Royal Blood at the Electric Ballroom, Camden, 6 November 2014

Posted on November 11, 2014 by John S

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Finally the moment came. I got to see Royal Blood live! I’ve been listening to the album so much in the past few months, just loving the raw rock’n’roll riffs and rhythms. It’s an album where my favourite track keeps on changing because there are so many good ones. Right now it’s “Figure It Out”, which has one of those riffs which build and build and then explode. You can imagine a crowd going ape at that moment. I paid well over the odds for a couple of tickets, as the tour sold out within minutes. But I really wanted to see the band in a reasonably intimate venue before they get too big to play places like the Electric Ballroom in Camden.

I went with my good friend, Dave, The Big Man. A metal enthusiast. Would it rock hard enough for him? Being distinctly middle-aged rockers we started the evening at the excellent Sushi Salsa restaurant by the canal in Camden. Superb sushi, sashimi and tempura, washed down with a few Asahis. A quick stop in a Brazilian bar on the High Street and then on to the Electric Ballroom. Modern living…

I’m not sure what to say about the gig, really. It lived up to my expectations. They played the album and a couple of other tracks. It flashed by – no encore, just an hour of out and out hard rocking rock’n’roll. The place was packed, the fans were going for it, though there was less moshing and beer throwing than I’d expected. The light show was was just right – strident without being flashy or distracting. And Mike Kerr on bass/guitar and Ben Thatcher on drums made an awesome noise.

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Oddly they started the show with a track that wasn’t on the album, a B-side called “Hole”. I’d expected an explosive start, maybe the album opener, “Out Of The Black”. That was actually the last track they played and it worked brilliantly, extended and absolutely punching. The second last song was the wonderful “Loose Change”, which is probably my favourite track of all when I stop moving around. After “Hole” at the start, they played “Come On Over”, which is the most metallic track on the album, a sort of cross between Motorhead and Zep, and the first track to get my favourite mark. From there it was solid rocking. Highlights, of course, included “Figure It Out” with its brilliant build up and explosion into riffdom and “Careless”, with perhaps the closest thing to a pop melody. But that is another thing about Royal Blood: they rock hard, but they also have tunes.

So it was basically just an hour of pure musical pleasure. Stripped down rock’n’roll. Nothing to analyse too deeply, unless you want to wonder how or why a couple of young lads from Brighton have reinvented early seventies hard rock with a bit of White Stripes and Queens Of The Stone Age thrown in. And why it has got such an enthusiastic reaction.

Yeah, why?

Well, I’d say because when someone comes up with a brilliant rock’n’roll beat, drums thumping, bass rhythm pounding, guitars riffing, and great tunes, we are all there, all ages…

Ready to rock!

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lovelondonscenes – 74

Posted on November 4, 2014 by John S

The Thames path between Lambeth and Westminster bridges. It’s got a name but I can’t remember it. This was last Friday, a lovely autumn day, when temperatures rose to 20 degrees. Down to 9 today!

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lovelondonscenes – 73

Posted on November 1, 2014 by John S

One man rowing on a surfboard, or something like it, on the Thames at Hammersmith as the sun starts to set today.

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Elvis Costello at the Royal Albert Hall, 29 October 2014

Posted on November 1, 2014 by John S

Last Wednesday I went along to the to the Royal Albert Hall to see Elvis Costello, supported by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. It was part of a Blues festival that week, not that I’ve ever associated Elvis with the blues, although his association with American country and rock’n’roll music and his flirtations with bar room torch songs takes him there in spirit.

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Love the Albert Hall roof!

I’ve been a fan of Elvis since the very beginning, when he was on the Stiff label and released his first album, “My Name Is True”, in 1977. I think I’ve seen him live more than any other artist, the first time being Finsbury Park Rainbow in 1981, when he was still an angry young man and was promoting one of his finest albums, “Trust”. So it was great to renew the acquaintance, after a few years without seeing him.

Georgie Fame made his name in the sixties, when his make of rhythm’n’blues and jazz was at the height of its popularity. He had a couple of No1 hit singles, including the latin jazz beat of “Yeh Yeh”, which he played on Wednesday. He’s carried on playing music, collaborating with all sorts of people, including Van Morrison, and I have to say, was very impressive. He had members of his old band, the Blue Flames with him – the playing was as you’d expect – slick, real quality. My highlight was their extended rendition of Van Morrison’s “Moondance”, with great trumpet, sax and guitar solos. I loved the sounds – including an amazing solo in one of the earlier songs – from the xylophone too. Classic sixties jazz style.

