapy he begins to appreciate the emptiness in his lifestyle and the opportunities missed in life.

Alongside this Messrs Rogan, Hill and Schwatrzman are all on the bottom rung of the ladder desperate to find means to reach the second and subsequent rungs. Simmons takes on Ira Wright (Seth Rogan) firstly as a joke writer and then as his assistant.

The root of the film is the interplay between the experienced and cynical Simmons, and the naive but well-meaning Wright, particularly as the woman spurned enters the fray on the end of a struggling marriage to a man she's convinced is cheating on her (played by Eric Bana as a zen-loving but typically macho Australian)

During all this, Simmons discovers that the unorthodox treatment appears to have been succesful and he has the opportunity to address the inadequacies and the wrong decisions he's made in his life.

Sandler has already demonstrated his ability to play a serious role with some style and he is generally excellent here, and does demonstrate clearly the dichotomy between the melancholy of his circumstance whilst needing to be "on" whenever he meets his public.

So does it compare favourably with the other films mentioned? I'm afraid not. It's a bit overlong and you do struggle to empathise with any of the characters. As noted, the humour is mostly in character and although there are laughs to be had, it mostly demonstrates those involved hiding their personal inadequacies behind a joke.

The ending is a little downbeat as well, and there is only limited resolution for the main characters. As such, it tends to work more as a commentary on the selfishness of the lifestyle of those involved rather than a tale of an individual being given a second chance at life.

Much more of a serious film than his other movies, it's probably best to approach it with this knowledge - for a Friday night, post-office view I was maybe looking for something lighter in tone.

Music Review : Procol Harum - Reclaiming Their Place In History

2009-08-26T21:19:00.008+01:00

Procol Harum have been in the news recently as a result of Matthew Fishers' victory in his court case claiming rights as one of the composers of A White Shade Of Pale. This is all very bizarre as the part he claims authorship to (the organ part) is a blatant rip-off of Bach's Air On A G-String. A somewhat bizarre and dangerous judgement in my opinion.

However, something much more important has been happening in the world of Procol Harum and that is the reissue of their complete back-catalogue by Salvo Records. Salvo are a relatively recent label and have already been responsible for excellent reissue campaigns for Slade and The Move. The latter, in particular, were one of the best of the British bands of the 1970's and Salvo are to be complimented for treating their catalogue with the respect and love it undoubtedly deserves. Next up will be Nazareth.

The first seven of Procol Harum's albums are now available and it is more than fair to say that they've been treated to the same exemplary standards. The huge success of A White Shade Of Pale in 1967 did them no favours as the end result appears that they've become one of the crucial bands that history has forgotten, they are so linked with that debut single.

They did seem to me at the time a little po-faced and serious but listening to the albums now suggest I was mistaking that for style and grandeur. What the albums do contain are a series of consistently excellent songs by pianist/vocalist Gary Brooker and his lyricis Keith Reid. They are all very well played by a superior bunch of musicians covering a wide range of styles and subject matters.

Outside of that song, many people may know Procol Harum as the band that Robin Trower used to play with. Over the first five albums, you can feel Trower's influence growing peaking on the excellent Broken Barricades. With hindsight, it's really no surprise that he chose that time to leave for a solo career. Equally, though, I doubt if the band with Trower could have made the live album with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra or the studio album Grand Hotel which is possibly their masterpiece.

We've still to get the remainder of their Chrysalis years in the 1970's and there's a couple of more recent albums (including a reunion set with Trower) to come as well. In the meantime, you can either bask in the glory of their first seven albums or enjoy the reasonably priced box set that is due out shortly.

And Matthew Fisher has a sole composition credit on the debut album called Repent Walpurgis. It's all classical rip-offs too!

Read All About It...

2009-08-23T20:24:00.008+01:00

I consider myself a reasonable voracious reader of both books and magazines. I get a regular group of magazines on a monthly basis which are supplemented by a number of music fanzines. I do like to read these cover to cover (although tending to skim the reviews sections with the exception of Empire where the reviews are a fundamental part of the reason I buy the magazine.

One problem this presents me with is that with other activities I get involved in that finding time to extend my reading beyond my monthly mags to "proper" books can be a bit of a challenge. Mind you, nothing that a modest lottery win and early retirement couldn't resolve!

That being the case, why am I investigating some other magazines with the thought of adding them to the list. (Like most things of this natures, items are easily added but less easily removed!)

An awful lot of the films that I like fall into the SciFi/Fantasy/Comic Book category and there are a number of magazines that cover these areas in more detail, including the source material in books and also some of the areas that follow on - for examples, games and toys (neither of which I'm particularly interested in though). So I thought I'd check out some of the titles to see if they would make worthy additions to my regular purchases.

First up was SFX. It was the content of this magazine that first attracted me and there were a couple of articles of particular interest that parted me from my cash. Overall, the magazine was of a good quality treating the subject matter in an adult manner (which meant that things like games and toys, whilst not entirely ignored, were downplayed).

They do have their own little game on a monthly basis which involves ensuring that the cover stars partially obscure the title making you think it might just say something else. You'll see what I mean by the cover shown.

Overall, I liked this magazine a lot and felt this covered its' subject matter in a matter akin to Empire which I like very much. A good bet then to be that extra magazine but I though it would be worth checking out something else to provide, at the very least, an element of corroboration to that view.

Next up then was SciFi Now which I think plays the role of Total Film to SFX's Empire. The articles are less substantial and there's more focus on the reviews although these are equally less impressive taken as a whole. However, what this magazine does have in its' favour is an excellent archive section where the writing and analysis raise the bar considerably compared to the other parts of the magazine. That on its' own makes it a serious contender. In addition there two particular points that attracted me to the magazine - see if you can spot them from the cover shot shown here!!

Being a glutton for punishment I did notice another magazine going under the title of DeathRay. Duly purchased for a read, I realised that this was a substantial read (dwarfing the other two in terms of content) but that it was a bi-monthly publication. The quality of writing was on a par and perhaps better than SFX, with a good focus on the past to perhaps rival SciFi Now and the added bonus of a couple of short stories by writers of some considerable reputation. It took a fair old while to read it from cover to cover and the two stories were most enjoyable encouraging me to dip into some other material by these authors. Yes - that would be books to add to the existing pile still waiting to be read (to which I added four books today!).

DeathRay is also put to market by the same publishers as the recently launched Filmstar. The look and feel of the magazines are similar so I may investigate this too - although if I do take this it would have to be at the expense of Empire which would make it an extremely tough call.

Rather than make a tough decision, I think I'm likely to add SFX to my monthly purchases at least for a month or two. I will definitely be adding DeathRay to my regular purchases - and hope that it doesn't turn monthly any time soon!

Concert Review : U2 - Under A Dark Grey Sky

2009-08-19T14:32:00.012+01:00

It was the turn of U2 to entertain the masses at Hampden Park last night, albeit in competition with the Champions League encounter between Celtic and Arsenal on the other side of the city.

Two weeks ago I hadn't intended to go to this gig (do you still describe events of this magnitude as a mere gig?). I do really like U2 but despite owning all of their albums and concert films I never had any burning desire to see them. Not sure that I can fully articulate why that was the case but it remained the case nevertheless. However, for reasons best known to my inner being, I had checked out the website and noticed that £30 tickets were still available and, more particularly, seats available in one of the upper sections of the South Stand. I've wasted this amount on sillier things in my life so took the plunge.

I ended up going to the show last night with an increasing sense of anticipation. I think this was largely down to my decision to go being almost last minute - so often these days, you buy tickets for these show months in advance and whatever excitement may have accompanied the emptying of your wallet had dissipated with the passing months before the event.

Given my seat I had also downgraded my expectations about how much I was going to see but was more than comforted by the publicity that had accompanied the announcement of the tour as it was clear that the screens would allow a good view of what was going on regardless of how gnomic the band appeared on stage.

Having arrived at Hampden and made my way up the escalators to the section that my seat was in the first surprise that I had was how comfy the seat was and also the presence of quite generous legroom. However, our travel arrangements had proved a little too efficient as we still managed to catch the last number played by the risible Glasvegas. Oh well, I can't get everything right.

The seat gave a grand view of the substantial stage - the main area in the centre with the surrounding walkway linked to the front area by movable runways. The screens were positioned all round the top of the claw structure and allowed a closer feel for what was happening during the show. It also allowed a super view of the crowd packed onto the pitch as well. All in all, one of the best set of cheap seats that I've ever had the pleasure of sitting in.

At just after 2020hrs, U2 took to the stage having been introduced by David Bowie's Space Oddity. Rather audaciously, they opened with four numbers in a row from the latest album, the very fine indeed No Line On The Horizon. After this, Edge started to pick out the opening of Beautiful Day followed by Bono with the first verse. As the chorus approached you really could feel the atmosphere in the stadium and that when the chorus kicked in that the place would explode. It did.

This was followed by a rousing version of Elevation which paved the way for one of the more remarkable incidents in my concert going career. Bono asked for the crowds assistance as Edge played the introduction to I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - the Hampden Choir may be a little silent at the football these days but the sound of the audience leading the way on this was simply awesome. I'm not sure about the hairs on the back of my neck, but I had more than a tear in my eye. Luckily for those around me, I didn't join in.

The whole show was full of similar incidents. You could see from the crowd on the pitch that the band had the audience by the short and curlies and weren't likely to be letting go any time soon. Even up in the lofty climes of the Upper Tier of the South Stand the place was bouncing. It was, quite simply, a display of pure, unalloyed joy and a hugely emotional experience to be a part of.

All this despite the fact that the sound was a little muddy from our vantage point. Indeed, during a performance of Walk On dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi the PA gave in leaving the band continuing to perform on stage for a minute or so until the sound was restored.

The individual members of the band made full use of the walkway and it meant that there were occasions when the four musicians were quite considerable distances from one another. This included Larry Mullen during a remix version of I'm Going To Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy tonight - all held together by backing rhythm track.

The show moved to a conclusion with a series of the band's prodigious catalogue of anthems. During the encores we got a mix of classics (One, With Or Without You) and lesser known songs (Acrobat, Moment Of Surrender). My only complaint would be that Bono didn't treat the vocals to With Or Without You with appropriate seriousness as he was more intent with playing with the suspended microphone to detriment of his performance.

All in all, a terrific night and I am mightily pleased that I made the decision to go. Now I can't wait for the inevitable concert film from the tour.

Film Review : Inglourious Basterds

2009-08-16T19:12:00.006+01:00

Not a film to test your spellchecker out with, Inglourious Basterds is the latest movie by Quentin Tarantino and all of the indications were that this was a movie worth seeing. That rather underplays its' many virtues, as it's a movie that undoubtedly worth seeing a second time (and more!).

I'm not sure if there's anything in the movie that will convert those not already fans of Tarantino's hugely entertaining canon but then again, I can't fully understand anyone who doesn't find something in at least a couple of his movies. There's also nothing here for those that have a dislike of history being messed with - it would be fair to say that just one or two things happen in this movie that didn't happen during the Second World War.

The film itself is made up of two back stories which come together allowing the tale to reach a fiery conclusion. As ever with Tarantino, there's great dialogue along with an ensemble cast who all give terrific performances. Oh yes, and some pretty gross-out violence.

Brad Pitt is great as the gung-ho leader of the Basterds which forms one of the threads, whilst Melanie Laurent leads the other as the surviving daughter of a Jewish family slaughtered by the Nazis. That slaughter was led by Colonel Landa of the SS who is superbly played by Christoph Waltz in the outstanding performance of the movie. In a single scene, he is able to generate both the chills you would expect from the heartless thugs you expect to find and generate laughs.

The film balances some serious(ish) intent with humour throughout. All the main characters find themselves in absurd situations which both provide hearty laughs as well as the move the story along.

