MUSIC PREVIEW
V LIVE IGGY POP
Barrowland. Glasgow. 2l Aug. it’s a privilege to be here inside your funhouse, Mr Pop. You make us all feel like guests at your passing-out party. You pull in the walls of this ballroom till it'sjust a tiny club, and we‘re dodging the flecks of perspiration you send out when you spin, swivel, contort your frame, toss your head. lggy’s in pretty good shape for a man who’s debauched himself to the brink of feasibility. With his eagle eyes and his bendy limbs, he's the very model of New ‘Troglodyte‘ Action Man. And he's intent on sharing his physique with his public. Witness that exposed torso. that breastplate of taut muscle. Gasp as he reaches for his flies. Grin as you think, ‘dirty old man, what a caution, get away with him, put it away you old croc,’ etc. Giggle as the jeans fall to his ankles. Wonder how many other thousands of punters have beheld his royal blue briefs.
This man lives for a stage. The thrill of being elevated those few feet above the proletariat sends him into a frenzy of suggestive posturing and tensile gymnastics. His band vacate the stage and still he pirouettes and pogos with no accompaniment but the goading of the crowd and the delirium in his head. He’s twice the age of most of his audience. That‘s some thought.
in all the excitement we hardly notice what a canine’s repast he and his band are making of ‘l Wanna Be Your Dog’. it’s an ill-defined mush of o grunge metal. Likewise ‘Loose‘, robbed of its revpower. But ‘Search and Destroy’ is exhilarating. First, it makes a precise incision, then threatens to go bowling out of control.
lt‘s mainly a crowdpleasing set with only a few newies, covers of ‘China Girl’ (delivered in a baritone as smooth as cough syrup) and ‘Louie Louie’ (hmmm . . .) and compulsories like ‘The Passenger‘ which swings, and ‘Lust For Life' which jerks. An unambitious but unashamed stonking Stoogefest. (Fiona Shepherd)
um:- Crust never sleeps
Joe Lampard tackles life on the road with Back To The Planet.
Squat pop, space reggae, punk dub, coo-friendly, ska dance monsters — labels which have been hoisted onto music press flagpoles in order to categorise and describe the sound of culture-crossing New Agers Back To The Planet.
BTTP describe their music simply as ‘conscious dance music’. a sound they’ve been cultivating for the past few years around the festival/gig circuit and in the process gaining a massive roots following with the squat/traveller culture in the South. That culture is starting to splinter a bit says drummer Henry. ‘lt’s not quite so strong now it’s getting more segregated and split up. There are smaller groups going round doing smaller things. Before, the groups used to accumulate their energy and get big things together; like when we started in the scene a few years ago it was a lot stronger, it seemed to be easier to get bands going then.’
What with new government laws being passed in an attempt to quash the rights of travellers and squatters, combined with the recent disaster that was the Phoenix Festival, are we witnessing the death throes of Britain’s long-established festival scene? Not at all, says Henry. ‘The Phoenix was ten'ible, what with all the riots and shit that went down, but that had an awful lot to do with place. it was basically like a big car park - once you were inside, that was it, the security of the place was so tight and restrictive, and there was absolutely nothing else to do. At Reading or Glastonbury, there are loads of other things going down and always plenty to do.
‘Saying that, though, the upcoming Urban Free Festival is going to be one hell of a big get-together. it’s a combination of all the groups in the area plus others from all over the country coming down and doing their thing. It’s a really good mixture of straight modern art, traveller culture and squat culture from the inner cities. it’s a nice meeting of the tribes so to speak.‘
So how did BTTP come to be one of the most prominent, omnipresent bands on the festival scene? ‘The whole thing is, we didn’t set out to be a festival band at first,’ explains Henry. ‘lt‘s just that that’s what we got into at the start. Within the festival scene we’ve certainly not been standing still and stagnating, we’ve also done somewhere in the region of 400 gigs and have released a couple of tapes which have sold really well. in the future, festivals will definitely still play a big part in
what we do, the only thing is that there are a lot more festivals in the world than the ones in England, so we may try and explore the European festival scene. There are all kinds of crazy things going on in ltaly and all over. The likes of Mutoid Waste Company have been organising things for years in Rimini, and we'd like to go over and explore those. It‘s all a case of having the money to just go over and do it without won‘ying about the finances.’ The release of their album, Mind And Soul Collaborators, is imminent, on sale now is their new single, 'Daydream’, and they are touring Britain throughout August and September. playing 22 gigs in 27 days, with an obligatory stop at the Reading Festival along the way. Catch them at a venue near you soon. Back To The Planet play The Venue. Edinburgh on Wed 1 and King Tut's, Glasgow on Thurs 2.
:- Telecom Gould
I guess it had to happen sometime. The Scottish Ensemble will be known forthwith as the British Telecom Scottish Ensemble, a voluntary change of name which reflects their acceptance of the biggest single sponsorship deal ever struck between a Scottish music organisation and a commercial benelactor. The new name will be accompanied by an innovative poster design campaign from Glasgow’s 999 Design Group, which echoes the baroque origins of the band.
‘We first spoke to Telecom when we played in a concert they were sponsoring at the Iorthlands Festival last year,’ says Roger Pollen, the Ensemble’s administrator. ‘Iecase we tour extensively In Scotland, we were looking for a genuinely national
Clth
sponsor, and Telecom liked the sound oi what we were proposing. The benefits are not only in a substantial cash infusion, but we will also be able to capitalise on their contacts and influence, both in Scotland and in the
south.’
They play their first concert under the new banner in liunblane Cathedral, prior to a subsequent tour of the north, an occasion which will also mark the debut of violinist Clio Could as the new artistic director of the group, in succession to Jonathan flees. Currently tendon-based, Clio is about to move to Scotland, and will be a great asset to the music scene here. She has been acting as an interim artistic advisor for the past few months, but we will not see the full impact of her programming ideas until the 1994-95 season.
She had a hand in the impending winter programme (which begins in October) in Glasgow and Edinburgh however, which offers two new commissions, a modern ‘Concerto Crosso’ by Sally Beamish and llave iieath’s contemporary reflections on Vivaldi in The Four Elements, alongside more funillar fare. Details are available from the BSAMII (332 5057) and The Queen’s iiall (668 2019). (Joe Alexander)
The British Telecom Scottish Ensemble play at Dunblane Cathedral on 30 Aug.
78 The List 27 August—9 September 1993