MUSIC LIVE REVIEWS

SPARE SNARE/ BIS/T HE DELGADOS/ URUSEI YATSURA

Nice 'n' Sleazy. Glasgow, 24 Nov.

One strategically placed explosive device on this night of a thousand potential stars would have been all that was needed to obliterate most of Glasgow's brightest musical gunslingers. It was one of those nights where there are more musicians in the audience than filing on and off the stage. leas also one of those packed Sleazy’s nights where you stare in the general direction of the stage not because you're in any danger of actually seeing anything but because everyone else is doing it.

This was to be the review where Urusei Yatsura were to be proclaimed as musical uberkinder. masters of the universe and the cure for all known illnesses. However. they take to the stage first. and extra early at that. either through modesty or the desire to spend the rest of the night getting hammered and digging the other bands. For the latter smidgen of their set they rock most unshambolically. crowning things with a spanking rendition of the hectic and hectoring ‘Siamese'.

1 can reveal exclusively that The Delgados are next up (this is for the benefit of all but the Gladiators down the front who can actually see what's going on). For all their melodic discipline. there’s madness in the method and mettle in their karma. They are the second band tonight to lift spirits. kick ass and make you smile broadly at the glowing state of fuzzy guitars in cosy venues.

. . . And Bis are the third. Now we can't get down the front for showbiz bods fondling their cheque books. Could Bis be very big soon? If they stick to their punk disco guns. 1f Amanda keeps shaking her geometric bob like a woman possessed. 1f the rest of the nation thinks the Bis mugs on sale at the merchandise stall are as cool as 1 do.

Spare Snare keep up the dissonance but replace the pogo frenzy with a more lop-sided rhythm. By choosing to keep such good company. they suffer slightly by comparison. but if you can‘t rock you can always roll. (Fiona Shepherd)

He hasn’t sniffed the Top Ten or made

a decent record for a decade and his

new lP Fresfanla ls widely regarded

= as a disappointment. Why then is the

. Barrowland bustling with mature and seemingly discerning people? Could it be that Glaswegians are famous for ceaseless devotion to one of their ain? Possibly. A backlight outlines

. AZTEC CAMERA Barrowland, Glasgow, 23 Ilov.

l Roddy Frame throughout the show and

l irrespective of whether it shines

; green, red or purple, Frame is always

i God in the eyes of the audience.

1 Frame is a man who found the higher

l echelons of success more than a

i decade ago. In that time he has been

3 gazumped by the likes of Primal

Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Del Amitrl

3 and even Deacon Blue. It’s sad to

report that Obliviaus, a song made

twelve years ago, and Somewhere In My Heart are still the best delivered,

and received tunes that Aztec Camera

" perform. Sure he has a superb voice

but why does he have to wait for the encore with How Men Are to prove it? The cover of Fresfania shows Frame surrounded by the freshness of a forest but really that’s far from the truth. The album only emphasises just how far Frame has fallen. It is

' . melancholy but not in an intriguing

. way. It should pull you, or at least

entice you along but the only message that it conveys is ‘Well, listen to me if 3 you want’. At least he is slightly better

live because he has let himself go. Sweating profusely in his grey crew neck T-shirt he was always a bit of a show-off but that really only serves to momentarily blur the staleness of it all. (Philip Dorward)

III]- THE GYRES/CASIHO

§ lllce ’n’ Sleazy, Glasgow 20 Nov.

\\,

There’s something struggling weakly to get out of Casino, something in the occasional bloody guitar line or insistent rolling drum attack. For a couple of moments on a couple of songs you can almost hear it, only to be frustrated as it slips from their grasp, as though they’re uncertain of what it was that they were groping after. Maybe if they concentrate on

' some sharp spite, dig out the old Who video collections or something, it’ll all come together. Otherwise, dissipation or wedding receptions beckon.

The Cyres have obviously sussed

exactly what it is they’re all about,

and it’s this realisation which has

provided them with the quantum kick

in the arse needed to transform an

: okay pub-band into a potential

happening. Postcards of their mugs

litter the tables and floors, or hang

from the pockets of a nascent

following. For a start, they all look

with the bad haircut and smelly face and have replaced cheeky decency

\s

with a surly between-song-silence and the obligatory blank stare. Thing is, with some blank stares, some silences, you get the impression that sweet evil’s lurking back there. In the case of The Gyres it’s just . . . blank and quiet.

Musically, the sound has been polished and tightened up into a precision wall of sound; blazey guitars, harmonies - all the usual suspects to get you shaking your keys. It’s the UK SOs/90$ interface again. Where Oasis (look, sorry - I tried not to mention them, okay, but it’s so

difficult avoiding stating the bleeding

obvious sometimes) invoke the spirits of old songs, the Gyres go for a more direct approach in. For example, their opening, umm, homage to ‘Last Train to Clarksville’ getting frisky with ‘19th

Iv Nervous Breakdown’. And so it goes.