The last number of Tarantino's films have played very much to his fanbase (Death Proof plus the two Kill Bills) but this is very much a return to his best form and might even be his best movie.

Now when will I be able to get to see this again?

Film Review : The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-08-14T21:38:00.010+01:00

I caught the trailer for this film a few weeks ago and was somewhat taken with the concept of a couple conducting while one of them involuntarily indulges in a little time travel. It certainly brings a whole new meaning to the idea of playing away from home!

They say that you can usually tell what a film will be like when you see the audience. Apart from a handful of older couples, the cinema seemed to be filled entirely with young girls! Being there on my own after work, it certainly made me feel a little like a fish out of water (for want of any other description that may be considered more appropriate!).

I quickly got the impression that what was coming was going to fall into the territory of chick-flick and so it proved. What I had also discovered since seeing the trailer was that the film was based on a highly regarded book with some question marks over its' ability to transfer credibly to the screen.

So how was it. A gentle romance which unfolds over its' 107 minute duration revealing the background to the romance and the circular nature of the story, it was perhaps a little bland despite good performances from the versatile Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams who is beginning to prove that she has something more to offer than her extremely good looks. There are a number of interesting areas where the paradoxes of time travel impact on the lives of others that certainly had me thinking them through as I made my way home after the film had finished.

The film was enjoyable enough but given the high reputation of the book I suspect it won't satisfy the expectations of its' fans. It has, however, made me interested in checking out the book which I suspect will be a better format for developing the themes evident from the film.

Music Review : The Stone Roses - Twenty Years On.....

2009-08-12T22:07:00.008+01:00

The Stone Roses debut album is one that's frequently referred to as "the greatest debut album ever made" and even reached the ranks of "the Greatest Album of All Time" in the NME.

We're now twenty years down the road since it was released and perhaps we're now able to look back on the band and their achievements with some perspective. What would certainly have been difficult to predict is the fact that Ian Brown is now a solidly recognised star, and that guitarist John Squire (perhaps the most lauded of the band in their heyday) and drummer Alan "Reni" Wren would have all but dropped out of the music business entirely. More predictable would have been that Gary "Mani" Mounfield's always impressive bass playing would continue to be underpinning a band with the profile of Primal Scream.

Less of now, though - what about then? To celebrate the 20th Anniversary the eponymous debut has been remastered and reissued in the customary multiple formats. For myself, I was happy with the Legacy Edition which contains the original album (plus an extended version of Fool's Gold), an album of demos plus a DVD with the Blackpool show plus promotional videos of most of the singles (including One Love which would otherwise be a notable absentee from the songs were this not the case). The Collectors Edition simply wasn't worth the additional £50-£60 for a vinyl version, USB stick (why?) and an extra disc with both sides of all the Silvertone singles.

So how does it sound? Terrific, to be honest. The project has been overseen by Ian Brown and John Leckie and the album has a much improved bottom end and a sharper sound at the top end which benefits Squire's guitar. There's a power to the music that's not always been so evident in the previous CD editions - and, of course, this is music that has been recycled, reissued and otherwise regurgitated in many forms by Silvertone in the past. Of course, it was a dispute with the label that was partially responsible for the extended length of time before Second Coming appeared, including an infamous court case where the band took out their anger at the company by turning up with paint which was liberally shared round the office but without too much artistic licence being shown. All in all, this can be regarded as the definitive edition - or should that be editions - of this album.

So to the music - does it merit the praise lavished on it over the years. Well, frankly, no it doesn't. That's not to say that it's not a very good album, it's just not a great album. The single are all great, as is I Am The Resurrection and Waterfall but the other tracks are no more than very listenable and passing off a track (Waterfall) in reverse as another cut on the album just strikes me as a band short of good enough material. The Roses' place in history is cemented in history by Fool's Gold which strikes me as a confluence of a band and history passing each other briefly in the night - no more and no less. Subsequent material, specifically One Love and the mediocre Second Coming album suggested that the band were on a downward spiral by the time they hit the heights of popularity.

The album of demos is enjoyable as I tend to find the more direct, and less produced versions of songs that usually populate such ventures. What is emphasised particularly on this is that this was a band with a superb rhythm section and a guitarist who, far from being a guitar hero, knew when not to play and also concentrated on a sound which though not in any way original was a perfect fit for the songs they were playing.

Of course, whatever your view of the Roses and their places in history it's almost taken as read that whatever else Ian Brown was he certainly wasn't a singer. As such, I watched the Blackpool DVD with some trepidation but, to be fair to the guy, his performance is no different than the album would have you expect.

The real tragedy of The Stone Roses is that they seemed incapable of moving on from the first album. It's iconic status is perhaps as much for what might have been, rather than for what was. It's a very good album, as noted, but worthy of the acclaim mentioned in the opening paragraph? No, it's not.

Film Review : Mesrine - Killer Instinct

2009-08-11T23:21:00.006+01:00

There's just something about a movie that gets involved with the criminal underclass that helps to ensure that each generation throws up more than its share of classics. From Bonnie & Clyde to The Godfather through to Goodfellas, Scarface to more melancholic fare like Donnie Brasco the whole subject lives in an utterly ambiguous world where you're equally attracted to the romanticism of the lifestlye, the thrills of being on the edge and, ultimately, disgusted (but perhaps not enough) at the sheer disregard of consequences for others that such a lifestyle entails.

The good news is that this film which is the first part of a double header about legendary French criminal Jaques Mesrine looks more than capable of finding itself recalled alongside the best films of this genre.

Featuring the excellent Vincent Cassell in the title role (and he has to be excellent to allow me to forgive him for being the husband of Monica Belluci!) the film traces the journey of Mesrine as a man who fought in Algeria and who subsequently used both his skills and his bottle to develop a reckless and fearsome life of crime involving daring bank raids, audacious jailbreaks, travels into Canadian exile and a developing love of the reputation he gains along the way.

Also featured is French movie icon Gerard Depardieu as the local "godfather" under whose tutelage Mesrine builds his reputation and who ultimately contributes to his mentors' inevitable demise.

Having subsequently investigated some of the real Mesrine's exploits the film does appear to break at an appropriate point. However, it is very much Part 1 of the story - the film doesn't really make any concessions to trying to stand up on it's own account (like, for examples, Stephen Soderbergh's two films on key parts of the life and legend of Che Guevara).

The next part is due out on 21 August and I am really looking forward to seeing the conclusion - if it maintains the exceptionally high standard of this first part then its' recognition as a classic is all but assured.

Film Review : The Taking Of Pelham 123

2009-08-10T14:53:00.013+01:00

This picture has generated a lot of comment on the basis that it is a remake of a much loved movie from the 1970's which is a decade where many classic movies that were worth rewatching were made. I'd suggest that movies which fall into this category are rather similar to books which frequently draw critical comments from fans of the original - if you're heavily invested in the original in whatever form it takes either lower your expectations (which are likely to be too high to ever be matched) or give it a miss.

I'm not encumbered with solidly held views on the original which featured Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. I'm sure I've seen it as the premise was more than familiar to me, but I can't recall any of the detail of the movie. This meant I had the benefit of entering the cinema without the presence of the original looming over me.

The other factor (and about which less has been made in reviews) is the fact that this movie is directed by Tony Scott. Scott is a very stylised director and makes very flashy, visually arresting films which can also be described as an acquired taste. Indeed, it has often been suggested that some of his films are just that.

All of that is present and correct in Pelham 123 but we are also blessed with the presence of Denzel Washington and John Travolta who are both actors more than capable of matching the visual pizazz offered up by Scott. The relationships that develops between the protagonists during the film is what provides this film with its' spine and keeps a reasonable level of suspense. I'm not sure to what extent this was also covered in the original movie, but it turns out to be a tale of redemption for one of the characters (and, no, you probably don't have to guess which one that is).

All in all, a most enjoyable movie that's certainly not a classic by any manner of means but still better than some of the more mean-spirited reviews that it has received.

Concert Review : Another Bruce in Glasgow

2009-08-07T09:47:00.012+01:00

Last night saw Jack Bruce play a hometown gig in Glasgow in the company of Robin Trower and Gary Husband. Bruce had recorded a couple of albums with Trower in the early 1980's and recently resumed their partnership with the fine album Seven Moons.

Whilst it's easy to suggest that this is simply a rerun of the power trio setup, it does have to be said that Robin Trower does bring something different to the format. In comparison to his more famous compatriot in Bruce's past history there is a funkiness to his playing that Clapton can't match and which helped light up a number of the songs played.

The set was largely based around the Seven Moons album with a couple of tracks from the earlier collaboration. There are some things that can't be avoided and we also got Sunshine Of Your Love, We're Going Wrong, White Room and Politician - the last two as closing number of the main set and encore respectively - from the Cream back catalogue. The different qualities offered by Trower were more evident in these numbers. Although recognisably the classics that they are, there was a sufficient twist to make them more than worthwhile contributions and, as such, made them so much more than just trotting out the hits.

Jack was on strong voice all night, and you really do have to see him perform to appreciate the different approach he has to bass playing to so many of his colleagues. It makes you appreciate just why so many copyists of Cream and the power trio format just can't pull it off - he's a pretty unique player imposing his style on the music played. That's something that's not up for repetition in less skilled hands.

The concert was in the O2 Academy and whilst reasonably busy, there were still tickets at the door. I suspect that a man with Bruce's history really should be better loved by his hometown, but he seemed to be having a good time and seemed genuinely appreciative of the love showed to him from the audience.

I was particularly pleased as I had expected this to be an all-standing show, but the seats were set up in the front area and were available on an unallocated basis (perhaps that was a tactic to "fill out" the hall if ticket sales hadn't met expectations). Consequently I ended up in the third row.

Support was provided by Joanne Shaw Taylor. I had noticed her from an article in last month's Classic Rock - to be more precise, I noticed her picture as she is an extremely attractive woman!! However, she plays a mean blues guitar and has an excellent singing voice as well. Her CD was purchased and autographed and I'm able to confirm that she's just as attractive up close too!! Well worth catching if she's in your area.

Ian Hunter Gets Captured By The Game (with apologies to Smokey Robinson)

2009-08-05T13:57:00.008+01:00

I've waxed enthusiastically elsewhere on this blog about the prospect of Mott The Hoople reuniting for some gigs. As the better informed amongst you will know, these gigs are happening with five shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in early October.

Despite my enthusiasm, I won't be attending the gigs as they are just happening in London. However, I feel sure that they will be filmed and those of us outside of London or with insufficiently deep pockets will get the chance to enjoy the event.

What is most interesting about this reunion is that it's happening alongside a remarkable resurgence in the profile of Ian Hunter who, at the age of 70, is on something of a hot streak with his writing and performing at a level of quality and consistency that you might argue he's never quite been able sustain previously in his long career. He also seems to look better now in his advancing years than he did when Mott were at their post-ATYD peak.

His latest album, Man Overboard, follows on relatively shortly after Shrunken Heads and both are excellent albums full of quality songs with pithy lyrics and backed by a superb band marshalled by Andy York.

It seems from recent interviews that Hunter took a long, hard look at his life following the death of his long term colleague Mick Ronson and realised that he'd been perhaps been selling his gift a little short. Since then his creative juices have been flowing more freely, and his touring workrate has been enviable for a man his age (and one who is not able to revel in the luxury available to the major bands which seems to take a lot of the drudgery out of the gigging experience).

Whilst both Rant and Shrunken Heads generated positive reviews, it seems to have been the release of the new album allied with the Mott reunion that has sparked a considerable increase in his profile in the music press. This is one of the more welcome features of 2009 and it a joy to me as a long term fan to see Ian get the credit that he so richly deserves.

And I do still hope that they find room for The Moon Upstairs, The Journey and Thunderbuck Ram in the Hammy Apollo shows!

