LIVE REVIEWS MUSIC

V LIVE

Thelost

Soul Band

King Tut‘s. Glasgow. 14 Dec.

Here they are, bare of chest and long of hair. The Lost Soul Band. the naked and the strageg truth. Laziness in description would rely on the superficial motifs that jumpy piano and hirsute profile as their defining factors; the oh-so-obvious and oh-so-mistaken dismissal being one of ‘Jeez. who needs another bunch of neo-folkies anyway'.".

Well. folk that. Later on. the band will reckon that their thang is a ‘rectal helter skelter”. This we’ll ignore. though. (since (a) nobody knows what the flip they‘re on about and (b) they‘re steaming). and instead rely or. ‘Save 1t“s testimonial. Their current single nicks a snatch of ‘Dear Prudence‘ and retains all its style. pounding out a sub—metal solo and a kicking twang like real rock gods are meant to do. Not only are they head and shoulders above their supposed contenders in Jockoland. but also. The Lost Soul Band are upright. upfighting and speeding along with more ballsy sense than any number of noise-obsessed. fringe-obscured. babbling scenesters.

And there ends today’s rant. But given the vital animation and sparky spunk of their live get-up honed over a million and one pub and club gigs stoic indifference is impossible. For ‘The Devil Came Riding In’ they rely on handclaps, tom-toms and Gordon Grahame's acoustic gruffle. For ‘You Can‘t Win Them All, Mum’. the lyrics are physical (whisky. concrete, jogging) and the verve untrammelled.

The Lost Soul Band cleave to the maxim that rock 'n‘ roll should not just ROCK but, well. roll as well. So they spin along madly, each song jarring fluently into the next. dizzying heads and kicking butts in a non-stop whirl. Hey. maybe it is a rectal helter skelter after all. (Craig McLean)

V LIVE

ZULU SYNDICATE

Calton Studios, Edinburgh, 12 Dec. ’Tls a weird world, where gigs must ; actively proclaim themselves as ; ‘anti-racist’ to remind a sleepy people that insidious things like racism continue to exist. A commendable 1 gesture nonetheless and, though ? sparsely attended, an enjoyable shindig to boot.

Space Monkey Malia (you think that's daft? —they used to be called Bananas) ' adopt traditional band format, manoeuvring swiftly into a slackly danceable mode. They smear

r. ltalo-house piano motifs atop a

g reggaefied pulse, and it’s effective. A l smattering of hardcore funk, a bloke playing tambourine and looking lost, , breezy chants and they’re well sussed. l The eclectic, adaptable nature of their

- 1 art leaves it a little unfocused, but ~51; white boys with dreadlocks don’t care i. 1 about being in focus. in homage to Bad "3* 3 Manners (whom SMM recently

supported) they close with a rankin' ska number. Naughty, but nice.

Some, erm, ‘organisational’ hiccups later, Edinburgh's much-fancied Zulu

Syndicate appear, and had there been a swear box on stage, it would be a millionaire tonight. Cursing considerably, often in an unproductive way, they embark on their set, improving steadily so that, come the third ‘number’, all the jigsaw pieces fit. An ex-Exploited bassist slices out mean riffs for the 90s behind a harsher, Public Enemy-style rap that finds harmony on the flipside of aggression. They will do well. Progressing into an anti-racist diatribe, they go on too

. long, but the drums are (a)live, so , that’s okay.

So, what are Sugar Bullet (Leith electro-dancers, on Virgin and severely hyped) really like? Well, erm,

they didn’t turn up, but their gap was

ably filled by the crispy improvised raps of CFT, three sallow youths with microphones, drumbox and infectious

' vitriol to spare.

As a gentleman in Tony Curtis hairdo and cycling top candidly informed me as we shared a urinal, there's ‘a mega-happening rap scene in Scotland, and it's cooking’. 0n tonight’s evidence, and forgetting the cycling clobber, the gentleman is a shrewd judge. (Paul W. Hullah)

V LIVE

RUNRIG

Playhouse, Edinburgh, 7 Dec.

