Feb 2021 Programme: Music

 

 A taster of some of the musicians who have already made space in their busy touring schedules especially for 2021's Fantasy Lockdown Festival 

 



 

 Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire is a Montreal-based indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, along with Win's younger brother William Butler, Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core member Sarah Neufeld, percussionist Tiwill Duprate and saxophonist Stuart Bogie.

The band has been described as indie rock, art rock, dance-rock, and baroque pop. They play guitar, drums, bass guitar, piano, violin, viola, cello, double bass, xylophone, glockenspiel, keyboard, synthesizer, French horn, accordion, harp, mandolin and hurdy-gurdy, and take most of these instruments on tour; the multi-instrumentalist band members switch duties throughout shows.The mix of instrumentation and the band’s gusto in using it make for a unique live sound that in some ways defies description; exciting, wide-ranging and eclectic and a real treat for the ears.

 


Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Bassist Robert Levon Been and guitarist Peter Hayes met at high school in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Lafayette and formed a band, Hayes having recently left The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Been has said in interviews that Hayes had a turbulent home life and would park and sleep in his car outside the Been household. After about a year of doing this, Been and his father Michael persuaded Hayes to live with them. It shows in the way they play, I love the way they interchange guitars and vocals, shows how strong the bond and affection is between them.



Can

You’ve probably seldom seen concert footage that was as inherently interesting as this 51-minute documentation of Can’s legendary “Free Concert,” recorded in Cologne’s Sporthalle on February 3, 1972. Rather improbably for such an experimental band, they scored chart success in Germany with “Spoon,” which led to this concert attended by approximately 10,000 people.

Right off the bat Can break into the hit and prove they’re not mucking around by expanding it from its tidy three-minute length on record into a full-blown 18-minute jam. The concert starts out with a juggler named Fred Ray on the stage; at the end of the show, during “Full Moon on the Highway,” Ray returns and does a bunch of impressive things with three brightly coloured umbrellas.

Note it is a blend of a concert film and a documentary, with footage of Can during the Tago Mago sessions and in an airport, doing a soundcheck before the show, etc.

Now, where did we put that time machine?

 

 

Fat Freddy's Drop

Fat Freddy’s Drop are the legendary New Zealand band whose fusion of dub, reggae, soul, jazz, RnB and electronic music has earned them a fanbase the world over. Great live performances, get down skanking with me.
 
 
 
Ian Dury and the Blockheads
 
 This is an early Ian Dury and the Blockheads set filmed in Germany in 1978. They must have been busy in 1977 as they wrote and released their debut album “New boots and panties” although at that point neither Ian or the band members were strangers to band life or gigging! Many of the songs on that first album are in this set.

The Blockheads [an ironic name for such a consistently talented bunch of musicians] line-up changed quite a bit over the years. Musicians came and then went off to pursue other projects although some returned periodically. This particular set includes the very excellent Norman Watt-Roy and bass and John Turnbull on guitar, in truth the entire band is very tight indeed.

The audience seem somewhat unmoved by the energetic and often humorous performance on stage but Ian tries to engage them also subtlety winds them up as well :)

Ian Dury’s music defies easy categorisation but the songs show the diverse range of influences that Ian and the band brought to the party. Some of the lyrics are “very rude”.

The set gets off to a fast and furious start so to try catch the beginning if you fancy it.

Playlist
  • Sex And Drugs And Rock 'n' Roll
  • I'm Partial To Your Abacadabra
  • Wake Up And Make Love With Me
  • Clever Trever
  • Woman
  • Fair
  • Billericay Dickie
  • Sweet Gene Vincent
  • Upminster Kid
  • What A Waste
  • Plaistow Patricia
  • I Made Mary Cry In A Lonely Bus Shelter
  • Black Mail Man
  • My Old ManBlockheads
 
 
Jesus and Mary Chain
 
Hot take: Living at home with your parents isn't all that cool when you're an adult. Even less cool - doing so while sharing a bedroom with your fellow adult sibling. And yet, it was from a small, working class home in East Kilbride, Scotland, that Jim and William Reid in 1983 formed the coolest band that ever lived™. The Reids were known in their small town as a couple of misanthropic outsiders who kept to themselves and rarely made eye contact with anyone. But on the rare occasion they did make friends, they made it count. Their first friend was a younger kid named Douglas Hart, who co-founded the band and played bass. The next was Bobby Gillespie, the JAMC's first official fan and second drummer. (Gillespie, of course, would leave the band in 1985 to achieve success fronting Primal Scream.) And finally there was Alan McGee, the band's first manager, who released their debut single on his label, the soon-to-be legendary Creation Records. If you’re gonnae do it, do it proper. 
This set is from the Oyafestivalen in 2007, nearly a quarter of a century after the Brothers Grim lurched out of East Kilbride to change the face of British indie forever. They shaped my youth, they’ve shaped the music I still adore and I love them more than the air I breathe. – OH” 