What I Surrounded Myself With On Holiday

2009-08-02T12:30:00.007+01:00

I'm just back from a relaxing week in Ireland - to be more precise in Cushendall on the Antrim Coast. As much of a family visit (my wife's mother and brother live over there) as a holiday we had rented a rather lovely holiday flat for the week as the picure below shows. The weather was a little iffy but this did not cause too much concern on my part, not least as in my advancing years my need for activity on holiday diminishes and the availability of books to read and a ready supply of liquid sustenance (and that's usually coffee!) is good enough for me.

There was one considerable additional attraction to our home for the week and that was the presence of a 5.1 Surround Sound system. Much as I love movies I've not yet indulged in a home surround system and have been a little sceptical of the benefits of this to music. For the latter, I remain wedded to the view that I'm (at least in theory) listening to a performance by a band where I'm in the audience and they are on stage in front of me, and not surrounding me. In other words, my preference seems to sound very much like stereo

Conclusions? Mixed, I think.

The live concert DVD's I took along with me (all Bruce Springsteen as it happens) did not much more than to give an expanded version of the Stereo soundstage. The back channels were not much more than the sound of the audience and it did give some impression of sitting in a concert hall right down to, rather bizarrely in my opinion, the echo of the drums coming off the back wall! As such, much of the music was drenched in a greater amount of echo than is the case for the stereo mix.

I also took Brian Wilson's DVD's of SMiLE and That Lucky Old Sun. Although live performances (and I remain of the view that there has been an element of post-performace sweetening) these were set out with a view to recording and so are not the same as a live concert as such. My first disappointment was in being reminded that my version of SMiLE was a Region 1 disc so it would not play. That Lucky Old Sun was able to play and was thoroughly enjoyable but I'm not sure how much of a benefit there was to my ears - it certainly put you in the middle of the stage but that does seem a false place to be when listening to music.

I had also taken the 40th anniversary DVD of Pet Sounds and this was most interesting as the 5.1 mix allowed a better seperation of the instruments from the voices. If anything would encourage me to invest in surround sound this would have been the best advocate amongst the things I took along.

I did have another disappointment when listening to the DVD of the The Beatles' Love album - this plays as a continuous edit but there were gaps between the tracks which broke the magic of this album and I must confess that I didn't listen to it fully.

At this point in time, I think home surround sound is grand for movies (and probably those of a particular kind with lots of effects) but I think the jury remains out for music.

This Note's For Who, Neil?

2009-07-23T10:43:00.004+01:00

My previous post on Neil Young's Archives set expressed my disappointment that it did not contain all of his released work thus undermining his previous claims that it would contain "everything".

Why am I not surprised at the news that his first four albums (which cover the same period as the Archives box) are now to be reissued in remastered form.

Neil clearly makes a distinction between musical notes and dollar notes.

Book Review : Moondust - Still Potent After All These Years

2009-07-22T20:58:00.010+01:00

I've been thoroughly enjoying much of the coverage of the 40th anniversary of the first moon landings over the past couple of weeks. I was always fascinated by the space programme when I was young, although I was a bit too young to catch the initial element where the Russians were showing the Americans a clean pair of heels. By the time I was interested, much of the Cold War element had subsided to reveal an endeavour allegedly for the good of all mankind.

I think my first vivid memory was of the fated Apollo 1 mission where the three astronauts were fried in their capsule as they were testing. It was another 18 months before another mission launched into space, but what seems astonishing now is the huge leaps that were taken to get to the ultimate goal of Apollo 11.

One of the programmes I watched recently was Being Neil Armstrong which was presented by Andrew Smith. It was an attempt to delve further into the enigma that is the first man to step onto the Moon, and I was impressed by the presenters enthusiasm and his sensitivity towards Armstrong. As I knew from the programme that he'd written a book I resolved to check it out. As is my want, I not only got this but also two other books in a 3 for 2 offer! (The others were an authorised biography of Armstrong and a book details the political wheeling and dealing that went alongside the altruistic endeavours of NASA).

I'm halfway through Moondust and can say that the characteristics of the author that I identified with on the television programme are on full display here. He (like me) remains fascinated not only by the moon landings but also by the fact that we haven't done anything vaguely as adventurous or inspiring since. The book attempts to look at the remaining astronauts involved in the moon landings and the impact that it's had on their subsequent lives. They are an interesting bunch of people who have all been impacted in different ways, although the uniting factor is that none of them was unaffected by their experiences.

And then there was Buzz Aldrin! I won't reveal any of the intriguing, and in some cases, slightly bizarre stories about Aldrin but suffice to say he could fill a book in his own right.

It's an easy read but also an interesting way for the less-committed to discover some of what drove the guys who made the trip to the moon in the certain knowledge that the likelihood of success on most trips seldom exceeded 50%.

And, yes, it is emblazoned with "The Richard & Judy Bestseller" on the cover!

Film Review : Moon

2009-07-19T17:54:00.004+01:00

This is an excellent film that tells an ironically very human story of an astronaut reaching the end of his three year shift on the dark side of the moon.

The investigation of an accident on the moon reveals that the victim appears to be the same person as has conducted the investigation. We then have two versions of the main character having to deal with the implications of their dual existence whilst there is a countdown before an emergency team lands on the moon to deal with the repairs and to take one of the characters home at the end of their mammoth shift.

Sam Rockwell puts in an awesome performance with virtually every scene featuring him in his different personas. The last film that I can remember being so dependant on a single performance was Colin Farrell's turn in Phone Booth but don't let the list of other actors fool you - this is Sam Rockwell's film from start to finish. All of the other characters are seen from the end of a video link - which has malfunctioned meaning that real-time conversations are impossible.

This is director Duncan Jones first movie and, whilst on a limited budget, the visuals make the telling of the tale very believable. This is a sci-fi rooted in the characters and the telling of a story and is all the better for it.

There is, of course, the delicous irony that this film opens on the 40th anniversary of the moon landings when the directors father was enjoying his first major (sic) hit in the music charts. But the quality of this film will ensure that Duncan is easily able to step out from his father's immense shadow. It won't be too long before people are asking of David if he's Duncan's father rather than the other way round.

Film Review : Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

2009-07-19T17:31:00.002+01:00

Number six in the Potter series continues the darkening of the scripts as the trio grow up and we move step by step towards the climax.

I think the quality of the movies has also tended to increase along the way as well, and this doesn't disappoint. It's a movie of contrasts with the humour and lightness of touch needed to deal with the budding relationships alongside the impending doom that is clearly coming.

Michael Gambon invests Dumbledore with a melancholy that indicates that something bad is in the pipeline whilst Daniel Radcliffe enjoys himself after ingesting what is clearly the wizard-world's equivalent of a spliff! And Alan Rickman is as excellent as ever, dripping the ambiguous world that the character of Snape has inhabited over the course of the tale.

There's another downbeat ending to this film but one which sets you up with anticipation for the two-parter that will bring the series to a close.

Hello, My Name Is Allan And I'm An Iron Maiden Fan

2009-07-17T22:39:00.006+01:00

Is this what it's come to? Almost 30 years since the supposed New Wave Of British Heavy Metal which brought them to our attention in the first place, I'm beginning to get a considerable liking for Iron Maiden. Is there an Iron Maiden Anonymous group that meets in secret that I should consider joining?

Being in my mid-20's when this all struck first time around I was pretty dismissive of the whole scene at the time - in retrospect, possibly the last time I allowed a bit of snobbishness to get in the way of enjoying honest to goodness music.

By way of some of the recent concert DVD's, I found my interest being grabbed by many of the songs and via FOPP have since invested in pretty much the entire back catalogue. Whilst the early albums suffer from a certain naivete, from Number Of The Beast on they take things up a level or ten.

Great guitar work and terrific arrangements more than compensate for the occasional lack of a strong tune (twas always thus with music at the heavier end of the scale) but as they move through their career the albums become more adventurous and play well to the proggier tendencies of my listening preferences.

Whatever next? I'll tell you now that it won't be Def Leppard!

Concert Review : Bruce Bosses Hampden.....

2009-07-15T21:01:00.010+01:00

It's been 24 hours since Bruce Springsteen turned Hampden Park into a "house of love" along with the E-Street Band. When you see someone like Springsteen you need to leave that period (at least) to allow you to assimilate the experience you've been through.

To describe it as a gig, a performance or a show seems entirely inadequate. There's just something so marevellously life-affirming about a Springsteen show with his comrades-in-arms in the E-Street Band that makes such descriptions utterly banal. That the man himself is now 60 years of age and still giving everything for us is just further confirmation of this.

Where to start? Well, it was raining from the heavens from about 1750hrs until just before 1900hrs. I was perfectly dressed for such an occasion wearing t-shirt and jeans, but my Partick Thistle cap at least kept the rain from my glasses. The advertised starting time of 1930hrs came and went and anticipation was growing along with the realisation that each passing minute cut into the potential length of the show given that we knew there was a 2300hrs curfew.

Just before 2000hrs Nils Lofgren wandered onto the stage with his accordian as has been the custom playing a tune of local relevance. In this case, it was Flower Of Scotland. The band followed him onstage with Bruce taking up the rear. After acknowledging the crowd, he then went to the side of the stage to support Clarence Clemons to his position on the stage.

A quick flourish from the band, and the Mighty Max then beat out the introduction to Badlands on his kit and we were off. This has always been a song that struck a chord with me and last night was no different. Most of the crowd was singing along puching the air with glee at the prospects of what was to follow.

Next up was Out In The Streets which, on record, is a relatively minor song but which is always fantastic on stage and another one to test the vocal chords. By now, it was clear that both Springsteen and the crowd were up for it.

As with most of the songs tonight, Springsteen kept the band ticking over at the end of one song before counting into the next one - in this case, it was into My Lucky Day from the new album which powered along in the powerful care of the E-Street Band.

Next up was a surprise when Bruce went into She's The One off the seminal Born To Run album. Not a song I was expecting but it was nevertheless a joy to hear it. And Bo Diddley boogied in his grave!

What followed was one of the highlights of the evening in Outlaw Pete which is the opening track on Working On A Dream. An awesome song, and an even more awesome performance. Stunning.

Another surprise next when Bruce donned the acoustic guitar and came right down the front to lead the Hampden audience through a rousing Working On The Highway. Looking round at the large crowd, you could see the magic of this man as even up in the highest stands furthest away from the stage that Springsteen was able to reach absolutely everyone in this huge stadium.

Next up was a trilogy of, for want of a better word, serious songs. Seeds, Johnny 99 and Atlantic City are all far from singalong songs but Bruce still had the audience doing the sound of the train whistle in Johnny 99. It was also apparent that most of the audience were aware of the nooks and crannies of the Springsteen canon and not just the better known songs.

Now if I was a closer observer of things, I'd have known what was about to happen. I'd seen many fans with placards with song titles on them and I had wondered what the purpose was, but during an instrumental version of Raise Your Hand, Bruce went along the full length of the stage (and that was long!) picking them up from fans and ultimately depositing them on the stage.

It was then that I realised that he was going to pick a song out of the pack and play it for us. First up was Incident On 57th Street from The Wild, The Innocent And The E-Street Shuffle. Never entirely succesful as a song, it was still a wonder to behold the band pick this up and play it seemingly at the drop of a hat.

Second in this section and requested via a very decorous placard was Pink Cadillac. Now when any list of great Springsteen songs is drawn up this one is perhaps not going to be on it, nevermind being anywhere near the top, but it's one that I've always loved. Very much The Boss in Elvis' mode, it struck me that this man has become that Elvis seemed to promise but never came close to matching. Springsteen has always been very aware of the mythology surrounding rock'n'roll and has been meticulous in his attempts to move this forward. Elvis was one of his first idols, and we've never have had Bruce without him but to see him at 60 - 18 years older than Elvis was when he died - not just working on a dream but living it and making it real for the rest of us was simply an overwhelmingly emotional experience for this fifty-something and the performance of Pink Cadillac seemed to exemplify that.