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Georgie is now in his seventies. He looked spruce and his voice was excellent. He still seemed to have the range. He told a good story too – humorous, but also full of respect for fellow artists and full of passion for the music. I thought to myself, I hope I’m in that good shape when I’m that age. It occurred to me that a life in music – despite the temptations – keeps you young. In mind for sure, and maybe the body follows.

Elvis came on to sing with Georgie at the end, and Georgie returned the compliment during Elvis’s set. Elvis’s show was billed as a solo performance, but in fact he was accompanied by old accomplice Steve Nieve on piano for the first part of the show and some of the closing numbers.

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One of the things I’ve always liked about Elvis live his the way he reinterprets his songs. Reconstructs them at times. And he has such an extensive back catalogue that you never know what he will come up with next. It’s why he is always worth seeing. You’ll be able to celebrate a few old favourites, yes, but he’ll keep you on your toes as a listener. You’ll stay intrigued. It was certainly like that, especially in that opening section with Steve Nieve. If my scrawled notes are correct, the sequence went: Accidents Will Happen – Shot By His Own Gun – Pills and Soap – I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea- London’s Brilliant Parade – Almost Blue. Elvis Classics, every one. With just Elvis’s guitar to accompany him, Steve Nieve let rip with all sorts of piano grandiosity, really adding to the dramatic content of the likes of “Shot By His Own Gun” and “Pills And Soap”.”I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea”, which is a song that Elvis has always played around with, came out almost as a piece of cabaret this time. And I loved the way the two of them tackled “Almost Blue”, with Elvis on the piano and Steve on the melodica, an instrument that always puts me in mind of Augustus Pablo’s dub reggae sound.

Elvis was in good voice – though my friend Steve thought he’d lost a bit of range – and very good spirits. Like Georgie Fame, he told a good story, which added to the feel good vibe of the evening. In the solo session he worked his way through a few more old favourites like “Every Day I Write The Book” and “Good Year For The Roses”, “When I Was Cruel”, “45” and a few country/blues pieces which were unfamiliar to me, but could easily have been on his most recent albums, which I’ve not paid proper attention to. “The Delivery Man” is the last one I gave my full attention and I’m now reminded that it came out ten years ago!

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Steve Nieve came back for the encore and the two of them rattled through “Ship Building”, “Oliver’s Army” and “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love And Understanding”. Unlike the earlier session, they were all played pretty straight. I think they were running out of time, because the roadie brought an electric guitar on stage and it wasn’t used. I suspect we missed out on something like “Pump It Up” given the popularity of the other choices. And then Elvis ended the show with a vocal without a microphone. Elvis completely unplugged. The song was “I Couldn’t Call It Unexpected #4” from “Mighty Like A Rose”. Not exactly one of his hits. Oh well, I did say you never know what to expect from Elvis. And it did have a rousing air to it – if you could hear him. (Which I could).

A perverse twist to end the evening. Especially if he had run out of time for “Pump It Up”!

But that’s one of the reasons we love Elvis….

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Elvis with his guitars

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Have You Heard? – (56) “Ocean Of Sound” compiled by David Toop

Posted on October 31, 2014 by John S

“Ocean Of Sound” is a 2 CD compilation released in 1996 and compiled by musician and writer David Toop. It is a brilliant tour through the outer reaches of music. I wrote something about it tonight for my book. In a short chapter about five compilations I love. I thought I’d share it with you.

And that leaves number five. The masterpiece. A compilation so audacious in its scope, so challenging in its intentions, which was to bring a world of different music under the theme of ambience: but not as background music, rather something you could really immerse yourself in. The album was “Ocean Of Sound”, compiled by David Toop, avant garde musician and writer, associated with punk and new wave, but moving so far beyond that. As I looked back to check my facts I was reminded that he was a member of the Flying Lizards. That figures.

