The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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Does vision matter as much as sound?

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I was chatting to another member of the Massive last night about this so I thought I’d see what others think. After my moan about the sound quality for Squeeze’s gig at the Albert Hall, we were wondering whether it’s important to have a clear view of the stage as well as good sound. We were at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall where the stalls are only gently raked upwards. Right in the centre of the front row was a very tall (6’4″ or 6’5″ I think – he’ll correct me if I’m wrong), broad bald feller and, particularly when he took to his feet (and he was standing for at least half the gig) the people in the 2 rows behind him must have been really struggling to see, especially as the people either side of him were both over 6′. Fortunately, I was fine as I was standing next to him and had an absolutely perfect audio-visual experience. Bellowhead’s sound people did a superb job and every instrument was audible and the whole sound was well-balanced. The band were superb. I think it was my gig of the year, but I might not have enjoyed it quite so much if » Continue Reading.

When gigs come to you…

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I’m currently sitting on the couch trying to enjoy an episode of the excellent Netflix series Is it cake too? but all I can hear is Def Leppard playing a gig in my local park. Nothing against the PSSOM hitmakers but blimey they are loud. What’s the shortest distance you’ve had to go to hear a gig?

Encounters with Civilians #2

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A few years back in this place, in our time-honoured way, we shared our tales of what happens at the Venn diagram intersection of our own musical world and the normal lives of the rest of our world – family, non-music friends, colleagues. I was reminded of this on this day last year. One of my union muckers, aware that I was unlikely to be doing something straightforward like going to see the Alex, had driven the local train to take me to Crewe and once there, I was greeted with a

“Eh up, lad, where you off to?” “Audlem Bagpipe and Hurdy Gurdy Day.” “Do you know? I regretted asking that question even before I’d finished asking it.”

So how are the experiences with civilians going?

Further, while I know from blogs passim that this musical combination sounds like a real horror show to many of you, and the accompanying link probably won’t convert you. But surely you’ve got to love that, for one day a year, an obscure village on the Cheshire/Shropshire border becomes the focus for drone-driven dance music. There will be Northumbrian pipes, uilleann pipes, border pipes, English bagpipes and so much more than » Continue Reading.

Your best live albums

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I know we’ve done live albums on more than one occasion before, but still, it’s a rich vein.

I was listening to Van Morrison’s It’s Too Late To Stop Now, Vols II, III and IV yesterday and marvelling at what a remarkable record it is. And the arrangements really make it. There are eleven people onstage including Morrison, and every part has its own lines, distinctive and clear. Strings are invariably used on rock records to provide a gloopy background, but here the quartet has a real role to play with lead lines and melodies enhancing the songs throughout. Ditto the two brass instruments which are never just reinforcing noise. Jeff Labes’ keyboard and John Platania’s guitar weave in and out with the texture of a jazz ensemble.

The playing is fantastic, and, above it all, Van’s vocals magnificent as he goes from bullhorn to whisper and back again in a stroke. What you hear is the essence of all great live albums – musicians feeding off each other, off the audience, and off the moment in a way that can never be created in the studio.

Many of my favourite live albums do this – Allman Brothers at Fillmore » Continue Reading.

Your Introducing the Band classics please

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Listening to Black and White by the Stranglers I was reminded of the old rock tradition that is the ‘Introducing the Band’ number, as in the amazingly crass, sexist and quite entertaining number here. It shares many of the defining characteristics of this curious feature of the gig:

It’s not really a song is it, more a throwaway riff with the frontman demonstrating his wit and charisma over the top. Musical genre – riffy blues-rock. Each band member introduced in turn with a hilarious quip that sounds just as spontaneous on the 93rd date of the tour as the opening night (‘Dave Greenfield on his huge swelling organ’) Solos by instruments and players that were never meant to solo (check out Jean-Jacques Burnels ‘bass solo’ here, a masterpiece Some call-and-response riff here (She’s got 36-24-36 hips etc) for the crowd to sing along to.

Baby Drives Me Crazy on Live and Dangerous is another classic of the genre. It’s testament to the power of the seventies double live lp that many of these were committed to vinyl to torment those far away from the front row at the Hope and Anchor or Glasgow Apollo. The Stranglers track was originally on » Continue Reading.

See in 1981 with The E Street Band

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The latest live archive release from the Springsteen vault – freshly mastered from the tapes comes Nassau Coliseum from 31st December 1980. Another old bootleg bites the dust.

Well worth yer $12 or whatever

http://live.brucespringsteen.net/live-music/0,12284/Bruce-Springsteen—The-E-Street-Band-mp3-flac-download-12-31-1980-Nassau-Veterans-Memorial-Coliseum-Uniondale-NY.html