We could all, obviously, live well

i enough without this band. Chances are like the ugliest boy in school, the one :I though, this won’t be an option.

1 (Damien Love)

1|

i Concerts listed are these i at major venues, for l l which tickets are on l

public sale at time of

going to press.

: ROCK

I GLASGOW BARROWLAND (226 4679) ; Curtis Stigers, 17 Dec; ' Shane MacGowan. 21 Dec; Gun, 23 Dec; Gene. 20 Jan; Deep Purple. 2 Mar.

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Bootleg Beatles. 18—19 Dec; Bjorn Again. 23 Dec; The Mavericks. 30 Jan; Tori Amos. 29 Feb.

I GLASGOW GARAGE (332 1120) Paradise Lost. 16 Dec; Goodbye Mr MacKenzie. 17 Dec; Frank Black. 29 Jan.

I GLASGOW SECC (248 9999) Simply Red, 17—19 Jan; Michael Bolton. 20 Mar; Meatloaf. 24 Apr; AC/DC. 1 Jun.

I LIVINGSTON FORUM (557 6969) Black Grape. 22 Dec; The Prodigy. 29 Dec; Saw Doctors. 15 Feb.

I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) Blues Brothers Tribute. 5—9 Mar.

I EDINBURGH INGLISTON (557 6969) Pulp. 25 Feb. I EDINBURGH MURRAYFIELD STADIUM (557 6969) Tina Turner, 30 Jun.

I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Bootleg Beatles. 16 Dec; Tori Amos. 27 Feb: Mike and the Mechanics. 14 Mar.

des Voix Bulgares. 1 1 Mar.

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 551 l ) Celtic Connections. 5—21 Jan.

LIGHT

? I GLASGOW CONCERT

HALL (227 5511) Shirley

' Bassey. 13 May; Connie

Francis. 19 May.

' CLASSICAL

I GLASGOW CONCERT

HALL (227 5511) RFC. 16 Dec; Alfred Brendel. 12 Feb; Warsaw Sinfonia, 14 Apr; Anne-Sophie Mutter. 18 Apr; John Williams. 9 May; Vienna Phil. 11 May; Evelyn Glennie. 17 May; Napoleon, 26 May. I GLASGOW RSAMD (332 5057) Midday Concert, 15

Dec; Junior Acad. 16 Dec;

Brahms's Songs. 17 Dec;

Scottish Voices, 17 Dec;

Paragon. 9 Feb, 17 Mar.

28 Apr; Hebrides

Ensemble. 25 Feb. 5 May. I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

THEATRE (529 6000) Acis

and Galatea. 28 Jan; BBCSSO. 11 Feb; More

About Opera. 18 Feb; BBC $80. 25 Feb; Zaide.

16 Mar; BBC 880. 17

Mar; Peter Grimes. 27—30 I Mar; Travelling Opera.

17—18 Apr. I EDINBURGH OUEEN’S HALL (668 2019) Capella

Nova. 16 Dec; Jubilo. 17

Dec; Carol Concerts. 17. 19 Dec; Messiah. 20 Dec; Chamber Group of

Scotland. 15 Jan. 29 Jan. 4

Mar. 22 Apr; Juliane Banse. 22 Jan; SCO Qrt. 28 Jan; BTSE. 15 Feb: Quator Ysaye. 19 Feb;

Hebrides Ensemble. 27

COUNTRY

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Alison Krauss and Union Station. 24 Jan; The Mavericks. 30 Jan; Boxcar Willie. 2 Feb. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Boxcar Willie. 5 Feb.

JAZZ

I GLASGOW CONCERT HALL (227 5511) Herb Miller Orchestra. 3 Feb. I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) Herb Miller Orchestra. 4 Feb. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Chris Barber Band with Ball and Bilk. 18 Dec.

FOLK

I EDINBURGH FESTIVAL THEATRE (529 6000) The Fureys. 3 Mar: Mystere

A

Feb; SCO Qrt. 10 Mar; Grieg Trio. 11 Mar; King's Consort. 16 Mar; Emperor Qrt. 19 Mar; Jean-Yves Thibaudet. 25 Mar; BTSE. 11 Apr; SCO Wind fins. 5 May; Hebrides Ens. 6 May; King's Consort, 9 May. I EDINBURGH USHER HALL (228 1155) Messiah. 2 Jan.

I SUBSCRIPTION SEASONS Programme details and tickets for RSNO. SCO. BBC $50 and CGPO concerts are available from Ticketcentre. Glasgow (227 551]); Usher Hall, Edinburgh (228 1155); Queen's Hall. Edinburgh (668 2019). Tickets for Scottish Opera from Theatre Royal. Glasgow (332 9(X)0); Festival Theatre, Edinburgh (529 6000).

13"; at? ’.-

Gene play Barrowland, 20 Jan

40 The List 1-14 Dec 1995