MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS
L_-_...
HEI- BLAGERS TA
Venue. Edinburgh. 8 Nov.
Look. I'm a young bloke. l tnissed the early years of punk. all the freshness and excitement. the new sounds and new looks and raised fingers to authority that everyone still talks about. But I imagine it felt something like this.
The Blaggers have had bad press recently: have- a-go bad boys who've just seized onto an anti-fascist thing as another flag to wave in the name of a light. It‘s been claimed they actually damage their cause with their more extreme activities. Certainly it‘s difficult to justify assaulting a journalist just because he‘s questioned their methods. But they are an incredible live band. best I've seen in a long time.
They have two kinds of song: hell-for-leather with a groove and just plain hell-for-leather. They use hard guitars in a way which puts most metal acts to shame. People keepjumping. not just at the beginnings of songs. but all the way through the set. They start with both of their singles so far. ‘Stresss‘ and ‘()xygen‘. but still manage to keep the momentum right until the end.
Part of this power comes from their fierce. rhythmic vocals. it‘s a double-header. Matty the one with the relatively long hair (a good inch). and Christie the one with the terrifying. cold eyes. They spend time in the air. time in the audience. and don't let up for anydnng.
Matty‘s final rage against National Socialism leaves you iii no doubt about his passion. ‘Get them out of Scotland. otit of Britain. off the face of the fucking planet.‘ Their set wasn‘t even an hour. but I didn't see anybody complaining. Their approach to the physical process of fighting fascism remains open to question. but 1 for one would rather have them shouting against Nazis than supporting them. With the kind of energy they generate we should hope to God they‘re on the side of the angels. (Gavin inglis)
PULP
King Tut’ , Glasgow, 13 Nov. Contemporary pop icons, I don’t know - give ’em one Malteser and they’ll take the whole bag. Give ’em a string of fine ’n’ dandy electro pop singles, a stage and a partisan audience before , them and are they satisfied to impart 1 their lewd musical tales of seedy Sheffield, rip off The Human League, shimmer in their retro threads and
revel in the motliness of their crew?
) No, their singer has to try on the old - stand-up routine into the bargain.
Jarvis Cocker’s wit is intrinsic to Pulp’s appeal, the way that BMX
; Bandits wouldn’t be half the class I entertainment they are minus Duglas
and his idiosyncratic observations.
‘ Jarvis is Buglas with a naivety bypass
and a cynicism transplant. He’s a master of timing, remonstrating with the band when they jump their cue and interrupt one of his sardonic monologues.
It’s bizarre how rapt the crowd become when the music dies and Cooker gets that reflective twinkle in his eye. Which intriguing juncture of his life story is he going to divulge next? During one particularly lengthy anecdote which culminates with Jarvis and some local neds in his car, listening to rave music and eating chocolate limes, a voice from the front rows asks ‘were they milk chocolate or plain chocolate?’ I mean, presumably this isn’t his biographer assiduously checking her material.
She’s genuinely interested in the finer
{scepticism vanishes. (Fiona Shepherd) . Hula “chhflqu 9 .
(‘()I.IN USHER
details of the Cocker aesthetic.
So it takes Pulp a decade to visit Scotland, and then in the space of one year they go from entertaining a mildly
appreciative audience of double figures to regaling a capacity crowd lapping up their every utterance, gagging to know what lights the I group’s collective candle. Their adept ‘borrowing’ from early 80s sythesizer outfits is praised as some kind of stylistic coup, but Pulp were there at the tail end of that flamboyant era. It occurs that they’re still playing the same old song after all these years. But then they play the tumultuous, orgasmic ‘0.U.’, Jarvis throws his Alvin Stardust hand gestures and all
um- TAMMY wvuerrs
I 7
Tammy Wynette, Usher Hall, Nov 6 llnfathomable but true. llp there, strutting his dinner-dance stuff, is a Daniel 0’Donnell wannabe, Sean 0’Farrell. Even the name’s a clone. Songs by 0hno 0’Heally? Comedy
steps by Sadly 0’Naffly. His Iiveried
tour bus outside calls to mind Evel Knievel’s. Gasp as Sean’s black slacks leap over Sean’s lime green blazer and all notions of good taste. Sean’s coiffured flick is actually stunt hair. Ah well, that’s showbiz. Now Tammy, she’s a real trouper. Just
look at the figures. Twenty-seven
years in entertainment. Country Music Association Female Vocalist 01 The
f Year in 1968, 1969 and 1970. She
. kickstarted that golden run by writing
j ‘Stand By Your Man’ in 1968, the
} single most popular record on
{ provincial Scottish gramophone
i players in the 703. And 803. By March
: next year Tammy will have seven
' grandchildren, familial 0.I.V.0.H.C.E.’s
= memory lane is blocked by a
notwithstanding. This fact gets a round of applause, perhaps acknowledging that our Tammy, 50something granny, has kept her
. figure and her delicious pure-yet-
curdled country twang. Her emotional cup still runneth over and her peroxide bottle never runneth dry.
And the memories keep flooding. Sprayed across the back of the stage is a Tammy logo, styled like some . long-gone 0. C. Thomsons girls’ comic: Bunty, Judy, Mandy - in fact, wasn’t there one called Tammy too? Then come’s the tragi-comic. ‘Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad’ naturally preceded ‘0.I.V.0.B.C.E’. This is Tammy . Wynette, ‘the veteran artist’, trying to make our night ‘better’ and ‘brighter’ via a punter-fleecing 70-minute stroll down memory lane. Toll: £15.50 to £17.50 plus excruciatingly cheesy backing band.