Playlist:

  • You Trip Me Up – Psychocandy (1985)
  • Head On – Automatic (1989)
  • Far Gone and Out – Honey’s Dead (1991)
  • Sidewalking – Barbed Wire Kisses (1986)
  • Snakedriver – The Sound of Speed (1993)
  • Amputation – Damage and Joy (2017)
  • Happy When It Rains – Darklands (1987)
  • Some Candy Talking – Psychocandy (1985)
  • Inbetween Planets – Automatic (1989)
  • Blues From a Gun – Automatic (1989)
  • Cracking Up – Munki (1998)
  • All Things Must Pass – Damage and Joy (2017)
  • Just Like Honey – Psychocandy (1985)
  • Reverence – Honey’s Dead (1991)

 

 JJ Cale and Leon Russell

A rare chance to see JJ and his band playing live with Leon Russell in 1979. 

 

 The Old Grey Whistle Test

A little over 46 minutes of familiar songs performed live for the OGWT

 Playlist:

  • David Bowie - Queen Bitch
  • Argent - God Gave Rock & Roll To You
  • ELP -  Great Gates of Kiev
  • Roxy Music - Do the Strand
  • John Lennon -  Stand By Me
  • Joan Armatrading - Love & Affection
  • The Kinks - You Really Got Me
  • Dire Straits - Sultans of swing
  • The Jam - 'A' Bomb In Wardour Street
  • The Police - Can't Stand Losing
  • Ultravox - Hiroshima Mon Amour
  • Gary Numan - Down In the Park


Portishead

Trip-hop Bristol band Portishead at the Roseland Ballroom, New York City in 1997. Beth Gibbons on vocals together with Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley, orchestral backing and a host of additional musicians and technicians performing songs from the classic albums Dummy (1994) and Portishead (1997), creatively re-interpreted into a sublime live experience.

Songs from the concert include:

  • Numb
  • Over
  • Only You
  • Mysterons
  • Sour Times
  • Glory Box 

 

Raveonettes

Combining the noisy swells of the Jesus and Mary Chain with melodic elements of '50s rock & roll, Danish duo the Raveonettes are a band tied to the past, sonically and visually, but never afraid to give their trademark retro sound a slightly more modern update with new wave synths and hip-hop drum breaks, always staying true to their darkly dangerous vision. Danish duo Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo nail the whole JAMC gig right down to their looks, with Wagner looking like the Reid brothers’ slightly-more-Goth cousin, and Foo arguably what one might imagine the Reids would look like if reconstructed as a blonde bombshell. All of this would add up to little more than the impressive revitalization of another band’s sound if the Raveonettes didn’t bring the material to back up their mission statement - and they do, in spades. In turns thunderous and remarkably tender, this a band you should see live – and now you will. Turn it up to eleven.

 Playlist:

  • Recharge & Revolt – Raven in the Grave (2011)
  • Dead Sound – Lust Lust Lust (2007)
  • Young & Cold – Observator (2012)
  • Hallucinations – Lust Lust Lust (2007)
  • Curse The Night – Observator (2012)
  • Killer in the Streets – Pe’ahi (2014)
  • Summer Ends – Pe’ahi (2014)
  • When Night is Almost Done – Pe’ahi (2014)
  • Love Can Destroy Everything – Chain Gang of Love (2003)
  • My Time’s Up – Raven in the Grave (2011)
  • Sisters – Pe’ahi (2014)
  • That Great Love Sound – Chain Gang of Love (2003)




Carlos Santana with John McLaughlin

Most of this is taken from a concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2011. They sound just as good as when I used to constantly listen to Love Devotion Surrender in 1974. Who would have thought a lad from Doncaster could play guitar like that and speak French. The drummer is Carlos' wife. The last clip is Santana's finale from Woodstock. I always thought they were the best band of the festival.

 

  

Nina Simone

Nina Simone was not above berating her audience and walking off stage. Not an easy character. These clips shows the range of this extraordinary musician. The show opens with one of her most well known songs. Halfway, in Backlash Blues you can feel the audience hoping this does not end badly. It doesn’t. In Sinnerman, she obviously decides she is just not going to sing; but fascinates anyway. The show closes, back in 1965, with a song she believed held back her career for years.