The album came out in early 1996, preceded by a book on the subject, with interviews by some of the artists who appeared on the album. I never got around to reading it – I really should. But the music was superb. An intriguing, exciting mix of sounds from the outer reaches of modern music, be it electro, jazz, classical, reggae, world or rock’n’roll. Or indeed the sound of the natural world: there are recordings of howler monkeys and bearded seals, which really are not out of place. The bearded seals flow from an awesome piece of noise from the Velvet Underground called “I Heard Her Call My Name”, which I hadn’t encountered until I heard “Ocean Of Sound”. For me it is one of the great Velvets tracks. Likewise, one of the best reggae dub tracks I have ever heard is the opening piece on the first CD, “Dub Fi Gwan”, by King Tubby. It’s so cool, so laid back and atmospheric – you can imagine yourself high up in the Jamaican hills, maybe supping from a coconut with a bit of rum in it. It’s followed by “Rain Dance” by Herbie Hancock, a bubbling bit of free jazz that amazingly was recorded in 1973, but sounds like it could be 2003. And then you get “Analogue Bubblebath 1” by Aphex Twin, pioneering electro, “Empire” by John Hassell which is wavering jazz saxophones with African beats, and then an Indonesian piece, some stately gamelan, by Ujang Suryana. And then it’s into a rendition of Claude Debussy’s “Prelude A L’Apres Midi D’Un Faune”. It’s so good! It really is a journey of musical discovery like no other.

Eno gets a look in of course, as do My Bloody Valentine, with “Loomer. I reckon Massive Attack could just about have sneaked in – maybe a track off “Mezzanine”. Bowie too – something off “Heroes” or “Low”. But they didn’t. This is an album that took me to new places, and to this day I still marvel at it.

The compilation to end all compilations!

Get it if you can…

While the album travels the world – geographically and musically –  the Velvet Underground song, for me lies at its heart. It’s wild, discordant, anarchic – one of the greatest pieces of rock’n’roll noise I have ever heard.

Here it is on YouTube. You may hate it. You might even think it’s boring. But then again, you might just love it, like me…

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The Staves at the Crypt on the Green, Clerkenwell

Posted on October 28, 2014 by John S

I went to see one of my favourite bands, The Staves, tonight, at the Crypt on the Green, Clerkenwell. Under St James’s church. The three sisters – Emily, Camilla and Jessica – have been touring some fairly small venues, trying out a load of new songs, as well as playing plenty of the old (old?) favourites.

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And those new ones were good! They started with “The Blood I Bled”, which gets released as feature track on an EP tomorrow. I’ve heard it a few times, but live it was superb. The wonderful vocals, the harmonies, mixed with guitar and resonant percussion. It was followed by another excellent, intricate new song, “Steady”. The acoustics of the Crypt worked really well for the vocals, I thought. An absolutely joy, especially for the harmonies of “Wisely and Slow”, which might just have been the best version I’ve enjoyed live.

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The only problem with going underground was that it got hotter and hotter. I’m not sure I could cope with a full-on rock’n’roll band there!

The new songs were a development from the first album. More of the heavy percussion and electric guitars (one song, “Teeth White” was quite rocky), but still some beautifully tender moments. There were three lovely vocal/acoustic pieces in the middle of the set, whose names I didn’t catch, which I can’t wait to hear on record one day. The new album is going to be good. Not sure when it is due or even what it will be called, but it surely must take The Staves to another level.

The main set finished with the epic “Eagle Song”. It’s a song made for the climax – almost prog rock! They came back for an encore to do the lovely, simply strummed “Facing West”, with Camilla on the ukelele, and then a glorious “Winter Trees”. During the set we had an entrancing “Mexico” and the defiant “Pay Us No Mind” too. The latter dedicated to men who don’t listen!

I felt like I was listening to a group who have grown in assurance, adding depth to the music without sacrificing the essence of their appeal, which is the beauty of their intertwined vocals. It felt right to be listening to them in (or below) a church, because the singing of The Staves is truly spiritual.

And I was watching a group who were relaxed, humorous, confident about their new sounds. The vibe was really positive.

The Staves are going places….

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Sportsthoughts (120) – The West Ham renaissance

Posted on October 25, 2014 by John S

This is not a blog I expected to be writing. And I know things could could change very quickly. But…

West Ham are in the top four and playing brilliantly!

Today we beat Man City, last season’s Premier League champions, 2-1. Four games ago we beat last year’s second, Liverpool, 3-1. In between we’ve polished off a couple of the promoted teams, QPR and Burnley. There has only been one bad defeat all season – at home to Southampton – but given that they are playing even better than us, and have risen to second place today, that doesn’t seem so bad now. The other defeats, to Spurs and Man Utd, were both unlucky.

