The Late Show

I’ve been keen to catch the Twilight Sad live for some time particularly since their all too brief support slot with Idlewild in October. Last night’s gig at the Doghouse finally gave me that opportunity although the band don’t actually make it onstage until a time by which I had hoped to be back home. After a tiring week, that is not a plus!

Unsurprisingly now expanded to a 5 piece, the Twilight Sad live experience is no less ferocious even if the live sound has been broadened to something approximating the LP’s grandeur with the addition of keyboards and extra guitars.

Singer James Graham however remains the live focus and gave a performance that bordered on the possessed. Even amongst the wall of noise, his singing was so powerful and intense that it dominated proceedings whilst more than most performers he appeared lost in the maelstrom surrounding him throughout the show.

At only 8 songs, the band still found time to introduce 2 new songs (and no, I’ve no idea what they’re called) with the rest of the set culled from the debut LP. Disappointingly there was no Pixies cover presumably because they didn’t play an encore.

It may be just as well that the show was the last on the tour as it was beset by technical problems. More than half of drummer Mark’s kit is replaced during the show (something I have never, ever, seen before) whilst to round things off bass player Craig snapped a string during I’m Taking The Train Home. That litany of kit abuse surely means that no further proof is needed of this band’s ferocity.

The Twilight Sad setlist

1. Talking With Fireworks/ Here, It Never Snowed 2. (New) 3. That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy 4. Walking For 2 Hours 5. (New) 6. And She Would Darken The Memory 7. I’m Taking The Train Home 8. Cold Days From The Birdhouse

Support came from 2 Dundee based outfits. I’d heard of the Hazey Janes before and had this notion of typically Scottish indie band from the Byrds/Big Star/Teenage Fanclub lineage. There’s some truth in that but they’re a bit more poppier and modern than that. They started and finished extremely well but somewhere in between they lost some momentum.

Openers the Trade are heavily influenced by mid 70s heavy rock, which as regular readers can imagine isn’t my cup of tea. But they are very good at what they do and they have a set of fairly strong songs. What makes the set though is the absolutely bonkers crowd. I have never, ever seen a third on the bill band garner such a reaction before, even allowing for the fact that a good percentage must have been friends and family. Oh and they’re shitloads better than the much hyped Black Mountain, no worries.

A repeat from the Twilight Sad:

The Twilight Sad – ‘That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy’ (from ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’) [Buy it] [Download it]

I’ll try and sort out some more photos from the gig in the next couple of days.

The Twilight Sad are supposed to be playing Dunfermline, Carnegie Hall on 15th May with Frightened Rabbit as part of Tigerfest 08 (although it’s not listed on their Myspace at the moment). Idlewild play the same venue on Saturday 17th supported by Foxface.

The Snake, The Wolf and the Bees

Kristin Hersh – St Andrew’s In The Square, Glasgow – Tuesday 25^th March

Harrowing, thoughtful, funny, sad and insightful. These are some of the words that you could use to describe the world premiere of Kristin Hersh’s ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ in Glasgow last night. Based on Kristin’s teenage diaries ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ runs in parallel with the early years of Throwing Muses up to the birth of her first son dealing candidly with these troubled years.

‘Paradoxical Undressing’ is definitely not a rock show but instead is a spoken word performance interspersed with 10 songs performed solo.

There’s no disguising the fact that this is a demanding listen – concentration is essential over an extended period since the readings comprise nearly 80% of the 2 and a half hours running time. But if you put in the effort, then you will reap the rewards

The extracts cover a variety of topics from memories of early band shows to stories about Kristin’s upbringing and some dark days indeed. Initially the first act seemed to be a series of unconnected anecdotes but, from the end of the first act onwards, the narrative emerged, drawing all the different strands together.

Kristin has always said that her music has a life of its own. So, whilst the spoken word sections were performed with Kristin clearly lit, the spotlights were dimmed for the songs leaving K visible as just a silhouette. It was a powerful device which implied that Kristin had effectively “left” the stage whilst the songs themselves performed through her.

Even for a long term fan, these songs are a revelation. Surprisingly, I’ve never seen Kristin perform solo before and this is an indication of what I’ve been missing. There are a number of genuine hair-standing-on-the-back-of-the-neck moments, not least during ‘Delicate Cutters’. When that visceral voice lets rip it provides a stunning contrast to the acoustic guitar backing.

Hearing ‘Slippershell’ in a live context for the first time was astonishing too. Even if it was stripped down from the recorded version (available here), the performance was still superb.

