Posts

Lessons In Level 42

Image
Before I knew anything about Level 42, I remember catching the video of their number 6 single Running In The Family . “I bet he can’t even play that pink bass”, I remarked to my brother as a naive 15 year old. Mark King’s white Levis, alongside the infectious sax and synth riff, irritated me. I cast them aside as a popular but unimportant pop band and continued to listen to Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Bruce Springsteen.  Mark King on the Running In The Family Video A simultaneous TV and radio broadcast of their 1986 Wembley Arena show changed everything. Their perfectly crafted songs sounded far more exciting onstage with the thunderous slap bass of vocalist Mark King and the intricate keyboard lines of Mike Lindup, who looked like a call centre worker with his microphone headset. On guitar, the vastly underrated Boon, resembled a thin city banker in his grey trenchcoat, and on drums, his brother Phil Gould, in Hawaiian shirt and round black shades. During the Stevie Wonder influen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Live Review- The Brian Jonestown Massacre - The Foundry-Sheffield Uni. 28/06/25

Image
Since the death of Mark.E.Smith, The Brian Jonestown Massacre have now taken the place of The Fall as a band I see most regularly. Playing  a few  surprise UK shows before a set at Glastonbury, it was great  to see the  band playing to a pretty packed crowd, close up, in an intimate venue. Despite the intimacy, Anton Newcombe may have sung “three words you have spoken” in the epic Nevertheless , but not one word or acknowledgment to the crowd was forthcoming from him. This aloofness adds to a moody and at times edgy performance.  Alongside other regular members, a shadowy guitar tech/ roadie in a wide brimmed hat comes and goes somewhat mysteriously in the background.  Kicking off with the driving Maybe Make It Right , Newcombe directs with his guitar from the right of the stage, while the only other original member, percussionist Joel Gion, remains static, like Liam Gallagher, with tambourine and shaker.   Newcombe’s whiny vocals are sometimes l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Classic Albums Number Two: "The Nightfly"- Donald Fagen

Image
I first heard this album back in  the late eighties, on a band trip whilst at school. A sax player passed the driver the tape. The optimistic opening chords of  I.G.Y.  resonated  around the bus speakers and I was hooked. I didn’t have a clue who Donald Fagen was, it was only a few years later that  I found out he was one half of Steely Dan, alongside collaborator Walter Becker.  Despite having success since the seventies, Steely Dan split up in 1981, with Fagen pursuing a solo career. The Nightfly was released on the Warner Brothers label on  October 1st 1982 and produced by Gary  Katz. With its super slick production and arrangements, The Nightfly is a regular go to album for many sound engineers when testing speakers at venues.  The album was one of the first to be fully digitally recorded and makes even the cheapest home sound system sound incredible!  Recorded over eight months between multiple studios in Los Angeles and New York, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Classic Albums Number One: "A Kind Of Blues"- Miles Davis

Image
  Track Listing So What Freddie Freeloader Blue In Green All Blues Flamenco Sketches Personnel: Miles Davis: Trumpet Julian “Cannonball” Adderley : Alto Saxophone John Coltrane: Tenor Saxophone Wynton Kelly: Piano  (Track 2 Only) Bill Evans: Piano Paul Chambers: Bass Jimmy Cobb: Drums A landmark album, not just for jazz, but for all  music . Recorded in 1959, A Kind Of Blue is still the top selling jazz album of all time and for many, a perfect introduction to jazz.  Before  two recording sessions of the album took place, always leading the way, Davis told  his carefully selected musicians not what to do, but  not what to play.  Arriving  with just sketches of his compositions,  none of the musicians had any rehearsal. The  first performance of each composition was taken in one take, with all the musicians  involved, being   in top form or shape. Infact, Davis loved pianist Bill Evans so much, he would ring Evans up and ...
Post a Comment
Read more