This is SO different to last season. The team is playing fast, incisive, attacking football. The energy is high, the commitment huge. Confidence is flowing through the team as they realise what they can do. No longer is it just long balls up to the big man, hoping for scraps. It’s still direct, there is still a lot of crossing from the wings, but that’s OK, because it’s precise and players are getting forward to support the target men. Last season, you might get a ball punted to Carlton Cole or Andy Carroll, and at best two or three people running into support positions. Now there are five or six.

What’s the difference? Well, clearly the raft of signings in the summer has delivered. Valencia (who played for Ecuador in the World Cup) and Sakho up front, Kouyate, Amalfitano, Zarate and Song in midfield, full backs Cresswell and Jenkinson. As I watched all this purchasing, I admit I felt a bit of scepticism. I liked the ambition, but a lot weren’t that well-known and you had to wonder whether they would gel. But they have. Every single one of those players has done well.

Valencia and Sakho (from French team Metz) have been extraordinary up front. Both fast, strong, sklilful and with a good eye for goal. Sakho has scored in six successive matches. Valencia terrorised the Man City defence today. Even the mighty Vincent Kompany was rattled.

Zarate has been in and out of the team but has shown good vision in the hole behind the front two. Amalfitano, bought from Marseille, with previous experience at West Brom, has shown skill and vision out wide and did an excellent job today. Kouyate, from Anderlecht, had been awesome in midfield until he got injured, and it was good to see him back as a sub today. And then there is Alex Song. Ex-Arsenal and Barcelona. How did we get him? Never mind, we must keep him. He was magnificent today, the dominant midfielder, outplaying Yaya Toure. A destroyer and a creator – he initiated the first goal with a superb pass behind City’s left back Clichy, to Valencia, who sped through and cut back to Amalfitano for a tap in. An amazing move. I had a shiver down my spine – this sort of thing has not been happening at West Ham for years.

The two young full backs – Cresswell from Championship Ipswich and Jenkinson, an England international unwanted at Arsenal (bizarre) on loan – have looked assured, good going forward and… just excellent!

And around all these new players, Mark Noble remains busy and effective in the midfield holding role (outrageously overlooked by England), Tomkins, Reid and Collins (perm two from three) have been solid in central defence and Stewart Downing has been reborn as the high point in a midfield diamond. Adrian has been excellent in goal. There is experience on the bench: Jarvis, Demel, Cole, Nolan, Vaz Te, with Andy Carroll due to return in the near future.

Blimey, how did this happen?

Last season was so poor that the majority of West Ham fans (me included) were calling for the manager’s head. Big Sam, it was acknowledged, had got us back into the Premier League and consolidated well in the first season. The second was disappointing, we flirted with relegation and the football was ugly, unadventurous, all about percentages. Antithetical to the West Ham tradition of attractive football (even if it wasn’t always that successful). Things had to change. The Board clearly realised this, initiated the summer spending spree, got ex-England striker Teddy Sheringham in as attacking coach and told Sam, publicly, that he had to change his ways. The suspicion was that it would all end in tears, but it hasn’t. The football has improved hugely and the results have come. The energy, the pressing, the interchanges, the chances created today –  against City – were a revelation.

Fourth in the Premier League!

Only nine games in. Anything could happen. Injuries could wreck the momentum. It could all be a false dawn. The recriminations could begin again. But something feels better. The optimism – and relief – marking the comments on Twitter today was unprecedented.

Football fans are a fickle bunch – they could turn if we lose to Stoke next week. But this feels so much better.

So credit to the Board for getting the chequebook out and demanding a new style. To the new players for adapting so quickly to new surroundings and the established players for adapting to the new formations and style. And, yes, to Sam Allardyce, for shaking off his caution and rigidity and presiding over the renaissance. He will argue that he would have done it anyway, given the resources, and that it was a natural progression. He will point to his past record with Bolton. Well maybe, but it didn’t feel that way.

Anyway doesn’t matter how it came about right now, because we are all happy!

Let’s hope Sportsthoughts (125) in December isn’t asking where it all went wrong…

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Thumbs up to Wilko Johnson!

Posted on October 24, 2014 by John S

There was great news yesterday that Wilko Johnson, guitarist with Dr Feelgood in their seventies heyday, has had a successful operation to remove a tumour which had previously been thought to make his cancer terminal. Fingers crossed it stays successful.