Last up (for now) from the requests was Cover Me from the Born In The USA album. After this, we moved back toward the more regular songs that feature in the final third of the show starting with Waiting For A Sunny Day. Needless to say, the rain started again briefly as this song came to an end!

Back to a couple more serious minded songs as we got The Promised Land and The River. The former had a similar impact on me as Badlands (and both are from the Darkness On The Edge Of Town album) whilst The River has to be near the top of any list of Springsteen classics. At the end of this, he found a simply gorgeous falsetto which developed variations on the melody at the end. A beautiful moment, but I just don't know where he gets that voice from as it's so different to his more regular singing style.

Following up were Kingdom Of Days and Radio Nowhere which did what they had to at this stage of the gig with the audience preparing for the coming finale.

As appears to be fairly standard that came with Lonesome Day, The Rising and an ecstatic performance of Born To Run to bring the main part of the show to a conclusion.

Encores were inevitable and the band didn't leave the stage but took the appreciation of the audience and regrouped for the next numbers.

Stephen Foster's Hard Times was first up and it is quite chilling to think how relevant this song remains despite it being more than one hundred years old.

Bruce went to the pile of placards again and dumped one down in front of his mikestand. It read "Thunder Road" Another magnificent performance, with the coda at the end as thrilling and inspiring as it has proved on every listen since I first heard the Born To Run album all those years ago.

American Land was next and was a grand Celtic knees-up for which some others joined the stage including Bruce's son Evan. An original song which came out of the Seeger Sessions band it simply served to emphasise the sheer quality of all the musicians that took the stage.

After that, party time continued as we got Bobby Jean, Dancing In The Dark and a joyous romp through Twist And Shout. Just short of three hours from when they started the band left the stage and the crowd made for the exits.

So what further thought are there 24 hours on. Well, my legs have been aching all day. God only knows how Springsteen gets though these shows - even after half an hour, he's given more than most other performers do in their entire gigs and he never lets up. Truly inspirational.

One thing that stands out is the connection this man has with his audience. He was often down in front of the audience and although I wasn't near enough the front to be part of that you could see on the screens the sheer joy of those in front of the stage and Bruce himself in the whole occasion. There was also a point during Waiting For A Sunny Day where he was one to one with a young girl (at a guess she was six years old). All captured on camera, he got the girl to sing the chorus through his mike. A beautiful, heart-warming moment where his concentration was 100% with the girl but it was shared by the rest of us. I suspect if you could get a picture of the rest of us it would show us all with silly grins on our faces and a tear in the eye.

Springsteen is clearly very aware of the cameras on stage and uses them to enhance the performance and this is probably the key to him being able to reach out to those further away.

Whilst there's an element of calculation there, it's not in any way cynical or manipulative. And his on-stage relationship with the band is an entertainment in itself, particularly between him and Miami Steve Van Zandt and also with Clarence Clemons.

Is there anyone out there to match him? To be honest, the answer has to be no. On musical grounds alone, there's a lot of artists that I'd put beside him and perhaps above him. However put this man on a stage (and perhaps the presence of the E-Street Band is a necessary component although the Seeger Sessions Band suggest that may not be true now although it was in the early 1990's) and he is utterly peerless.

(Pictures from Backstreets and are not from Hampden)

The Night Before

2009-07-13T22:48:00.005+01:00

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Hampden Park to see Bruce Springsteen And The E-Street Band and am hoping that God considers that Glasgow has had more than its' share of rain today and that he'll keep it dry tomorrow (evening at least).

I've had the pleasure of seeing Springsteen on two occasions before and these two shows would appear at either end of any list of best gigs that I've been to.

Dealing with the poor one first - you may have seen a portion of this. It was at the SECC in Glasgow and the performance of Lucky Town was broadcast live on Top Of The Pops (and is available on the DVD version of the Video Anthology).

The venue is typical of the multi-purpose halls that are built these days, and which seldom make any allowance for such niceties as sound quality. We were in the largest hall and it was all standing meaning that there were no stands to at least absorb some of the sound. I was stuck fairly near the back of the hall and, sonically, the whole thing was a mess.

Of course, this was the tour that Springsteen did without the E-Streeters and a more anonymous bunch you'd be hard pressed to meet. Despite making every effort (and you did feel he was overdoing it to compensate for the paucity of inspiration from the others on the stage) Springsteen simply failed to project any of his usual passion and warmth and it was a hugely disappointing evening. All the moreso, because I knew precisely what The Boss was capable of......

Indeed I did, having witnessed him on the Born In The USA tour at Roundhay Park in Leeds (some clips of which appear on the live Born To Run video - it's the venue that looks like a natural amphitheatre). Pristine sound, and a performer and band that connected with every single member of the audience. The crowd was about 80,000 that day and I recall vividly turning round at one point to look back across the multitudes to see everyone dancing, jumping up and down or participating in some way or other right to the very back. Simply awesome.

I know which Bruce I'm wanting and hoping to see tomorrow night!

Concert Review : Crosby, Stills And Nash Regal At The Castle

2009-07-12T12:20:00.008+01:00

CSN were excellent at Edinburgh Castle and successfully kept the predicted heavy rain at bay during their performance. Stills was in excellent form throughout and made this a much more satisfying show from them than my previous gigs where he was largely along for the ride.

Have to say that, despite the scenic advantages, that Edinburgh Castle is a terrible venue for a rock gig. Even for the slimmer amongst us the seats would be a challenge with no room to move, and which consequently make turning towards the stage (for those at the sides) somewhat difficult. Luckily, there were some spare seats last night and others in the row moved elsewhere which allowed more room for manoeuvre.

Stewarding was also poor with next to no assistance showing people to their seats and queuing for the toilets was somewhat haphazard and relying entirely on the good sense of those in the queue.

The toilets themselves were portakabins which appeared to be sizable but were taken up internally by the latrine itself leaving very little room to stand in.

Back to the music though - highlights were Southern Cross, Cathedral, Guinevere and the "new" songs from the forthcoming Covers album sounded super. Perhaps best of the night was Crosbys’ rendition of Long Time Gone.

Stills played with a winning combination of flash and economy and never outstayed his welcome when soloing, thus adding considerably to the impact of the songs.

Crosby sounded a little weak in places (perhaps related to his finding the weather somewhat un-Southern Californian!) but came through for his solo set pieces.

Nash was as solid and reliable as ever. That's not meant to sound in any way demeaning - Nash is the rock of stability that's kept these guys at it all the years and is a fine role model for any aspiring musician to follow. Perhaps regarded as the lightweight at the outset, it's amazing how many of his songs resonate down the years. More power to his elbow.

Music Review : It's been so long since I've added to this blog that Neil's actually issued Archives!!!!.......

2009-07-11T11:00:00.012+01:00

Strange but true!

After an interminable period of teasers and delays the first volume of Neil Young's Archives have now been released to the wider world.

There's been much debate about the format in which this is going to appear but ultimately fans were given three choices:-

the music on an 8-CD set
music and video on a 10-DVD set along with the first official release of Journey Through The Past, or
in Blu-Ray format with the same content as the DVD but with the promise of extra content along the way via links to the internet. (There is also wider options when it comes to listening whilst browsing other content than on a DVD)

Not wanting to miss the opportunity of the extra content I decided ultimately to go for the Blu-Ray version. This presented me with a couple of issues:-

firstly, I didn't own a Blu-Ray player! Well, that was easily resolved with a visit to Richer Sounds -I have to say that, Neil apart, it's been a worthwhile investment as the couple of films that I've seen in this format have been stunning. In addition, the upscaling feature does mean that your DVD's do look better as well
secondly, being hooked up to my telly (and no, I'm not getting a surround system!) I wasn't going to get the best out of the sound. Only one option then, get the CD version as well!!

So was it all worth it? To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced.

Young promised early in the project's gestation that "it was all going to be on there". Sounds great, except that it isn't. The first major disappointment is that not everything from the originally released album is on there. I understand that Neil intends to now issue these in remastered form, and owning just the first generation CD's I'll feel somewhat tempted, if not obliged, to purchase these. Poor show on this count, Neil, because as far as I can see there's still loads of capacity to have done this.

Next up is the fact that the albums issued over the past couple of years as the Neil Young Performance Series are also included. This means that the additional material on the Archives is considerably less attractive as a result. Another poor show.

And there's more! All Neil Young fans know that there's load of other material out there from this era that could have been included but hasn't been. Indeed, the set could possibly have been made up of material leaving the official releases off entirely. Young has built a reputation as a rewriter of history (for example, his shameful exclusion of some tracks from the Buffalo Springfield box set) and he appears to be continuing in this vein. It's not all there, Neil - only that which you want us to hear. Not good enough.

As for the other material, the documents and memorabilia are interesting but having had a peek there's not much that I'll be searching out quickly. The video material is good but, so far at least, it falls into the category where we know that there's more available.

The packaging is good but more bulky for the DVD/BluRay sets than was strictly necessary.

Having said all that, the music is uniformly superb. However, this isn't a set that the casual fan is going to buy but neither is it a set to get the already committed fan too excited by.

Raise the bar higher next time, Neil

Concert Review : Stephen Stills - A Man Alive!

2008-10-20T23:40:00.011+01:00

Short of being able to see Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (which I'm not holding my breath to happen anytime soon near enough to where I stay) I completed the set last night by seeing Stephen Stills perform a solo performance at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

This was the final performance in a short British tour and it would be fair to say that I, along with many other members of the audience, approached this with a degree of trepidation. Stills' contributions to CSN (and occasionally Y) over the past twenty years have been more than patchy. His guitar playing remained more than fine, but his vocals were largely shot and his songwriting contributions often no more than perfunctory.

Indeed, when it was announced last year that Stills was suffering from prostate cancer it must have seemed that this would draw a conclusion to a long career but where his significant contribution (and it was extremely significant) was largely restricted to the decade from 1966 through to 1975.

However, he successfully came through surgery and, whether directly or indirectly, this has resulted in something of a transformation in Stills. He's lost a lot of weight - no longer the bloated musician that appears in the recent CSNY Deja Vu movie - and has started wearing hearing aids which has resulted in the return of his voice to something much more functional than has been in evidence in the past twenty years even if it is still not quite the voice that you might remember from the classic tracks. Nevertheless it's a voice ingrained with experiences both good and bad and, whilst sometimes struggling to hit some notes, it's gratifying to hear some of the notes that he goes for and hits with some aplomb.

The show was played to a reasonably full house although clearly not sold out. The audience was fairly restrained - almost as if they had turned up to see someone perform on a tightrope and weren't looking to make too much noise in case it interrupted the concentration of the man hovering above the abyss below.

The first half kicked off with the band present for the opener which was Helplessly Hoping from the debut CSN album. Stills was then left alone and played a number of fine songs on his acoustic guitar including such classics as 4 + 20, Treetop Flyer, Daylight Again, Change Partners and closing with Suite : Judy Blue Eyes with the band returning for the climax of the song.

There was a twenty minute interval after which returned with the band to perform an electric set - no more wooden music here!! Starting with Isn't It About Time from the underrated second Manassas album Down The Road it was clear that Stills meant business. His guitar was loud - it's no wonder he's as deaf as a post - but this was a man in full control of his destiny. A hard rocking Rock And Roll Woman from Buffalo Springfield days followed, and then a Tom Petty cover from the recent Mudcrutch album.

All evening Stills' soloing was sharp and inventive from slow blues through to the fiercest of rockers. What I wasn't expecting though was for him to play a song from the largely unloved Stills-Young Band album but we were treated to Make Love To You.