It has to be said that, initially, the audience didn’t know what to make of the whole thing. Right at the start it seemed like there was a shared nervousness amongst both the audience and the performer – Kristin’s only acknowledgement of the crowd after coming on stage was a fleeting smile. And the Fish Jesus section was listened to with reverence – but absolutely no reaction. Astonishingly that spilled over into the first song, ‘Fish’, at the conclusion of which there was no applause. None. Whatsoever. You wonder what Kristin was thinking at that particular moment.

Fortunately after ‘Cuckoo’ someone near the back took the initiative and broke the spell by bursting into applause. Things rapidly warmed up after that as people realised that, yes, you were meant to laugh at some points. Even when, during some of the later, more intense passages, you got the sense that everyone was collectively holding their breath, it felt like an appropriate response.

Ultimately the performance hung together well and those that stayed to the end (and there was a noticeable number of drop-outs at the interval) were ultimately rewarded with an engrossing portrayal of the life of the teenage Kristin Hersh. It’s probably not for everybody but for those with an interest in the life and work of this extraordinary lady, it is pretty much essential.

One of the HSOTBOTN moments from last night as played with the band last year:

Kristin Hersh – Your Dirty Answer (from ‘PBGH’) [Get it]

Songs

1st Act – 1. Fish 2. Cuckoo 3. Slippershell 4. Delicate Cutters 5. Cathedral Heat

2nd Act – 1. My Diry Answer 2. Wayfaring Stranger 3. “Don’t Worry About The Bees” 4. “Cigarette In My Shoe” 5. “The Boy’s OK”.

(Sorry, Kristin’s written so many songs I can’t put a name to the last 3.)

You Say You’ve Seen And Heard It All Before

Sorry, posts have been so infrequent in recent weeks but with family commitments, home improvements and all sorts of other things going on the blog has had to take a backseat and is likely to continue to do so for the next wee while at least. I will however endeavour to keep things ticking over.

One day I will probably do a long post on the Comsat Angels but in the meantime you’ll have to make do with the odd snippet such as this one.

‘To Before’ is my second purchase from Renascent’s Comsats’ reissue programme. It’s a rarities collection which spans the band’s entire career

The compilation has a slightly convoluted history since ‘To Before’ was originally supposed to be a prequel to the similar compilation ‘From Beyond 2’ which appeared on Cherry Red Records in 2000. But, under different management, ‘To Before’ has been expanded into a double to cover the band’s entire career and even features a number of tracks which featured on ‘From Beyond 2’.

As is so often the case with these things it’s a collection that will probably only appeal to fans as it comprises demos and alternative recordings with the odd rarity thrown in. Having said that, if yiou ignore the worse excesses of the 80’s production Disc 2 works quite well as a showcase for latter day Comsats although Disk 1 does feel more cobbled together (although it does feature the 3 tracks from their debut single).

The big appeal for fans is that the 2 CDs are littered with unreleased tracks and they are, on the whole, surprisingly strong, although there is the odd clunker (step forwawrd ‘I.K.T.F’). Other than the odd different lyric, the demos don’t offer a great deal over the originals and even the Jive era demos feature the same sort of horrible production as that marred the LPs.

At 24 tracks, it’s therefore good value for money but it’s not perfect. I’m particularly disappointed in the lack of notes on the origins of the recordings and the fact that some of these tracks were rescued from bootlegs is particularly noticeable on the poor sound quality of some of the tracks on Side 1.

It has however led to me to reassess some of the songs, in particular ‘Lost Continent’ which opens Disc 2. The song was originally released on the band’s only LP for Island, ‘Chasing Shadows’ which at the time I was somewhat underwhelmed by. ‘Lost Continent’ was never one of the songs that I would have rated as one of the best on that LP but I genuinely like it on here. See what you think:

The Comsat Angels – Lost Continent (from ‘To Before’) [Buy it]

If you’re not familiar with the Comsat Angels then I can’t, hand on heart, recommend this as the place to start. Instead I’d wholeheartedly urge you to start with the early LPs ‘Waiting For A Miracle’ and ‘Sleep No More’ (buy them here) and work your way forwards. Doing that may well move you into the category of fan who will get something from ‘To Before’.

Your Secret’s Out Now

My preference for physical product meant that I had to wait a few weeks to receive my CD of The Big Sleep’s new LP ‘Sleep Forever’. But it’s been worth the wait (and strong evidence for the benefits of the MP3 as promo tool).