This is Wilko in 1975 with singer Lee Brilleaux and bassist John B. Sparks behind him.

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And Wilko recently.

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Wilko is one of the great rock’n’rollers. Dr Feelgood were precursors of punk, bringing back the three minute rock’n’roll song in the face of prog rock self indulgence. Wilko left the band quite early on, and they were never quite as sharp again. I and a couple of friends saw him a couple of years ago in the Lexington pub  in North London (looking like he does in that second photo). He was still magnificent and slightly crazed, as he always was – playing his choppy, buzzsaw guitar, inspired by Chuck Berry, but really like no-one else. His partnership in the Feelgoods with Lee Brilleaux (sadly departed many years ago) was, for me, one of the greatest in rock’n’roll: up there with Strummer and Jones, Jagger and Richards.

Their greatest song was “She Does It Right”, off their debut album, “Down By The Jetty”.

Long may Wilko rock!

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39 years on – another Status Quo concert!

Posted on October 23, 2014 by John S

My first ever proper rock rock concert was Status Quo at Leicester de Montfort Hall in May 1975. Aged 16.

They played four beats to the bar rock’n’roll and blues turned up to heavy.  The sound was monstrous. I was was right at the front – doing what today would be called moshing, I suppose. I touched Francis Rossi’s plimsoll. Looking round and up at the circle, I could see that it was moving up and down, wobbling, as everyone stood up and jumped to the same metronomic beat. Frightening. As resident fifth form scribe in Johnson’s house at Oakham school, I penned a short letter to Sounds music magazine on behalf of all who attended the concert. Flob, Morv, Rollo, Hedgepig amongst them. It went something like: We went to see Quo at Leicester, they were f*****g  brilliant! It got published….

Tonight, somewhat against my better judgement, I went with my two Yorkie friends called Dave to see the two main men from Quo – Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt – play an acoustic set of the band’s hits, mainly from their best days in the early seventies. It was being transmitted live for BBC Radio 2 and shown on the red button on TV.

Why against my better judgement? Well, because while I absolutely loved them in the mid-seventies – before punk blew everything apart –  they turned increasingly into an East End knees up pub band, which is fine in an East End pub, after West Ham have won. Otherwise, no thanks.

Anyway, Big D persuaded me and not-s0-big D to come along. And it was pretty good, especially the first half of the set, when they played most of my old favourites. “Paper Plane”, “Caroline”, “Down Down”, “Mystery Song”, and the wonderful “Softer Ride”, with its immortal line, I don’t wanna work, I don’t wanna work no more. The only one that was really missing was “Roll Over Lay Down”.

The crowd, naturally, was mostly 40 and over, predominantly male, and with a high proportion of closely-cropped heads. I think a fair few might have been West Ham season ticket holders.

The band was much larger than the old Quo. There were FIVE guitarists, a string section, accordion player, and two backing singers, amongst others. The old hard rock sound was stripped back to basics and then embellished. It worked well. It brought home the fact that Quo were rooted in American country-blues, amped up and speeded up. The accordion was a nice touch, though, as not-so-big D pointed out, it ran the risk of making the music sound like a Bavarian stomp. The hideous spectre of the “Birdy Song” loomed.

And that was what happened in the second half of the show. As I look at the playlist now, I see that some of the songs were still from the golden era, but it became increasingly like that pub knees-up. I cannot deny that the audience was reacting increasingly enthusiastically as I switched off. But by the end, I was expecting someone in Lederhosen to come on the stage and pump some elbows.

It was good to see the Quo again. I’m listening to them on iTunes as I write this. They will always have a place in my musical heart, although I cut them off brutally from 1977, with the making of “Rocking All Over The World”, which I could just about appreciate, but which heralded the descent into knees-up.

Tonight’s show started really well, then got dull, then got gruesome. But only if I’m being a musical extremist. It was actually fun all the way through. People were really enjoying themselves. You can’t knock that.

Here’s a video of Quo playing “Caroline” in 1973. Their best song?

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lovelondonscenes – 72

Posted on October 19, 2014 by John S

I walk through the grounds of Chelsea Art College (which isn’t in Chelsea) on the way to and from work most days. Last week, this thing appeared, as things often do – it’s an arts college. It looks like something that could have sprung up from a seventies episode of Doctor Who. The square is illuminated at night by strips of light from tubes built into the paving. It’s arty…

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On another night…

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Are Kraftwerk in the area?

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