Encoring with Love The One You're With and returning one more time for Dark Star the audience were finally roused from their torpor and gave a hearty cheer to the departing musicians.

Hopefully, Stills can take this forward and turn this experience into some new songs whether these appear as a solo effort or as a contribution to a future CSN album. I, for one, will be looking forward to his songs in a way that I haven't truly been doing for some time

Richard Wright 1943 - 2008

2008-09-17T13:50:00.007+01:00

The news of Richard Wright's death came as something of a shock as there had been no prior indication that he was ill.

He was undoubtedly a key figure in the development of the Pink Floyd both in the Barrett-era and afterwards. As a musician, he has long been sadly underrated - listening over the last day or so to Wish You Were Here with almost a new pair of ears showed how he almost dominates the album musically. I'm clearly just as guilty of underestimating his contribution myself, as I don't believe I would have described the album in that manner before now.

As a writer, he was responsible for some of the iconic Floyd moments, most noticably The Great Gig In The Sky and Us And Them from Dark Side Of The Moon. His vocals, particularly the harmony work alongside Gilmour (most singularly demonstrated on Echoes) was sublime.

There has always been a languid, melancholic streak to the music of the Floyd (and which is very easily mistaken for blandness) which I think can largely be attributed to Wright. It's no coincidence that the more Wright was marginalised in the band (and for which I, for one, remain disinclined to forgive Waters notwithstanding his recent recantations on some of his tomfoolery) the less they sounded like the Floyd. It was precisely the mix of the hard-bitten message behind the sweet melodies that gave the Floyd it's power and impact - too much of The Wall and The Final Cut amounts to bombast which hits you straight in the face but is all the more ineffective for that.

David Gilmour's tribute to his friend and colleague was warm, loving and well-measured. I will watch the soon to be released Live In Gdansk concert with an added interest along with a touch of regret that it will represent Richard's last musical contribution to us.

Texas Boogie Rools....

2008-09-12T22:58:00.004+01:00

After some delays the new edition of ZZ Top's Eliminator has now hit the streets. Of all their albums, this is the one that will be most recognised containing as it does the songs that catapulted the band to mega status with the iconic imagery and the accompanying videos.

Sonically, the new package packs a powerful punch and the extra live tracks show that the band were able to match the power of the recordings in the live arena. We do have to suffer the 12-inch mix of Legs, but that's what the programmable facilities on your CD handset are for!!

There's also an additional DVD containing, inevitably, the videos for the singles from the album as well as live footage from their appearance on The Tube, including the song they played after the credits had rolled.

This is the third part of a reissue programme for the Top's albums with Warner Bros - Tres Hombres (with the sublime La Grange) and the half-live Fandango (disappointing live side undercutting a series of exceptional studio tracks including Tush) have already been released. Hopefully, the other albums will follow in short order.

I'd also recommend the recently released DVD Live In Texas which shows that the trio still have what it takes to rock the joint in the noughties

Mott The Hoople Reunion?

2008-09-09T00:23:00.009+01:00

My mailbox has been bulging this week with suggestions that the original Mott the Hoople line-up (Ian Hunter, Mick Ralphs, Overend Watts, Buffin and Verden Allen) have been discussing some gigs in 2009 to celebrate their 40th Anniversary.

This would be excellent news not least as it would allow those who are only familiar with the post-Dudes version of the band to be reminded that before their fateful dalliance with Bowie they were one of the coolest rock and roll bands in the land.

Their four Island albums contained a mixture of original songs and well-chosen covers (introducing me to the likes of Jesse Colin Young, Danny Whitten and Doug Sahm through their covers of Darkness, Darkness, Downtown and At The Crossroads respectively). And via Hunter's vocals and Allen's organ managed to do a decent job of being Dylan without the Bobster being present - check out Backsliding Fearlessly from the first album.

Throw in some priceless rockers - Rock'N'Roll Queen, Thunderbuck Ram, Walking With A Mountain, The Moon Upstairs - plus awesome epics in the shape of The Journey and Half Moon Bay to demonstrate that there's a whole priceless back catalogue worthy of investigation before the dudes were born, never mind being young.

I had the pleasure of seeing Mott twice at the legendary Green's Playhouse in Glasgow including on the iconic Rock'N'Roll Circus tour and they were the first gigs I can recall where the audience and the band were as one. Terrific memories.

All of the Island albums have been reissued on Angel Air Records and are worthy of investigation. If you were only able to buy just the one then make it Brain Capers.

As for Dudes itself, it was a great single but it wasn't Mott The Hoople and the album that shared its' name was very weak. The later albums were good but much more mannered and missing that spark that crept out the door when Verden Allen left the band; the door was slammed tightly shut when Mick Ralphs jumped ship to join Bad Company (a band not fit to lick the bootlaces of any of its' predecessors). Nevertheless, what proved to be the farewell single, Saturday Gigs, was a classic and a fine way to close that chapter on the bands' history after which Ian Hunter moved onto his solo career and his long term but occasional partnership with Mick Ronson. The rest of the band regrouped as Mott and then refashioned themselves as the British Lions along with John Fiddler, late of Medicine Head.

The clip is a promo for an Island-era single which failed to trouble the charts but did have the band appearing on Top Of The Pops.

Worth going to see almost forty years on? Bring it on!!!!

Remembering 10cc......

2008-09-03T23:12:00.006+01:00

Having caught up with listening to new purchases, I'm now sitting listening to the debut album by 10cc. It's the first time I've listened to it for a while but it's still an astonishing album that sounds as fresh as the day it was released.

Now I was at school when Donna first trickled into the charts. As if admitting to enjoying something in the charts wasn't bad enough, this was an era where if you weren't wandering the corridor with the latest Mahavishnu Orchestra album firmly in your grasp you were clearly some kind of uncultured yobbo.

Now a single bathed in retro humour that snuggled safely in the top 5 and which was released on, horror of horrors, Jonathan King's record label had to suggest I had taken leave of my senses. However, it was a damned fine record then and still is. Not sure what to say about Mr King these days though!

Rubber Bullets was a home run for me and I was delighted to see it soar to top position in the charts.

Being a confirmed fan I was looking forward to an album and it didn't disappoint. What was incredibly amusing was the endorsement by John Peel on the album sleeve which had my hipper than hip schoolchums in quite a quandry!

The album's a delight from top to botton and provided further single success with the sublime The Dean And I. It's all entirely open to the charge of being a bit too clever for its' own good, but that's never stood in the way of the tremendous quality of the music.

The band went onto make a series of good albums but I'm not convinced they ever managed to top their debut effort. The loss of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme disrupted the magical chemistry of the original quartet and neither grouping was as strong apart as they were together.

Wonderful Radio One!!

2008-08-28T21:41:00.005+01:00

Have you seen the advert playing in cinemas that supposedly is helping to promote our wonderful national radio station?

It's way too long and most peoples' interest has waned before you get halfway through. But what really strikes me is how some of the DJ's make a great and persuasive case for the enjoyment of dance music in the clubs. Just a pity that in doing so, they totally illustrate why it's entirely inappropriate to have this on a radio show!!

Out of all the "talent" on show there's only two that say anything that I can empathise with. The rest I wouldn't trust to entertain my granny.

In Praise Of Esoteric Recordings....

2008-08-28T12:43:00.005+01:00

Esoteric Recordings are a fine record label which has focused on reissuing old classics largely from the early 1970's, as well as helping some of these older bands in their current activities. Put together by Mark Powell who should be a name familiar to finely remastered versions of similar bands on other labels, it caters for the less obvious choices and, as such, is making many lost gems available to a new audience as well as reminding us old fogies of the great music around in those days.

I was especially pleased that they took on the United Artists back catalogue of Man and an excellent job they did of it as well. I'd like to hope that they will be able to get the rights to the later EMI recordings as well as access to the master tapes. Indeed, The Welsh Connection is an album that would benefit considerably from a remix as opposed to a digital buffing up of the tapes. (Unrelated to the Esoteric series, Mark and his team have also been involved in the issue of the complete Greasy Truckers concert. These have been fully remixed although, certainly as far as Man, are concerned is an unusual occurrence where it hasn't really hit the mark (sic) as the guitars - and principally that of Micky Jones - seems buried within the rest of the music)

The quality control is very good to the extent that I'm buying albums that I'm not familiar with but am more than happy to take a risk on in the full (and, as yet, untainted) expectation that it will be more than worth my while.

Perhaps their piece de resistance is the Jack Bruce boxset, Can You Follow. Bruce's career is mapped out over six discs and makes a strong case for his being regarded as one of the major talents to have graced our shores over the decades. That he is from Glasgow is just the icing no the cake!! Foregoing any over-emphasis on his days in Cream, the range and quality of material from his career is simply staggering. A highly recommended set.

Esoteric are now linked with Cherry Red and this seems to have given them a more stable existence. Clearly, nothing that they are selling is likely to be troubling the top of the album charts but they are performing a valuable service to music connoisseurs. A labour of love it may largely be, but one that is greatly appreciated by me.

Music Review : Foo Fighters - Live At Wembley Stadium

2008-08-27T12:28:00.015+01:00

Just received this DVD the other day in my mailbox and spent last night watching the gig.

Whilst there's probably nothing on here to make you like the Foo Fighters if you don't do so already, for converts this is a simply awesome gig. Grohl's chatty demeanor on stage runs the risk of being swamped in a venue as large as Wembley but it's clear that the crowd are with him and the band all the way. Indeed, I'd go so far as to suggest that the last band that had a Wembley crowd with them so much was Queen.

The main point of interest for many music fans will be the appearance of Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones as part of the encore. Grohl plays drums on a version of Rock And Roll and absolutely nails it, whilst he returns to stage front and demonstrates that whilst he does a damned good Bonham he's no Robert Plant on a version of Ramble On.

But perhaps the surprise of the show (for me at least) is at the end of Taylor Hawkin's drum solo on Stacked Actors when the band dive into, of all things, Hocus Pocus. No yodelling though!

Grohl is very visibly moved by the whole occasion and close to tears (in fact, beyond that - on the breakdown in the closing Best Of You he's definitely wiping tears and not sweat from his eyes) . He more then lives up to his reputation as the nicest man in rock, and unlike many of his peers, you only get a sense of enjoyment and gratitude from the man for being there.

Oh yes, and the lady who plays violin with the band is very foxy indeed!

Life In The Old Beast?

2008-08-21T00:54:00.002+01:00

Really!! The last post on here was on 31 March 2008? Time does indeed march on.

Things have been somewhat hectic on the personal front although this has now settled down, so I might just see if I can revert to some more regular postings.

There's been much done, and much to come that is worthy of comment. I just need to get my ass into gear and DO IT!!!!

Concert Review : Never Say Nups To A Trip To Swansea

2008-03-31T22:41:00.007+01:00

It takes a certain kind of madness to normalise in your way of thinking that a trip from Paisley in the West Of Scotland down to Swansea in South Wales as a short and perfectly manageable trip. That being the case, the madness is deep within me!

Last weekend saw another trip down to catch Man on the final date of their UK tour. A carful of four means that the petrol worked at £35 per head - plus the cost of a couple of rooms in the Travel Inn and food and drink............hell, it's cheap at the price, isn't it.

The answer is a resounding yes when you catch sight of the mighty Manband in the sort of imperious form that they were in on Saturday evening. Having failed to manage to venture further north than Leeds on this tour (and with that date proving not possible for us travelling Scots) the ecstatic reviews that had greeted the return of Phil Ryan to the ranks meant that not making the trip to catch the final night of the tour was simply an unacceptable compromise to a man's right to rock.

