Just found out about this.
I’m intrigued and quite interested in going. But who’s going to be the guitarist? IMHO, Magazine were never the same without the late great John McGeoch.
Magazine – Permafrost (from ‘Secondhand Daylight’ remaster) [Buy the CD] [Dowload the LP]
Kristin Hersh – Paradoxical Undressing – St Cecilia’s Hall, Edinburgh – Wednesday 20th August
Wednesday night saw a return visit to Kristin Hersh’s ‘Paradoxical Undressing’ after I saw the premiere in Glasgow back in March. For newcomers, the show principally features Kristin reading from her autobiography with songs dotted throughout. The show principally covers the early years of Throwing Muses and deals with not just the band but also Kristin’s relationship with her music.
Everything I said about the première remains true but, since March, the show has been evolving and the most immediate change is that husband Billy gives an introduction to the show to break the ice (as suggested by JC). It’s a big help– at the St Andrews in the Square show it took a long time for the audience to work out how to react. But on Wednesday that happens straight away (although no-one takes up Billy’s offer to be on their worst behaviour!)
The structure of the show has changed too, particularly in the first act. The changes give the whole a more cohesive feel with a greater focus on the early years of the band. The original show was somewhat fractured with the extracts (initially at least) seemingly compiled almost at random and this was perhaps Kristin’s intent as a way of reflecting the fact that she was overwhelmed by the music.
However the changes provide a more direct narrative with fewer mood switches and the changes are more graded. One significant consequence is that the first half is much funnier than previously despite containing the same passages. But it’s worth remembering that this isn’t light entertainment and things take a much darker turn just before the interval.
The second half deals with the demons that Kristin faced and the depths that she reached remain quite shocking. If you require any proof that Kristin is not your run of the mill musician it is surely in the fact that, after a failed suicide bid, it’s her re-engagement with her music which helps her turn the corner. An optimistic conclusion is reached with the band winning a record deal and the birth of her first son. The fact that Kristin sings the final song in the spotlight rather than shrouded in darkness is surely designed to indicate that Kristin is finally in control of her music rather than the other way round.
It’s worth pointing out that the songs are a bit different too – there’s abbreviated versions of ‘Hook In Her Head’ and ‘Mania’, neither aired in Glasgow, and a song I don’t recognise at all. But again ‘Poor Wayfaring Stranger’ is the song that raises the most hairs on the back of the neck (no mean feat) – it’s impossibly poignant after the cutting scene.
The Fringe should really be a natural home for this show but I can’t help but feel that being marketed as part the Edge Music Festival will have limited the audience to a rock audience. This is a show that could reach out to people beyond those boundaries.
I’m not doing this justice. There’s one more chance to catch the show tomorrow at St Cecilia’s (Saturday 23rd). Take it if you can.
Here’s a Throwing Muses version of a song which Kristin played on Wednesday:
Throwing Muses – Mania (from ‘Live in Brussels’) [Get it]
Other Paradoxical stuff
Shaky hand held footage from London.
Get tracks from Kristin’s forthcoming LP here
The venue itself is something else. It may not be as ornate as St Andrews In The Square was but it’s apparently the oldest purpose built concert hall in Scotland. It also houses a remarkable collection of old guitars with an exhibition dating back to the modern guitar’s Restoration era predecessor, the gigue.
Also worthy of a mention is the show I saw before Kristin. Going to see a work colleague perform is always a little fraught but I’m delighted to report that Andrew C Ferguson and Friends was good enough to avoid subsequent any embarrassment at work. A mixture of slightly surreal stories (mainly about Glenrothes, which is surreal enough in itself) and songs it proved to be an entertaining hour.
A week without posting is an unwanted record for MPT so I better break that drought.
Every now and again I discover a band that I just wish that I’d played in. Or think would make a good subject for an obscure covers band.
One such band is Guided By Voices, who were initially brought to my attention by the Sugarlist. So far I’ve only got the last 3 LPs (I’m working backwards – slowly) and I’ve talked about them briefly before. But I felt that they were worth a return visit.
I got ‘Universal Truths and Cycles’ (2002) recently and it’s easily the equal of my favourite (so far) ‘Earthquake Glue’. Given that songwriter Robert Pollard has something of a reputation for lack of quality control I’m pleasantly surprised at the strength of ‘UT&C’. In fact,a rarity for a back catalogue LP, it has demanded repeat plays recently, something I often struggle to find the time to do with older stuff. Of course the dearth of current LPs is a factor but I do think it would be cool to (be able to) play these songs to a baffled audience.