But to the record first. Compared to their debut ‘Son of the Tiger’, ‘Sleep Forever’ jus sounds much more confident. Whereas on SOTT, TBS would meander, this time out there is little in the way of prevarication. The approach is much more direct with a brasher sound.

The instrumentation too is broader in scope, there are more keyboards (even an organ), the odd acoustic guitar and male vocals.

And when they do the results are stunning. The sequencing on “side 1” is perfect, starting slow with the sparser “Intro” and ‘Slow Race’. By the time of the aptly named ‘The Big Guns’ momentum is gathering, heralding the start of the LP’s real sonic assault. ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘Pinkies’ are just awesome, every bit as good as ‘Murder’ from the debut LP, but going beyond it. Check this out:

The Big Sleep – Pinkies (from ‘Sleep Forever’)

Inevitably “side 2” doesn’t quite match these standards but it’s all good stuff retaining the attention throughout. Simply put, this is a band catching fire – with a vengeance.

The only slight reservation I have surrounds ‘Organs’. It may just be my age and a sensitivity to the worst excesses of the 70’s but this one does suggest the notion of Rick Wakeman on top of some column in the spotlight, cape billowing in the dry ice. Younger readers may not have a clue what I’m blethering about and for that, be grateful!

‘Sleep Forever’ doesn’t seem to have a physical UK release at the moment but you can download it here. If you want to you can buy it from French Kiss Records in the US here.

So, MP3s as a promo? It’s what the blogs are all about, of course, and to illustrate their power I’m writing this piece having bought both Big Sleep LPs in the last 3 months on the strength of downloading ‘Pinkies’ from here. Happy shopping.

Photo by Jeff P Elstone II

Road Rage

This morning, on the way to work, I saw perhaps the most stupid piece of driving it’s been my misfortune to witness. Stuck in a long line of traffic headed by two tractors 6 or 7 vehicles from the front I was astonished to see a van go flying past me from who knows where.

The idiot pulled this stunt just ahead of a junction and must have got the shock of his life when someone pulled round the corner onto the main road. I honestly thought he wasn’t going to manage to stop in time but he did – just. I was more than a little miffed when the car in front of me allowed him into the correct lane again because I think it would have been fitting for him to have stewed in the wrong lane blocking the main road east for a wee while.

However it did result in me getting to see him using his mobile as he drew in to a sandwich shop just 3 miles further down the road. What can you say?

Fortunately today’s intended track is vaguely transport related and features an artist with a reputation for anger in his younger days:

The Coward Brothers – The People’s Limousine (7” single)

The Coward Brothers were Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett (billed as Henry and Howard Coward) and whilst I’m fairly sure they were to collaborate again, this was the only single issued under this moniker.

I haven’t listened to it for ages but I still like it and you can get it as a bonus track here.

The Happiest Person

After just over a year there’s another Malcolm Middleton LP out this week. ‘Sleight of Heart’ is something of an oddity with just 9 songs and 3 of these being covers. Musically Malky has scaled back his ambition from the last couple of LPs too so this features almost exclusively acoustic instrumentation. All of which combines to give ‘Sleight of Heart’ the feel of a slightly interim release.

Which is unfortunate because most of the 6 Middleton originals here prove that his songwriting talents remain undiminished. My current favourite is his tribute to Sophia’s Robin Proper-Sheppard, ‘Follow Robin Down’ but ‘Week Off’ and ‘Blue Plastic Bags’ are particularly great too.

The 3 covers are perhaps more of a mixed bag. King Creosote’s ‘Marguerita Red’ is the jauntiest track on the record with the banjo lifting the mood. But Madonna’s ‘Stay’ gets the downbeat, acoustic solo treatment. Now Christmas Number 1 campaigns I can live with, but hopefully the temptation to go with a novelty celebrity cover as a single will be resisted.

I’ve never quite understood why mini LPs seem to pass under the radar and I fear that that the same thing may happen to ‘Sleight of Heart’. So all Middleton fans should feel obligated to go out and purchase the album. To help you on your way, here are 2 songs featured on the LP, although one only is taken from it:

Malcolm Middleton – ‘Follow Robin Down’ (from ‘Sleight of Heart’) [Buy it] [Download it]

Malcolm Middleton – ‘Blue Plastic Bags’ (Colin Murray session version)

Finally a quick mention for JC’s Orange Juice fest in aid of Quarriers. Go here and find out more.