Having landed in Swansea at about 4.30 pm (having left Glasgow at the back of nine) we made sure that we knew where the venue was. Being a little familiar with Swansea I knew roughly where it was - too roughly it turned out as I turned off the shopping area too soon and in the wrong direction. Now if I'd just had the wit to walk a further 100 yards down the road and then headed left we'd have found it without a roundabout trip.

Having established where we'd be going, we then consulted on what our choice of food was going to be. A curry seemed to be the majority view so I led our small but perfectly formed party in the direction of a rather nice Indian restaurant where we'd enjoyed a fine meal in December when I was last in Swansea. We got there at just after 5.30 pm to discover they didn't open until 6 o'clock. Call this civilisation? Anyway, we repaired to the local Wetherspoons and enjoyed an ale until opening time rolled round and we returned to the restaurant for another fine meal. Very good quality but not quite what I would call Glasgow portions!

We headed to the venue at about half past seven (which would prove to be about two hours too early given that the band didn't appear until 10 o'clock) to find the Milkwood Jam a rather nice club. The room is quite small but the stage was reasonably sizable in comparison and it looked like it was well designed to cater for bands. And unlike at Sin City in December, the music being played still allowed pleasant conversation whilst drinks were enjoyed.

As noted, the wait was rather long and we could always tell that the band were not about to be starting given the presence of various members at the bar. Bob Richards was the last to make an appearance but I'm sure they all managed a further pint or two after that.

Now don't mistake that for any suggestion that they were the worse for wear when they took the stage. Far from it, as Bob's powerhouse drums led the band into an incredibly powerful version of Love Your Life. I had known that this was going to be the opening number but, even so, there was still a need to pinch myself that this number was being played after so many years.

This was followed by Something Is Happening which is a Phil Ryan song from the album The Welsh Connection. A bit harder hitting than the album version but with great harmonies. Sterling stuff.

It was clear that Phil's return has re-energised the band (although they were still mightily impressive as a four piece) and the more significant role that he takes in the overall sound both added to the overall quality of the sound and the individual contributions - everyone seemed to have raised their game.

With the absence of both Micky Jones and Deke Leonard the band seemed to have achieved the impossible and found themselves a comfortable area in which they can respect their heritage and also introduce their new material. A difficult trick to pull off and one which, to be honest, I would have doubted possible a couple of years back.

This was aptly demonstrated by the next number which was All Alone from the Diamonds And Coal album. Phil's presence meant the organ riff took its prominent position again, and the number featured a solo from the organ which was not present previously in either the live or studio versions of the song.

The rest of the set was a balance of the new (Man Of Misery, Freedom Fries), the prehistoric but still fresh sounding early numbers (Sudden Life, Shit On The World) and some well worn classics (C'Mon, Many Are Called...., Romain, Manillo, Bananas, Spunk Rock). Without exception, all were immaculate and considerably enhanced by Phil's presence.

This is not to downplay the contributions of the others. George played as well as I have seen him, and I think seems to find it more comfortable to play with the keyboards as part of the set up. Josh now looks very comfortable on stage and although he didn't solo as much as George, his contributions were notable. Bob seems to have upped the ante and produced even more of a powerhouse performance than I've come to expect. And Martin was........well, Martin. I don't think anything more needs to be said, does it. Thankfully, he was back to the boilersuit tonight. (And I thought his tribute to the late Ray Williams was one of the nicest points of the evening).

The only downside to the night was the fact that the clocks went forward one hour so we lost an hour's sleep that would have been much appreciated. After a large breakfast we headed back north on Sunday morning arriving back home at about six o'clock.

I do hope that this last month can be a springboard for the band from which they can come up with new material for a new album, as well as investigating some of the lesser played parts of their back catalogue for the live set. What price Keep On Crinting or Never Say Nups To Nepalese?

So when's the next trip? I can hardly wait!

Concert Review : Neil Young

2008-03-18T21:23:00.006Z

Neil Young's Continental Tour '08 tour rolled into Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd March and it was with some anticipation that we headed through to our capital city.

The advance notices of the tour had highlighted that Young was playing a set with a considerable smattering of old and unreleased songs from some of his now legendary "missing" albums. Ironically, none from the original Chrome Dreams but that is as typical as he seems to get.

Split between an acoustic set and an electric set, he certainly did his best to provide value for the considerable price of the tickets. To be honest, though, I'd have gladly sacrificed his wife's opening set for a further 20-30 minutes of classic Neil. If we're being blunt, Pegi wouldn't have a hope of progressing beyond the bars and club of her locale if left to her own devices and without the obviously good connections.

Young was spectacular in his own quiet way during his acoustic set, and I am pleased to say that his version of Ambulance Blues was well up to its' prior billing. One of his classic songs. The rest of set was split between the familiar (After The Goldrush, Heart Of Gold, Old Man) and the less so (Sad Movies, Try, Love Art Blues) plus some genuine surprises like Harvest and A Man Needs A Maid played with Young going between solo piano and electric strings. It was also intriguing to hear Old Man, a song written by a 24 year old man, being sung now by Young when he is at or near the age of the titular individual. "Old man, take a look at my life - I'm a lot like you are" seems to have different meaning when sung in 1972 from the 2008 version.

The electric set was a little less good largely because the current band just isn't Crazy Horse. Some of the songs were excellent (Oh Lonesome Me, Too Far Gone and No Holding Back being particular standouts) but the Horse classics whilst well-played only seemed to emphasise that Talbot and Sampedro weren't part of the current touring line-up. Not that they were bad, but Crazy Horse are such a force of nature and the players stamp their authority on the numbers that it is always a little challenging to hear them attempted by others (who might be superior players in some objective fashion).

One disappointment from the US leg of the tour was that Bad Fog Of Loneliness and Winterlong had been dropped from the set in favour of Down By The River and Hey Hey My My. Given my previous comments, I would probably have preferred to hear the less well known numbers, and would probably have had a greater appreciation of the band as a consequence.

These, however, are quibbles. Neil Young is one of the supreme artists of our time and part of the thrill is to hear him mix up his considerable repertoire. It's a sign of a true artist that he's willing to take such risks, and also to accept that some things don't quite work as a quid quo pro for finding that others excel.

Haste ye back, Neil

Concert Review : Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash

2008-03-16T20:07:00.006Z

I mentioned in a previous post about the current situation with two Wishbone Ash's treading the boards. There's the band led by Andy Powell who go out as Wishbone Ash and the one led by bassist Martin Turner who are advertised as Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash (MTWA).

Turner was the principal (if not the sole) writer in the band in their 1970's heyday and was always the best and most distinctive singer. He also had a recognisable and perhaps unique bass style which helped to make the classic Ash sound alongside the twin guitars of Powell and, in turn, Ted Turner (no relation) and Laurie Wisefield.

Turner left (or was he pushed) Wishbone in 1980 over a disagreement with his colleague over the direction that band should go in - they seemed somewhat anxious, if not desperate, to do something that would increase their commercial standing and, amongst other ideas had been toying with the idea of bringing in a lead singer which resulted in Turner upping and leaving. After that, they released the workmanlike Number The Brave (which featured an underused John Wetton who also apparently offered the band Heat Of The Moment - oops!!) and the increasingly mediocre Twin Barrels Burning and Raw To The Bone.

The original quartet reconvened in 1989 for the instrumental album Nouveau Calls (see what they did there!) followed by two studio albums in Here To Hear and Strange Affair after which Turner decamped again. By this time drummer Upton had left and, over the next couple of years, the band was down to solely Andy Powell as last man standing from the original line-up.

1996 brought a Powell-led Ash album called Illuminations which was reminiscent of previous glories even if, in some cases, there may have been too much of a sense of pastiche about the material.

However, Tony Kishman who had sung on the album was unable to commit to a UK tour and he was replaced by none other than Martin Turner!! The tour was a memorable one and there is a particularly good bootleg called Depths Of Winter which captures the band in fine form.

Needless to say, though, whatever it is that irks these two individuals reared its head again and the partnership foundered after these gigs.

Since then Powell has lead Wishbone Ash through a succession of albums, second guitarists and a couple of drummers to the present day. The albums range from excellent (Bona Fide) to the very good (Clan Destiny) to the frankly mediocre (The Power Of Eternity). They have played regularly mixing old classics with new materials to the faithful rounds the clubs of Europe and the USA. However, there was always just a certain something lacking.........

In the past couple of year, Martin Turner clearly found his playing boots lying at the back of his wardrobe. Needless to say, his own name in itself would not suffice to attract the punters and, following some level of discussion and agreement with Powell, went out as Martin Turner's Wishbone. This didn't last long and some promoters went ahead and billed them as MTWA and this is how it now stands.

The band have released a couple of excellent live albums and, in a bizarre and risky move, have rerecorded the classic Argus album. They are currently touring playing this in its' entirety alongside other Ash material (many of which have not been played live for years or at all).

My son and I took a trip down to Stanley in Co. Durham to catch them on 23rd February. The show was excellent and it was great to see Martin's considerable presence on stage again. The material was well played and sung and, it has to be said, had more of a distinctive Ash feel to things in a way the Powell-led band can't touch. That's largely down to Martin's bass-playing and singing. They are hopefully playing in Glasgow in June and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.

Meantime, Wishbone Ash will be in Glasgow on 10th April and I'll be along to the Ferry to catch them. I'm one of those who is happy to have both bands in circulation, but it's still clear to me at least that the combination of Andy and Martin would provide something more substantial together than they are perhaps likely to be able to to do apart.

Next year is the band's 40th Anniversary and Martin has made some conciliatory noises and hoping that differences can be put aside to allow some sort of celebration involving the original band as a one-off event (or, hopefully, series of events) allowing those concerned to follow their own paths thereafter. Let's hope something that can come of this - I'll be there for it.

Music Review : God Walked Past - A History of the Manband

2008-03-13T23:09:00.005Z

It's been a while since I've posted anything - the original intention of finding something to spend 20 minutes a night to share my thoughts with the outside world (or the three people who actually check out this site, whichever is the lesser!) lapsed into a case of leaving it until manana. And we know where that leads....and has lead. Anyway, occasionally something happens to break that spell and make it seem absolutely imperative to power up the laptop, log on and type furiously. Such an occasion was the receipt in the post today of God Walking Past which is Part One of a history of Man covering the period from 1968 to 1972. Jeez, still 36 years to go to the present day - just how many volumes will there be?!?!

As my acquaintances will be well aware, I am more than capable of talking at tedious length about the Manband....and occasionally for even longer than that!!! The good news for them is that all I'll need to do in future is to point them in the direction of this DVD (and its' successors) for this truly does provide the answer. The film is 3 hours and 6 minutes long with interviews with most of the major protagonists (but, sadly, not the mighty Terry Williams), footage of the band past and present playing the numbers from the early albums plus excerpts from footage of the seemingly ever-present camcorder owned by Bob Richard from the 1999 German tour. Mind you, that probably counts as a European Tour as they also venture into Switzerland.

Lovingly put together by the team at Effigy Music the films shows how the band developed out of The Bystanders and the other rising bands in the Welsh scene to become one of the pioneering and ground-breaking acts of the latter days of the 1960's and on into the 1970's. It covers the recording of the first four albums leaving the tale with the release of Do You Like It Here Now? Are You Settling In? which is one of the definitive cornerstones of the Man canon and one which I'll happily go head to head with all comers to defend.

Support is provided by many talking heads well known to Manfans including Michael Heatley, Ron Sanchez and Pete Feenstra as well as appearances from uberfan Tweke Lewis and John McKenzie who were in later versions of the band (and who will doubtless appear in the next volume which can't appear soon enough) along with a brief appearance by George Jones. I was a little surprised to hear Pete being just a little equivocal about Do You Like It Here Now, and impressed by Michael's marvellous ability to speak and hold up a copy of the CD at the same time - what a man!! I tended to agree entirely with what Ron had to say, whilst trying to make out what books or CD's he had on the shelf behind him! There's also a bit of a love-fest between the Manband and Nektar as each recall their time together in Germany in the early 1970's.