Donnie Munro burst on stage clad only in a sequinned G-string, made a series of lewd pelvic thrusts to the front row, stroked his groin and gave a ialsetto

shriek: ‘Edinbuuuurgh Playyyyhouse,

; kiss my asssss . . .’

Well it wasn’t quite like that, but, hell, you need all the fantasies you can get at a Runrig gig. Munro in reality affects a distinctly Val Doonican-ish jumper and tells us how wonderful it

forgetting that they’d played here the

into leaden literalism for both band and audience. At the start of ‘Shine On Harvest Moon', the backdrop is lit up with, yup, a moon. and assorted inadequates in the audience get their torches out for the ‘shine on' refrain. You get the impression that had the band’s repertoire featured a song called ‘Piss Yourself', they'd be

was to be back in Edinburgh, obviously

night before. Intros over, it was straight

swabbing down the Playhouse aisles till February.

Runrig don’t like you having a go at their fans, of course. Suffice to say, their following (of all ages, but united by a tendency towards tubbiness) reflect their idols’ desire to opt out. Runrig pay no heed to the concepts of musical progression or fashion and hence sound like a stripped-down Jethro Tull without the charisma. Their fans in turn pay no heed to the unwritten 11th Commandment, ‘Thou shalt not be nail', and wobble along to every grim ditty managing to clap out of time with even the squarest of 4/4 beats.

This is rock for people who never bunked off Sunday school, who lap up the anodyne emotions and ‘political’ platitudes pasted on to cheap tunes that speak of the great wide yonder but in fact are fatally inward-looking. I took to the hills (well the exit actually). (Tom Lappin)

V BOOK NOW

Concerts listed are those at major venues. for which tickets are on public sale at time of going of press.

ROCK

I GLASGOW DARROWLAND (226 4679) Inspiral (.‘arpets. 12 Feb. I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) Lisa Stansfield. 21) Mar.

I GLASGOW SECC (557 6969) Simply Red. 27 Jan; iirie (‘lapton. 3 Mar; Wet Wet Wet. 13 Mar: Rush. 15 Apr: Diana Ross. lll

Jun; (.‘liff Richard. 29-31

.()ct: Tom Jones. 2 Nov. I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Wet Wet Wet. 15 Mar; Rocky Horror Show. 211-21 Mar: Erasure. 3—5 Jul.

JAZZ & FOLK

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511)Chick (‘orea lilcktric Band. 26 Mar; Sonny Rollins. 21 Apr.

CLASSICAL

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 1) New World Symphony. 17 Jan; Moscow State Symphony. 2—3 Mar; Philharmonia. 23 Mar. I GLASGOW RSAMO (332 5057) Anthony Rolfe Johnson. 23 Jan; Scottish linsemble. 24 Jan; S(‘() Brass. 25 Jan; John Williams. 6 Feb; Hebrides Ensemble. 16 Feb; Scottish Ensemble. 28 Feb: John UN. 12 Mar: Scottish linsemblc. 111 Apr; S(_‘() Brass. 11 Apr. I EDINBURGH QUEEN'S HALL (668 2019) Hebrides Ensemble. 19 Jan; Scottish Ensemble. 26 Jan; [i(‘A'1‘—SSP(‘A (‘harity Concert. 2 Feb; (iould Piano Trio. 11 Feb: Songmakers Almanac. 17 Feb; Scottish Ensemble. 1 Mar; Brindisi String Quartet. 16 Mar: ()rkest de Volharding. 25 Mar; Alfred Brendel. 11 Apr; Scottish Ensemble. 12 Apr; Evelyn (ilennie & Anna Steiger. 29 Apr. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Verdi‘s Requiem (ERCU). 9 May. I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for Royal Scottish Orchestra. Scottish (‘hamber ()rchestra. BBC‘ Scottish Symphony Orchestra. and (‘ity of Glasgow Philharmonic ()rehestra are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 5511): Usher Hall. [Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen‘s Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Open: from Theatre Royal. (ilasgow

(332 900(1); Playhouse. Edinburgh (557 2590). J

The List 20 December 1991 16January 1992 43