 

 

Playlist: 

  • Ain’t got no (1968): 
  • I wish I knew how it would feel to be free (1976)
  • I put a spell on you (1965?)
  • To love somebody (1965?)
  • Don’t let me be misunderstood (1965)
  • Backlash Blues (1976)
  • Sinnerman (1976)
  • Plain Gold Ring (1986)
  • Mississippi Goddam (1965)


Soundgarden

Contemporaries of Nirvana, Soundgarden played a less abrasive, melodic heavy rock. The assembled clips here run from concerts after they reformed in 2012 back to earlier events around 1992, followed by some pin-sharp later-renditions of early material, concluding with John Lennon’s Come Together from the mists of 1989. They were an excellent 4-piece unit: Chris Cornell (vocals/guitar), Kim Thayil (lead guitar), Ben Shepherd (bass), and Matt Cameron (drums). The hits such as Black Hole Sun, My Wave and The Day I Tried to Live – from the platinum selling Superunknown album – are here, but don’t miss the earlier material, especially the monolithic Slaves and Bulldozers.

Playlist

  • Fell On Black Days  (2012)
  • My Wave   (2015)
  • Black Hole Sun  (2015)
  • The Day I Tried To Live (2012)
  • Rowing (2013)
  • Mailman  (1996)
  • Mind Riot  (1992)
  • Searching With My Good Eye Closed  (1992)
  • Slaves and Bulldozers   (1992)
  • New Damage   (2013)
  • Incessant Mace   (2013)
  • Come Together  (1989 )              

The sound on some of the clips is a little muted, so an occasional boost to the bass and or volume is recommended. 

 

Thin Lizzy 

Lynott and Downey began Thin Lizzy in 1969 as a power trio that also included guitarist Eric Bell, an alum of Van Morrison’s Them. Together they put out three strong but poorly selling records in the early 1970s and had a novelty hit with their version of the traditional Irish song “Whiskey in the Jar.” From the age of 7, Lynott had been raised by his grandmother in Dublin while his mother lived in Manchester, and when Bell and his successor Gary Moore left the band in rapid succession in 1974, he hired Gorham and Robertson partly to appease his fear of abandonment. Then the band took off Lynnott was the songwriter and mastermind and always paid homage to Irish Ballads in his songs. 

 

Stevie Ray Vaughan

 The band “Double Trouble” with singer/songwriter Stevie Ray Vaughan started their time in the spotlight at the 1982 Montreux Jazz festival following a period of learning their craft gigging in far smaller venues.

At Montreux, SRV didn’t have a record company deal and he and Double Trouble were more or less unknown outside their home state of Texas.

David Bowie met SRV at Montreux and Stevie subsequently played six songs on Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” album of the following year.

The collection we show this evening is a mix of performances including Hendrix covers and SRV’s / Double Trouble’s compositions. These work well together with influences including Blues, Rock ‘n Roll and the heavier sounds of Hendrix. In one song, Stevie breaks a string in the guitar solo but carries on and with great skill [and crew], swaps guitars mid-song with barely any change to the performance! If you blink hard you’ll not spot this.

SRV’s guitar work is regarded as some of the best the world has seen, one of few people who can do proper justice to Jimi Hendix’s playing.

The set culminates with SRV and the amazing BB King showing just how to do The Blues…

Enjoy!


Playlist:

  • VoodooChild
  • Little Wing
  • Look at Little Sister
  • Texas Flood
  • Crossfire
  • Love Struck Baby
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan
  • Change It
  • Texas Flood (with BB King)
 

 

The Viagra Boys 

The Viagra Boys are a Swedish post-punk band from Stockholm.

The band was formed in 2015, with members coming from the bands Les Big Byrd, Pig Eyes, Nine, Nitad and Neu-Ronz. In 2018, they released their first album, Street Worms, for which they won IMPALA's (Independent Music Companies Association) "Album of the Year Award". The band's second album Welfare Jazz was released in January 2021.

For a band that continuously spews heaps of self-loathing, they seem to have an awfully fun time while doing it. Their wild energy has made them known as one of Europe’s best live bands, but anyone mistaking Viagra Boys for another testosterone-fueled act revelling in male bravado is missing the point. The name alone should send the listener in the right direction, it’s “a comment on the failed male role in today’s society” according to the band. Their “Shrimp Sessions”performance here was recorded around the time of the release of Street Worms at a warehouse in Stockholm and is guaranteed to (ahem) ‘keep you up’ for the duration!








0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)