When I bought the Charlotte Hatherley album earlier this year my first thought was that it was one of the worst records I'd heard in some time. Thankfully, I have never been a first impressions are alway right person, so I gave it more time and found that it was in fact a pretty decent record. I must however confess to thinking that her voice is rather weak and weedy, a fact that didn't fill me with great expectations when the opportunity to see her perform an acoustic set live presented itself (as it turned out Hatherley was also accompanied on electric guitar by 'charly').
How wrong could I be. Playing a set that cherry picked the best tracks off the current album ( I want you to know, Behave, Be Thankful, Wounded Sky, Siberia, as well as throwing in old favourite Basardo and a few well choosen covers: Simon Dupree and the Big Sounds’- Kite, a Wire song that I recognised and have shamefully forgotten the title of ; and Kim Wilde’s - Kids in America, this was surprisingly good. The voice actually holds up well live and the song choices didn't leave time to get bored in the 55 minute set. Good stuff.
The support act we're a nice discovery too - Godwits. They are a 5 piece normally, but we got two band members (guitar and violin) for this acoustic night. I really liked their sound, and the song Fires has been in my head today. A band to watch.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
THE PROBLEM BEING; GLOBAL CITIZEN; CASSETTE - Madam Jo Jo's 21/06/2007
Part of the regular Thursday night at the club 'The Glitz', this week was Depeche Mode themed, with virtually all the music played by the DJ's outside of the sets by the band being by DM. Each band also threw in a cover or two in the spirit of the evening. I must confess I have gone along primarily to see Cassette, who have released one of my favourite singles of 2007 - The Smartest Bomb. They also turned out to be the best band of the evening in my opinion, wonderfully 80's synth heaven. Global Citizen was a bit odd. Musically not at all bad, but the bad Gary Newman esq. vocals really didn't do much for me and I was happy when his set had finished. The Problem Being all have different 80's haircuts and want to RAWK ... They were ok in a Sigue Sigue Sputnik naff kind of way, but I wont loose any sleep if I don't see and hear them again.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Neil Justin of PopMatters picks his top 10 musical moments and has a spot in it form Todd.
Pat Metheny, Todd Rundgren and Taj Mahal, “Sunday Night” (1989): Those who saw NBC’s late-night experimental series are bound to agree with me that it was the finest musical show ever because it took more chances than a Flying Wallenda. I’ll never forget the night the band dressed up in sailors’ uniforms while unlikely geniuses teamed up for a medley from “HMS Pinafore.” Gilbert and Sullivan would have been proud
Pat Metheny, Todd Rundgren and Taj Mahal, “Sunday Night” (1989): Those who saw NBC’s late-night experimental series are bound to agree with me that it was the finest musical show ever because it took more chances than a Flying Wallenda. I’ll never forget the night the band dressed up in sailors’ uniforms while unlikely geniuses teamed up for a medley from “HMS Pinafore.” Gilbert and Sullivan would have been proud
Shawn Colvin - Sheperds Bush Empire 18/06/2007
Shawn Colvin is 51. Hard to believe looking at her sat on stage at the Empire. She delivers a 75 minute set with 15 minute encore filled full of her beautifully crafted folk-pop. The Set draws mainly from her excellent current record, These Four Walls and her Grammy award winning A Few Small Repairs. [I must confess I would personally have liked a bit more from Whole New You and Steady On - still yearn to hear Something To Believe In live].
Highlights in the main set included: Fill me Up; Wichita Skyline and of course Sunny Came Home. In the encore you could not fault her very entertaining cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and wonderful rendition of Amy Grants's If These Walls Could Speak.
This was the second time I had seen Colvin having previously seen her support Mary Chapin Carpenter (a great gig by the way). Good value.
Also worthy of a mention was the support act Jack Savoretti, a 22 year old whipper-snapper who with singer-songwriters back being 'cool' could become a huge star. He seems amiable, is good looking enough for the ladies, and write a pretty decent tune or two too. One to watch.
Highlights in the main set included: Fill me Up; Wichita Skyline and of course Sunny Came Home. In the encore you could not fault her very entertaining cover of Gnarls Barkley's Crazy and wonderful rendition of Amy Grants's If These Walls Could Speak.
This was the second time I had seen Colvin having previously seen her support Mary Chapin Carpenter (a great gig by the way). Good value.
Also worthy of a mention was the support act Jack Savoretti, a 22 year old whipper-snapper who with singer-songwriters back being 'cool' could become a huge star. He seems amiable, is good looking enough for the ladies, and write a pretty decent tune or two too. One to watch.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Contact music has news of the release next month of the Under The Influence Of Giants debut album. The band features Jamin Wilcox (Willie Wilcox's son) on drums (of course)
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