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MUSIC PREVIEW
Baby Chaos: rewinding ':
On Hogmanay. Glasgow gives up its Sound City crown and passes the baton to Bristol. which will host next year‘s event. But while there are still days left in 199-1. the city will continue to flaunt its musical wares under the Sound City banner.
The three Sound City Rewind gigs (two at Tut's. one at The 13th Note) have been conceived as a final fling rather than a resounding widescreen fanfare.
‘We‘ve picked a cross- section of Glasgow bands we've worked with over the year.‘ says Sound City‘s John Williamson. ‘lf Sound City is going to achieve anything in the future. it will be at that sort of level of gig.‘
Throughout the year. Glasgow has successfully expanded the remit of the Radio l-sponsored festival with events like Soundworks. Jazz in the Park. the Sound Advice seminars and a Whiteout community tour. staging around 250 gigs and 20 seminars.
'l'm really proud of what we achieved. though we could have done more.’ says Williamson. ‘Sound City didn‘t achieve every one of its aims. but it achieved everything that was realistic. ()ne of the original objectives was to get new audiences to gigs. and I don't think we achieved that. but what we did do quite effectively was to mobilise the audience that go to gigs occasionally.‘
()ther positive developments for live music which were not Sound City related but complementary to the spirit of the proceedings included the opening of The Garage and The Arena. the upgrading of Nice 'n‘ Sleaxy and the resounding success of T in the Park.
‘The ripple effects downwards were really good for people going to gigs.‘ says Williamson. ‘Sound City was partly a catalyst. and when it's not there I hope people won‘t go back to being complacent. I hope it’s motivated promoters to go for more interesting gigs.‘ (Fiona Shepherd)
The Sound (.‘it'v Rewind gigs Itt/t't' place in King This on 'litt' 27 ttntl Thurs 29 and u! The lit/i Nine on Wed 28.
m Cheesy
listening
.' i O." '3',
When it comes to rock ’n’ roll, chesy easy listening combo The Johnny 7
, (there are actually only four of them, the wags) know their wallpaper
metaphors.
‘We are the flock wallpaper of the music industry, whereas other people are just plain magnolia woodchip,’ says Patrick H’Bongos, 51.
‘The List”s younger readers may be unaware that The Johnny 7’s current flurry of activity - releasing their new platter ‘The Magnificent 7’ and supporting old friends like Rolf Harris and Russ Abbot - is actually part of a
~ comeback, sparked by a chance
; meeting in a karaoke bar in Japan late
last year. The Johnny 7, who cite writing
? ‘Copacabana’ as their proudest
achievement, were one of the first beatnik combos of the 60s, but gravitated towards the easy listening market in the face of stiff competition from ‘pop’ bands such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
However, as the resident band at The 13th Hote’s Boudoir club, they are now reliving their glory days with Hammond organ renditions of their classic cuts like ‘Je T’Aime’, ‘Una Paloma Blanca’ and ‘Goldfinger’, which - fact fans - they actually wrote for John Barry. ‘He wanted to call it “Silverthumb” but we came up with “Goldfinger” and he went for that.’
After a couple of decades out of the business, Jason Famous, Patrick H’Bongos, Dicky Molenz and Rick Flick (son of Vic) can look back and see their pioneering influence on moustachioad pop.
‘Tony Orlando of Dawn used to be my cleaner,’ says Patrick. ‘He used to sing along to the music we were playing so we wrote “Tie A Yellow Ribbon” for him. If you’ve ever seen a picture of him, he’s the image of us. I’m not saying that any of us slept with his mother, but he is very similar - to Jason Famous, I’ll just add.’
‘We also had quite an influence on Black Sabbath,’ reveals Dicky, 53. ‘Tony was hanging around with us at the time - that’s Tony lommi. You’ll see he‘s got long black hair and a black moustache.’
‘In Oueen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” video you can see us waving in the background,’ recounts Patrick. ‘Freddy was a good friend — the moustache, of course.’
The Johnny 7 - c’mon feel the
l Fonnidable Force of Love. (Hamish
; Smash (son of Mike))
; The Johnny 7 give out free moustaches at Ventura, Glasgow on
{ Thurs 22.
: Rule, ' Britannia
At a time when uncertainty continues to face the future of orchestral
: provision in the UK, it is good that both public and players the length and
breadth of the country are given a
very firm reaffirmation of the great
worth of what we currently have. In commissioning James MacMillan to
- write Britannia, the Association of
body for professional orchestras) aims ’
British Orchestras (the representative
to celebrate the orchestra and the rich
f contribution it makes to the musical
backbone of Britain, while giving a big vote of confidence to those involved.
1 Part of a deal which represents the
biggest ever sponsorship of British
1 orchestras - half a million pounds
: from BT to be spent over three years - the idea is to enable three concert
series which bring together at least twelve of the UK’s leading orchestras. The first series comes to a close with
the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, who will open their Edinburgh and
Glasgow concerts with a new James
MacMillan piece under the baton of Donald Hunnicles. Although this will
be Britannia’s Scottish premiere, the
6 The List 16 December l994—l2 January 1995
Grant finale
j Damien Love waves goodbye to Love And
_ Money. who are hanging ' up their hats at the end of the month.
{ "’ t" .0.“
- .. M,“ A 3 other orchestras sharing in the _ scheme have already performed it as ' part of their seasons. For instance, the LSO gave the premiere in September at the Barbican, the Ulster Orchestra played it in Belfast and the 6880 at 1 Symphony Hall in Birmingham.
For MacMillan, this provides an
unparallelled opportunity to have a
‘When you‘ve been at it for ten years. you maybe finally realise at the end of the day that . . . you're crap. and maybe it's time you did something tlil‘l‘erent.’ After more than a decade characterised by increasing critical i- acclaim mirrored by a steady decline in
§ new work performed by many top 1 sales. James (iranl has decided it) call ‘ orchestras in the space of iust three an end to l.o\e .-\lltl \loney. and mark months. In describing Britannia, he the group‘s passing \\ ith a larew ell gig i says, ‘I hope that this little ten-minute ‘; at The Hat-ttm-lantl. thrown up out of concert overture will stimulate and i the '(‘tlasgtm- (iolth-ush‘ olitlie miti-
entertain the hundreds of excellent i eighties. in the era of the .\'e\t l’tip
British orchestral musicians as well as 1 Dream. when il'tmlsls \\ itlt pop sllss
§ their audiences. My interpretation of ht-ielly captured the charts with the aid
celebratory has resulted in a work of their Trojan horses of intelligently
which deliberately celebrates the g stupid music (think of .-\B(‘ and ()range
orchestral life of this country and is é Juice's fleeting 'Ihp (2/ my I’ll/n
| devised in such a way as to show off ' appearances). Love And Money started
j the brilliance of the British orchestra.’ ottt as and indeed will be remembered
! (Carol Main) l by many solely as being brash.
l The 33'“) play Britannia at the Usher strutting rock funksters. an image (tram l
l Hall, Edinburgh on Fri 16 and Glasgow spent much of his subsequent career l Hoyal Concert Hall on Sat 17. trying to tlL‘Sll'tl}.
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