Musings on the byways of popular culture
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One for 70’s soft rock aficionados. If you have a cheese allergy, best leave now.
I draw your attention to SilverTwin, a band I discovered quite by accident, having been recommended Novelty Island (great, but more 60s/Nilsson vibe) who are supporting them. I’m not affiliated with them in any way but thought if you like any music in the ELO/Gilbert O’Sullivan/Supertramp/Wings arena, I think they’re well worth a listen. They play the Lexington in November, and I’m there with bells on.
Here’s a heartwarming story for the start of 2020… Earlier this year, I asked my pal Ali Mackenzie (Ireland’s greatest bass player) if he’d fancy getting a 40-minute set of songs by his mid-90s band the Bush Turkeys together for a four-band charity show I was running in September (featuring popular mid-90s Belfast bar bands reuniting as a one-off).
I hadn’t expected Ali to go the whole hog (or three-quarters of it) and get three of the four from the classic Turkeys line-up together: Ludo on vocals, Dave on drums, and himself – plus relative youngster and local blues sensation Lonesome Chris Todd fastidiously figuring out the electric guitar parts of various former members from recordings. The Bush Turkeys were notoriously prone to rows, fracas, rancour, brouhahas and fallings-out back in the day. Would it manage to hang together long enough to do the charity gig…?
Well… it did. And not only that, their 8-song set proved the audience hit of the night. Three months on, yesterday – the 30th anniversary to the very day of their first gig – the chaps performed an 18-song set at a packed bar in Belfast. Again, the response was sensational. š
“Is this caravan pop?” enquired my wife of whatever song had popped up on iPod shuffle mode, en route to Wales the other week. Further enquiry ascertained she was actually referring to yacht rock, as celebrated in the recent Katie Puckrik doc. But never mind: a new genre was born! The low-budget, crap-rainy-seaside-holiday UK answer. Long story short: here’s an excellent primer for all things caravan pop compiled by the great BBC Tees presenter Bob Fischer, who has very much run with the concept. But feel free to post your own contributionsā¦