The interviews with Micky, Deke, Martin and Clive were warm, humorous and informative and depicted a bunch of very longstanding friends and colleagues with an immense amount of respect for one another and their contributions to the history of the band.

Bob's videodiaries of the 1999 tour just demonstrate the ability of the band to just keep on keeping on. It's amazing to think that they can survive each other day to day whilst travelling about in the van - six guys plus all the gear. It reminded of the last time Man played at the Ferry in Glasgow - in discussion with Martin my wife said she couldn't understand why they still travelled up and down the country to play gigs. Martin's response was definitive - "It's what we do". And long may they do so.

If you're a fan of the band, chances are you'll already be planning to get this - you won't be disappointed and you'll end up with a feeling of well-being about the world and a daft grin as I have at this point. If you're not a fan of the band, then a sample of this will point out the error of your ways in fine fashion.

Film Review : The Assassination Of John Lennon By The Coward Mark Chapman

2007-12-10T19:03:00.003Z

Well, the film is actually called The Killing Of John Lennon but the opportunity to pun on the previous post was too much to resist. In any event, Chapman wasn't a coward - just a grade A nutter.

The film was put together from Chapman's own writings and just confirmed that the confluence of circumstances which allowed him to kill Lennon seemed almost so random. Who's to say that if he hadn't been able to see Lennon on that fateful day that history may have been different.

As an ardent fan of the Beatles and their solo careers, it's possibly not the type of film that you can actually enjoy. But it is certainly one that you will want to see to try and see if you can gain some kind of understanding of the events that lead to Lennon's death. I think you might understand what happened - but as to WHY it happened, that will take something else again.

The depiction of the actual shooting was fairly gruesome and brought home without any hint of subtlety what a horrible way it was for anyone to die. An interesting counterpoint to the almost romantic tinge that surrounded the Jesse James film.

I well recall how shattered and desolate I felt when I woke up on the morning of 9th December 1980 to be greeted with the news of the shooting. This brought those feelings all rushing back and, to that extent, that's probably enough to mark this movie as a successful venture.

Does it leave any room for even some sympathy for Chapman? Not really, even though he was clearly mentally unstable and was incapable of anything other than dysfunctional relationships. He's still in Attica and, I suspect, likely to stay there. Frankly, I doubt he'd last long in this world were he to be released.

Film Review : The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

2007-12-02T22:04:00.002Z

Caught this today and it's certainly going to be a contender come Oscar time. Brad Pitt gives an awesome performance and the sheer menace he portrays onscreen is terrific, whilst Casey Affleck gives a career defining performance as the young man who fawns after James reputation and celebrity (although it would have had a different word for it in those days) but who finds that there is a twist in the tail for him after the fateful deed. And also a mention for Sam Rockwell (who's been away from our screens recently) who is excellent as the older Ford brother.

I was so sure that this film was what the word "elegiac" was designed for that I checked out a dictionary definition which suggested that it meant lamenting, and suggested other alternatives like melancholy, sorrowful and mournful. Absolutely spot on.

As the story unwinds at a slow pace (which doesn't labour in a long two hours plus film) you begin to feel that James somehow selected Ford as his nemesis given his state of mind at the time the story is unfolding, notwithstanding Ford's collaboration with the law to seek to deliver James and thus ensure his own fame and fortune.

I fully expect to see this film and its' principal actors amongst the Oscar nominations once the new year rolls around. I think both performances and film were better than American Gangster, and I now await with keen interest the release of Charlie Wilson's War which does appear to be the early runner for the statuettes.

Concert Review : Back From The Melody Motel

2007-11-29T23:54:00.003Z

When a band opens a show with two of their best known numbers you begin to wonder how they're going to be able to wind up a show on an appropriate high. Squeeze did this tonight with Take Me, I'm Yours followed by Up The Junction - songs that have previously featured at the other end of the bands sets.

However, as they pepper their set with familiar songs and you realise that there's still a considerable range of superb songs left to choose you realise that you are listening to a band with a back catalogue of songs of considerable merit. They eventually finished after one hour and fifty minutes still playing hits - the last one being Another Nail In My Heart.

Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford are another couple who have found the unfortunate facts of rock'n'roll life - that when you've had an illustrious past like them that the public will flock to see you together when they wouldn't whilst you remain apart. Last time I saw Tilbrook he was playing King Tut's Wah Wah Hut (approximate capacity of 300) whilst Difford was seen supporting Elvis Costello. Tonight the reformed Squeeze played a packed Carling Academy which holds 2,500. The math is as compelling as it's obvious.

Two of the reformed band are from Glenn's solo band whilst the bass spot is filled by the returning John Bentley who played on the three albums before the bands' first split in the early 1980's.

The set was filled with just about every song you might expect and a good few that you wouldn't - Slightly Drunk, I Think I'm Go-Go, Melody Motel and Messed Around being good examples. Only down point was the inclusion of Frank's Love Circles which I've always thought an extremely poor example of their songwriting craft (or, less politely, it's shite!). Tillbrook remains one of the most gifted singers around, and his songs are able supported by Difford's excellent lyrics.

When introducing the band Glenn said "he's back for good" when introducing Bentley. I'd like to think that means there will be some kind of future for Squeeze. If nothing else, tonight showed how much I'd missed them in the relatively short time they've been away

Music Review : Runnin' Down A Dream

2007-11-28T22:41:00.002Z

Tom Petty always had an element about him of being the luckiest man alive. His music (which I've always enjoyed) never seemed to be remotely cutting edge, but was based on the old fashioned values of good playing and good songs. Which is more than fine, but there are other artists that you can say the same about - but they never got to play with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, George Harrison, Roy Orbison amongst others. The converse, of course, is that these guys ain't mugs and wouldn't be consorting with Mr Petty unless they had a pretty high impression of him.

An entirely seperate question would be if the career of Mr Petty was worth a four hour documentary. Runnin' Down A Dream is just such a beast directed by Peter Bogdanovich (still best know for the classic The Last Picture Show and for being by far the worst actor in the Sopranos!!) albeit that it's split over two discs allowing a comfort break in between.

Four hours on anyone sounds like more of a threat than a promise but it has to be said that having sat through it tonight that it makes more than a fair stab at painting Tom as a pretty crucial figure of the past thirty years. It would probably be fair to say that he's more important to Americans than he might be those of us in Europe (although he's unquestionably a major player in these parts as well) but the documentary tells the tales well through interviews (current and past) alongside loads of vintage footage. I think the best compliment it can be paid is that it held my attention for the duration.

Does it change my view of Petty? Yes, I think it does. He's never been greatly innovative as a songwriter or a performer but the quality of his songwriting has stayed at a consistently high level for the full length of his career. He's also taken some pretty significant stands against the music industry along the way and it's clear that his integrity is important. There's also a terrific piece of footage from the sessions for Roger McGuinn's album Back From Rio where Petty lays into the producers who are trying to get McGuinn to record what Petty feels is a substandard song for someone of his stature to be recording. McGuinn acknowledged that he was being submissive and would have gone along with the request without Petty's intervention; and that Tom was absolutely right in doing what he did. Needless to say, the song in question never appeared. And the continual piling up of songs that you recognise and enjoy begins to make its own very persuasive case.

As with all these things, if you don't like Petty there's probably little in the documentary to change your mind but for commited fans or those like me who have enjoyed his work it might be a worthwhile investment.

In addition to the show, the DVD set also comes with a complete concert recorded in Tom's hometown of Gainesville which celebrated the 30th anniversary of the band, as well as a CD with a selection of complete songs from otherwise unreleased performances that are used in the film. I got this online for about £22 so it's very good value package.

Concert Review : 30 Years On

2007-11-23T22:36:00.002Z

Wishbone Ash to the Sex Pistols? No problem to me!

Last Sunday saw me at the SECC in Glasgow to catch the Sex Pistols on the last of their 30th Anniversary gigs. I saw them in 1996 when they first reunited in the wake of the successful outcome of their lawsuit against Malcolm McLaren. I got the impression that they felt that they had a point to prove, and that was they were far from being the puppets that McLaren has revelled in painting them as. And as far as I was concerned, they accomplished that mission very successfully.

Another eleven years on, the original quartet are back again. There's nothing new to play short of the entire Bollocks album plus the pick of the B-sides and covers that they played in their heyday. Unfortunately, this didn't include Satellite, the flip of Holidays In The Sun and of which I'm rather fond. But everything else was present and correct.

The classic troika of singles (excluding Holidays which isn't really in the same league) of Anarchy In The UK, God Save The Queen and Pretty Vacant are up there with the best and the muscular live renditions were more than enough to have me sharpening up (and down!) my pogoing skills. Submission was one of the great tracks on the album and was just as impressive in a live setting. And their cover of Iggy's No Fun was simply immense - it's one of these riffs that when the band get into that groove they could play it all night long without complaint from me.

Forget all the "they can't play their instruments" nonsense - that's just McLaren's big lie. This is a superb rock band from top to bottom and one more than worthy of placing amongst the greats. They might not be able to play with the virtuosity of, say, Yes. But I'd reckon that Yes couldn't play with the power and drive that the Pistols exhibited last Sunday night.

Concert Review : Sometime world...

2007-11-22T23:10:00.002Z

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to add to this. A family illness has curtailed my activities and I've not been able to (or, to be honest, wanted to) devote the relatively small amount of time needed to keep a regular flow going here.

In the meantime, I have been exhibiting all my usual characteristics of supporting young, up and coming bands. Let's see - I caught Wishbone Ash at The Ferry in Glasgow. What do you mean, they don't qualify!!

I have a particular bond with Wishbone Ash as their first album was one of the first two albums I bought with my own money. The other was the eponymous T. Rex album (the one with the fold-over picture of Marc and Micky on the cover). I don't think they ever really fully fulfilled their potential and, after the excellent Argus, their albums became more uneven for various reasons. Wishbone Four had some excellent songs, but was appallingly produced and Locked In simply stank to high heavens - of the others, Just Testing is probably the best but they all had a little something that stopped them from being absolutely top notch.

They are also one of those bands where there is now a couple of version of the band to choose from. The "official" version is led by Andy Powell (who certainly has the chronological right to the name) which Martin Turner leads his own version (who go out as Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash) who, in my opinion, probably contain the spark that made the band so special.

It was the Andy version that I saw and they gave a fine show as they have always done. There's a spattering of newer material but the set is based largely around some Argus favourites plus a varying range of other back catalogue songs. They've been active on the new album front but I must confess that their latest "The Power Of Eternity" is just the wrong side of mediocre.

I would love to see Martin' version of Ash. They've put out a couple of live albums (including some tracks featuring original guitarist Ted Turner - no relation) which suggest that they are harder hitting than their namesakes and feature Martin's distinctive singing and bass-playing. They also have a more esoteric on the back catalogue as well.

It would be good to think that differences could be buried and Martin and Andy join forces to really take Wishbone Ash to a higher level even at this stage of their career but it does appear that bridges have been well and truly burned with little prospect of any kind of reunion.

Anyway, Universal have just issued a 35th anniversary edition of Argus so if you've got a hankering after twin lead guitars and great songs then check it out

Rock's Greatest Secret

2007-10-25T21:19:00.001+01:00

It was on the 30th October 1973 (when I was just sweet sixteen) that I went to see Argent at the Apollo Theatre in Glasgow. This was actually my first gig at the newly refurbished venue which had previously seen service as Green's Playhouse. Interestingly, the support act was a band called Glencoe who contained some musicians who later formed part of Ian Durys' most excellent Blockheads.