Guided By Voices – Christian Animated Torch Carriers (from ‘Universal Truths and Cycles’) [Buy it] [Download it]
Finally managed to give the Twilight Sad’s ‘Here, It Never Snowed, Afterwards It Did’ EP a proper listen over the weekend.
It’s a strange beast featuring 4 re-recorded songs from the debut LP, one cover and only one new song. It’s the re-recordings that have been the focus of the most attention and, whilst they’re not really like completely new songs, they have been recorded in a substantially different way to the LP versions.
Whilst most of the time, the LP was an exercise in density of sound, the 4 songs here are much more stripped back. Even at that, the Twilight Sad still manage to make a mighty noise, no more obvious than on ‘’. One of the big advantages of this more subtle approach is that the vocals are really highlighted when James Graham really lets rip. Now, his voice can quite easily hold its own even when there’s all sorts of things going on but with more space in the songs, its impact is even more striking
Are these versions better than the originals? This take on ‘And She Would Darken the Memory’ possibly is but, although the version of ‘Cold Days In The Birdhouse’ is hugely impressive pitting Graham’s voice against just a distorted backing guitar which slowly builds to a crescendo, I’m not sure I don’t prefer the original.
The new song, the title track, is fine whilst the cover is something a little different in terms of a more conventional song structure.
On the face of it, ‘Here It Never Snowed …’ is a stop gap release pending new material. Yet without question it’s a rewarding experience as the band extend their sonic template by attempting a “less is more” philosophy. The next LP should be a cracker.
The Twilight Sad – And She Would Darken The Memory (from ‘Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did’) [Buy it] [Download it]
It does seem that sometimes being good isn’t enough. On the back of a superb debut LP, I always expect De Rosa to attract bigger crowds than they do, even in their hometown. Last night’s gig at Oran Mor was a case in point. I think Oran Mor is one of my favourite venues at the moment due to a good sound and sightlines. Yet despite a great band and a great venue it’s still less than half full.
As ever De Rosa did little to suggest why this should be the case. Musically this was another magnificent performance. The version of ‘A Love Economy’ is possibly the best version I’ve heard so far whilst a song I hadn’t heard before, ‘Flight Recorder’ is an absolute revelation as well.
There’s plenty of other new songs as well and both ‘Nocturne’ and ‘The Sea Cup’ seem a notch up from the versions played at the Sauchiehall Crawl. Add in the fact that the trio of songs from ‘Mend’, ‘Evelyn’, ‘New Lanark’ and a ferocious closing ‘Cathkin Braes’ are all fantastic and you might have imagined that the band would have had the audience eating out of their hands by the end.
That the response wasn’t much above polite is remarkable. But there was a degree of reserve about the audience right from the start. There was no reaction when the band actually take the stage and a large-ish gap was left in front of the band. Even between songs there was really only brief applause although admittedly there were a handful of very enthusiastic cheers for each and every song.
Part of this may be down to a lack of familiarity with the material, since, increasingly the band are focussing on tunes for the new LP. And in truth De Rosa aren’t an immediate band so the new material will take time to grow. But it does add a slight air of frustration to what could have been a wonderful show and prevents it from being a great experience.
De Rosa setlist.
1. In Code 2. Evelyn 3. Nocture 4. Tinto 5. New Lanark 6. The Sea Cup 7.Flight Recorder 8. A Love Economy 9. Under The Stairs 10. Cathkin Braes
Here’s one of the new songs from the ‘Appendices’ project. Appendix 8 should be out on Monday (4th):
De Rosa – The Sea Cup (Get the other Appendices here)
De Rosa have upcoming gigs Stirling, Tolbooth (27th September) (tickets), GRV, Edinburgh, (2nd October – can’t get their website to work) and Strathaven, Old Mill Theatre (11th).
El Padre, as they freely admitted from stage, were something of a shambles. The sound was poor throughout with the laptop provided rhythm section too often given precedence in the mix over the 3 musicians whilst the first couple of songs didn’t so much finish as disintegrate.
Yet there is undoubtedly something here. It was a relatively short set at five songs but in amongst all the chaos there are definitely good songs. And the way that the band dealt with their problems (other than the draconian, nay, vindictive sacking of the offending laptop) was good humoured and self deprecating. On the evidence of the live show I like them and I like them even more having listened to and recognised songs on their Myspace.
The show was opened by electronic duo Integra TV. The closest point of reference for me would be the chill out aspects of Will Sergeant’s Glide project and by and large their set drifted by pleasantly enough.
So all in all it’s a fine evening’s music for just a fiver. And as you can gather, the photos have reverted to being crap again. I’ll try and salvage a few over the weekend.