0n Tammy’s current collaborative album with Dolly (Parton) and Loretta (Lynn), ‘Honky Tonk Angels’, this
particularly ghoulish piece of roadkill. ; The miracle of modern recording science facilitates a total taste bypass as the extant songstresses muscle in on ex-songstress Patsy Cline’s rendition of ‘Lovesick Blues’, recorded by Cline in 1960. Just as ghoulishy Tammy tonight dedicates ‘Stand By Your Man’ to her pals Lyle and Julia. That’s their marriage scuppered. It’s a rocky road, that country music. 0nly Tammyesque legends can survive if. (Craig McLean)
& The Strawbs. 19 Dec;
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 BARROWLAND (226 4679) Sepultura. 3 Dec14 Non Blondes. 4 Dec; The Damned. 7 Dec; Pogues. 10 Dec; The The. 12 Dec: Mr Big. 13 Dec: Saw Doctors. 17 Dec: Body Count. 20 Dec; Rtiii Rig. 21—22 Dec; Bjorn Again. 31 Dec: Wonder Stuff. 24 Mar.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Moody Blues. 10 Dec; Run Rig. 13—14 Dec; Dr Hook. 16 Dec.
3 I cuscow PAVILION ' (332 1846) Carol l.aula. 5
Dec. I GLASGOW SECC (227
5511) Smash Hits
Roadshow. 3 Dec: ()M D. 4 Dec; Status Quo. 5 Dec;
Wet Wet Wet. 8 Dec; Gary
Glitter. 23—24 Dec:
Meatloaf. 1‘) Mar.
I LIVINGSTON FORUM (5576969) Run Rig.6 Dec; Body Count. 19 Dec. I EDINBURGH INGLISTON
(071587 momma. l-l
Jan.
I EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE (557 2590) Deacon Blue. 22 Apr. I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Carol
Dec.
‘JAZZ
I GLASGOW CITY HALL
(227 5511)Carol Kidd. 16
Feb; Danish Radio Big Band. 10 Mar.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Chris Barber. 12 Dec.
I GLASGOW THEATRE ROYAL (332 9000) Humphrey Lyttelton Band. 30 Dec.
I EDINBURGH QUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Pinski Zoo/Nigel Clark. 3 Dec: Melanie ()‘Reilly. 10 Dec;
Michel Petrucciani. 11
Feb; Carol Kidd. 18 Feb; Totnmy Smith. 4 Mar;
Danish Radio Big Band.
11 Mar; Cauld Blast ()rchestra. 18 Mar.
FOLK
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Mary Black. 9 Dec; Lindisfarne
Celtic Connections. 9—23 Jan.
I EDINBURGH DUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Cattld Blast ()rchestra. 18 Mar. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Mary Black. 10 Dec.
CLASSICAL
I GLASGOW CITY HALL (227 5511) Mozart Requiem. 20 Mar.
I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 I) Verdi Requiem. 5 Dec; Pops at the Phil. 19 Dec; Carol Concert. 22 Dec: Favourite Mitsic. 13 Feb: Choral Spectacular. 5 Jun..
I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Drysdale & Emslie. 5 Dec; BTSFI. 10 l)ec; SUWB&C. 11 Dec: Carols. 1-1 Dec: J()&C. 18 Dec; Paragon. 23 Jan; SliMC. -1 Feb: BTSFI. 11 Feb: Cappella Nova. 12 Feb; Paragon. 27 Feb: Hebrides. 6 Mar;S1€MC. l 1 Mar; Paragon. 20 Mar; BTSFZ. 15 Apr.
I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) EU). 5 Dec; lmai & Vignoles. 6 Dec; King‘s Consort. 11 Dec; BTSFZ. 12 Dec: Meadows C(). 12 Dec: Peter Donohoe & Martin Roscoe. 15 Dec; Marisa Robles. 16 Dec; Cappella Nova. 18 Dec; lubilo. l9 1)ec: Clarsach Concert. 20 Dec; Messiah. 22 Dec; limperor Qt. 17 Jan: Paragon. 25 Jan; Hebrides. 2 Feb; BTSl—I. 6 Feb; Hebrides. 6 Feb; Schubert fins. 7 Feb: King’s Consort. 19 Feb; Paragon. 1 Mar; Hebrides. 7 Mar; lindellion Qt. 21 Mar; Paragon. 22 Mar: liCAT. 30 Mar; BTSFL. 17
Apr; liCAT. 28 Apr:
King's Consort. 7 May: Meadows C0. 15 May.
’ I EDINBURGH ususn
HALL (228 1155) Messiah. 31an;1€R(.'L‘.7 May.
3 I SUBSCRIPTloN
SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SC(). BBC SS() and CGPO concerts are
available from . Ticketcentre. Glasgow
(227 5511,);11sher11all. lidinburgh (228 1155); Queen's Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish ()pera from
Theatre Royal. Glasgow
(332 9000); King's Theatre. Edinburgh (229 1201).
The Wonder Stuff
34 The List 19 November—2 December 1993