That evening was a good gig but what was more important was that it provided the entry point for one of my musical obsessions. I was convinced to attend a gig the following evening to see Man at the City Halls in Glasgow. I was short of money and unfamiliar with the band, but the promise of a few drinks being bought for me was enough to convince me to go along.

There were three acts on the bill that evening. The opener was John St Field who was actually Jackie Leven in undercover mode - he went on to form Doll By Doll (whose albums have recently been reissued and are recommended) and thereafter on a solo career with a number of fine but little heard albums. Sandwiched in the middle was Deke Leonard's Iceberg which included two former members of Man (Deke himself plus Martin Ace), followed by Man themselves who were promoting their Back Into The Future album.

Much as I would like to rectify this, I can't say I remember much of John St Field and this may well be because we were ensconced in the bar. However, Iceberg were a revelation (and any Manfans out there will appreciate that particular pun) with a set based mostly on Deke's album of the same name. Particular highlights were 7171 551 (which is based on Michael Nesmith's name as interpreted via an old style telephone) and A Hard Way To Live which has to be one of the best singles never to have made the charts.

Man followed and were at their spaciest and I just fell in love with the whole ethos that seemed to surround the band. The fact that they were touring with guys who had been in the band not too long before seemed unusual but was a breath of fresh air.

And then they all got on stage together at the end for a riotous rendition of Spunk Rock. Rather like the reaction of babies to music they heard in the womb, hearing the riff from that piece does something to me and just elevates me to a higher place. The particular adjective used there possibly helps describe the feeling.

Man split up in 1976 (and in the intervening period Messrs Ace and Leonard rejoined to take part in the wonderful journey) but reformed in 1983 and have been proceeding in one way or another since then. I suppose everyone has a band that didn't quite make it (notwithstanding that Man played and managed to sell out the Apollo in their own) that they have a particular affinity with and Man are certainly mine. I can't for the life of me understand why they are not celebrated as one of the great UK rock bands.

The particular point (another Manpun!!) of this is that their back catalogue is now getting the level of respect it deserves and the first three albums of their Liberty/UA catalogue have been issued on Esoteric Recordings. The first of these (simply entitled Man but with a naked painting of the species on the cover to allow it to merge in quietly in the background of any album collection) is perhaps the least essential but the other two are albums that you simply should own if you consider yourself a fan of rock music. The album Do You Like It Here Now? Are You Settling In? is a stone cold classic where the idea of filler was simply inconceivable and where the song writing and playing is exemplary. It's boosted by live tracks from a German gig that, even over 35 years on, makes me regret that they were unknown to me at that time. Seldom has a live band sounded so on fire.

And just to prove that the gig was no fluke the other album is all live. Live At The Padget Rooms, Penarth was issued as a budget release (and was at number 1 on the mid-price charts for the one week it was available as a limited edition release) but the reissue features the complete concert. Quite simply stunning - there is no other word for it.

Separate from the Esoteric releases, the Greasy Truckers Party album which features Hawkwind and Brinsley Schwartz as well as my intrepid heroes has also been given an extended reissue. The version of Spunk Rock that appeared on this is, in my opinion, simply the greatest piece of live music that ever found its' way to an album. If there is one Man track you need to hear before you pass from this earth, then this is it.

The next few months will see the remainder of the bands UA output released by Esoteric and it is hoped the current version of the band will be touring in 2008 around the UK. In the meantime, I'll settle for my regular visit to Swansea to enjoy the band at their regular Xmas gig and will delight in the company of the many friends I've discovered through my love of his exceptionally fine band

The real world intrudes.......

2007-10-21T23:38:00.000+01:00

Just back from a relaxing (lazy would probably be more accurate description) weeks holiday in Spain, and the real world of work is returning to haunt me tomorrow morning.

Frustratingly, I missed three gigs during my absence that I would probably otherwise have made an attempt at attending - Richard Thompson, The Undertones and Ian Hunter - but my bank manager may be grateful for that.

Oh well, back to the grindstone.......

Concert Review : Andy Fairweather Low continued.........

2007-10-11T00:32:00.002+01:00

I shouldn't have been so pessimistic - The Ferry was well filled and jumping this evening. As expected, an excellent gig featuring just about everything you would expect to be played along with an eclectic range of other material including old country, gospel and rock'n'roll tunes.

The reaction of the audience also seem to take Andy and the other musicians aback somewhat with much singing along with the boat rocking to the encores of Bend Me, Shape Me, Hello Suzie and (If Paradise Was) Half As Nice.

If you've liked what Andy has done along the way and you've got a chance to catch this tour I'd heartily recommend it. You won't be disappointed.

Andy Fairweather Low

2007-10-09T23:12:00.001+01:00

I'll be heading off to see Andy Fairweather Low perform at The Ferry in Glasgow tomorrow night. He counts as one of the forgotten men in rock (and I do fear this might be proven in the attendance although I'll more than pleasantly surprised to be proved wrong) although he has been more than gainfully employed in the service of others for more than the last 20 years.

As lead singer in Amen Corner, I recall his somewhat static singing style and how he appeared to sing out of the corner of his mouth. He was the epitome of the uncomfortable young man on Top Of The Pops. Although they had a number of good to excellent singles, it seems that Andy had always wanted to be a guitarist and that this was perhaps the source of his discomfort.

After Amen Corner split, Fairweather emerged from the ashes (albeit this was effectively the same band but without the horn section) and had another fine hit with Natural Sinner. This didn't last any more than an album and Andy disappeared for three years before released a fine trilogy of albums in Spider Jiving, La Booga Rooga and Be Bop N'Holla. The latter was notably less successful both critically and commercially than the previous two and Andy's profile dropped for a few years until 1980 when he released Mega-Shebang which unfortunately didn't live up to its' title.

Since then, he had concentrated on being a hired hand and has served in the bands of Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Van Morrison amongst others and was also present at the tribute concert for George Harrison.

I first saw Andy perform a brief set of blues in support of Man at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff in December 2001. To be honest, it was only there that I appreciated what a wonderfully emotive guitarist he was.

So I was delighted when he issued an excellent new album last year called Sweet Soul Music. There's nothing earth shatteringly original on there - it's just great songs by a great musician with a great voice. What more can you ask for?

I saw him last year in Edinburgh at the Queen's Hall when he did a brief tour when the album came out and I'm hoping for more of the same tomorrow. So that'll be a mix of blues and gospel songs alongside songs from his seventies albums plus a healthy chunk of the new album as well.

And he did give a nod to his sixties legacy performing Bend Me, Shape Me and (If Paradise Was) Half As Nice as an encore.

I will be driving so I can tell you that I won't be wide eyed and legless!

Brian Wilson

2007-10-08T23:37:00.001+01:00

It's been one of the great pleasures (and without the slighted pang of guilt) to have enjoyed the musical renaissance of Brian Wilson over the last decade. At the outset of this period I wouldn't have bet a single penny on my chances of seeing him perform far less that I would by now have seen him so often (now into double figures) and that they would be without exception the greatest concerts I have seen. Everyone else simply trails in his wake.

During that period I've seen him perform Pet Sounds in its' entirety, start to perform songs that you might have thought he would have been reluctant to revisit culminating in the performance of a completed version of SMiLE.

That would seem to be enough for any artist to allow themselves a gentle rest on their laurels, and it appeared that Brian might have been doing that when more straightforward hits-based shows followed the completion of the SMiLE tours. (And I am aware that to describe some of Brian's songs as "straightforward" is a considerable abuse of the English language).

However, Brian has certainly astonished me with the recent performances of his latest work "That Lucky Old Sun - A Narrative". I had the pleasure of seeing him perform this in London at the Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 15 September and again in Edinburgh the following Saturday at the Festival Theatre. Bolstered also by becoming more familiar with the piece as a result of some audience recordings I think it's fair to say that this work is the real deal and is going to be heralded alongside some of the peaks that Brian enjoyed in the 1960's.

Whilst his solo albums have been enjoyable, they have never been sufficiently consistent. For every moment of inspiration there's been too many moments of perspiration or just incomplete ideas. That Brian was able to record and release new material was a joy in itself but I held out little hope that we could ever see an album of new material that would match his best work.

However, That Lucky Old Sun will do just that if, as is to be hoped, Brian takes his excellent band and the Stockholm Strings & Horns into the studio to record it. At thirty five minutes it may be too short for an album in these modern times, but I do think it deserves to stand alone without other songs to distract attention from what is undoubtedly a major piece of work.

Surf's Up!!

Film Review : Control

2007-10-07T23:35:00.003+01:00

I was never a huge fan of Joy Division although Love Will Tear Us Apart was clearly a thing of rare power and beauty, so I'm not going to claim to be one of the several millions who seemed to attend their gigs but who can't be clearly accounted for by a review of their gigging schedule during their relatively brief existence.

However, that didn't stop me going to see Control at the cinema as the story of Ian Curtis life and death is clearly one that has helped to cement the legendary status that the band now hold. I'm very glad I did as it's an excellent movie and one of those rare films that inhabits your thought processes for hours after the credits have rolled.

The casting was excellent (with perhaps the one exception being Tony Wilson) and it gave a real sense of Curtis as an already insecure but talented individual backed into a corner by the troika of growing success, a failing marriage that he needs to continue to cling to and the ongoing impact of his epilepsy.

There's one scene in particular which seemed to sum up his life in many way when he is confronted by his wife Debbie (played by Samantha Morton) where he backs off and continues to back off until he ends up in the corner of the room with nowhere else to go. It doesn't take much to imagine that was how he felt the morning that he decided to take his own life.

Impressively, the actors who played Joy Division actually performed the music themselves and it came across very well indeed. Sam Riley himself was a revelation as Curtis and he made the character live (if that's not a somewhat inappropriate description but I hope you see what I mean).

All in all, the experience was sufficient to encourage me to reinvestigate the Joy Division back catalogue (recently reissued in the remastered and expanded form) and to purchase Deborah Curtis' book on which the film was based.

Concert Review : From Rush to the Rezillos

2007-10-07T10:16:00.003+01:00

I was at two concerts this week. Rush played at the SECC on Wednesday. Although open to considerable debate, I suppose you would generally classify them at the prog end of the scale. On Friday, I went to see The Rezillos at the ABC2. Definitely not at the prog end of the scale, and probably most easily classified as punk (although equally open to debate).

I had a great time at both gigs but I know of many people who struggle with the idea that I can accomodate both within the realms of my listening. Frankly, I struggle with the idea that they can't!

Even though the so-called punk wars took place thirty years ago history seems to have been written in a way that suggests that punk slayed the dinosaurs of rock. A look at the facts easily shows this to be utter bollocks.

Punk did provide a kick up the pants to the music scene and (as with just about every trend) left us with a batch of great bands that we remember with fondness and still listen to and even more that we've probably forgotten sufficiently to be embarrassed about ever giving them the time of day in the first place.

In any event, it always struck me that punk was more about attitude than either the music or the fashions of the day. It's greatest legacy was the proliferation of independent labels, and the acceptance that bands could do it all by themselves. This continues to this day, aided by the technological advances which mean that everyone's bedroom can be a recording studio and where the Internet allows you to get that music out to an audience at the proverbial touch of a button.

I was in my late teens when punk hit in the seventies and was just old enough not to be overly concerned with purging my musical past to make way for the new bands. I was happy to continue to listen to the Pink Floyd whilst loving the Sex Pistols classic run of singles. Happy to enjoy The Clash without feeling the need to worry about Elvis, Beatles and The Rolling Stones in 1977. And so it continues to this day with my concert double-bill from this week.

The irony, of course, is that the artists who rose to the surface via punk that survived and prospered were ones that, by and large, had a very fine grasp of their musical heritage and ultimately had no real belief that punk was any kind of Year Zero whatever their rhetoric might have been. That's not a problem to me as we are all no more than the sum of our contradictions anyway, although too often we damn our heroes because of theirs.