preview MUSIC
CLASSICAL London Symphony
ROCK
IG-llaYEW' Barrowland Mon 14A r orChEStl‘a g ' ' p' Glasgow: Royal Concert Hall, Fri it Back in 1994, untouched by the Apr.
For 2i years, Shell UK and the London Symphony Orchestra have teamed up to provrde a platform for Britarn’s best young mtrsrcrans and, to celebrate thrs brrthday, the orchestra have been orven the key to the door of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall At a unroue riala concert, three young; Scots, all recent winners of the Shell LSO Music Scholarshrp Gold Medal, will shewcase their talents With the frrll backrnn of the LSO.
For twenty-year-old Colrn Come, the concert provrdes an opportunity to branch out from his re; ent orc ht-stral stints Wllll the London Srnlonrettt‘i and the Crty of Brrrnrnrjharn Symphony Orchestra Sznt'e ‘.‘./!ll'll-"r"l the scholarshrp :n 1992, the Edrnburtjh- born perc ussronrst has recorded a solo album for EMI and her nrne a rrternher' of the Steve Martland hand He also played Venr, Venr, Emmanuel on a Naxos compilation of larnes Mac lylrllan's musrc, and that's the prece he'll be perforrnrnn at the Glasgow concert
‘lt's a very relrzjrous p:ece, which can be very movmg,’ ( urrre says 'It urabs the lrstener’s soul When l’rn playrnu rt, i tend to get carried alonzj with all thrs and frnd rt sprr:tually rrplrltrrv; Although l’rrt not a rel.orous person at all, I can see exactly where Jimmy's
then popular but temporary hard rock with knobs on aberration labelled 'grunge’, Live produced the enduringly brilliant Throwing Copper album. Three years later, most of it spent on tour, they’re back with Secret Samadhi, which guitarist Chad Taylor claims is the easiest album the band ever put together, and ready to hit the road again.
Heralding the new release was the single ‘Lakini’s Juice’, a representative slice of the band's new depths of melodic intensity and, it would appear, a brand of heightened spirituality which only American rock stars can achieve.
'Lakini is one of the Hindu goddesses of destruction,’ explains Taylor, ’She was worshipped and also feared. Her job was to eat up the karma of the world. She was a total sexual being and I think there’s a bit of sexual danger in that song. That's what we’re playing off.‘ And the ’juice’? ’The juice is the juice of the world. It’s what we all gravitate towards, what we’re all drinking up,’ says he without a trace of irony.
Expanding the theme, Live chose ‘Samadhi' as part of their new album’s title. A Sanscrit word,
found in an eastern philosophy Live: sucking up the juice of the world near you soon cornrnzj from on the spiritual srde of book, meaning ’spiritual thrnrjs' realisation’, it embodied their r At this stane of hrs career, Currie rs theory that, 'everybody is on a spiritual pathway and us was much easier.’ keen to diversify s but within reason we needed a word which could identify that and enable It's a nice theory but, post-tour, Live de-camped to 'You have to he careful to make sure us to talk about that feeling.’ The 'Secret’ evolved from Jamaica to write and chill. However, as Taylor protests, that (“~.’{*."/'.:".:.'t(l you do, you do well the notion that their music, like secrets, could, if one this was more than a mere sunny sabbatical: ’The ' My solo lt-;‘("t§()ll't‘ rs illilif’ small, but at looked hard enough, be revealed in layers. environment in which we started writing was on tour. It 3 the sarne trnte l'rrt managing to do
So where along the pathway did the Pennsylvanian was very isolated. Being four musicians, alone, with lots : quite a lot of orchestral playing, my
foursome become so in tune with their inner selves? of instruments lying around was very conducive to egos aren’t all in one hasket '
’Touring so much for Throwing Copper, and pushing writing songs. That’s the reason we picked Jamaica. It The Shell UK/LSO concert rn Glasgow ourselves every night to the limits of where we take our was intoxicating and I think it added a very sensual side also throws a spotlight on 25-year-old sound meant this album just developed out of us. It's to our music.’ , Lorna McGhee, who‘ll play Ibert's F/ute not something we could have a meeting about. The Already aboard the tour bus, Live are living up to their l Concerto, and Bathoate's Angela
mechanics of playing your instrument kick in and you’re name. The nomadic lifestyle suits them, and Taylor in Whelan, whose chosen prece rs the able to lose yourself and let the music take you. By the particular. ’l’m just a world surfer. i say screw the World Arutrunran Trumpet Concerto 'lt’s time we started writing for this record the ability to Wide Web. I'm going to do it in person.’ (Susan 3 ourte a thing to he put on the same centre ourselves and get to where these songs come to Mackenzie) platform as those two players] enthuses Currre ‘They're both Sltllltllfifj rnusrc rans, very strong netting together the exce lent Red, Hot characters To be put alonrjsrde those + Country project testrfres (AIDS two should he a (treat boost for my a‘.'.rar'erress was not a hot ticket rn ; playrrvj ' lAlan l.l~t)rrrs"'r' conservatrve country circles), and she , , , , , drtl so arjarn rn (li()()S|l‘.(] her new . calm cume: prov'dmg a sound In yqur shell-like producer, Ben Wrsch, best known for 5 hrs work wrth Marc Cohn The srncjer's UK totrr wrl! run; the changes rn another drrectron as well, as she explarns 'I had the same band for about seven years, then two of the guys dec rded at the end of last year that they wanted to concentrate on dorncj sessron work rn Nashvrlle That hand was very l special, so I decided rather than just replace those musrcrans, I would start fresh I not rn four instrumentalists,
COUNTRY Kathy Mattea Glasgow: King’s Theatre, Mon 7Apr.
The Nashvrlle way rs generally simple; if yOu have a rec0rd that sells, you go right back into the studio and make another one JUSI lrke rt Kathy Mattea started that process when she began work on the successor to Walking Away A Winner, but drdn't stick v-nth the blueprint very long
’The last album was a consCIous attempt to make a commerCral record of the kind that rs sellrng in country music now, and we started by trying to do that agarn, only better. I very qurckly lost any sense of rnsprratron It was
"‘3ka me real m'sorabler ‘0 the Domt Kathy Mattea; quietly going against three of \‘.hom also srnr;, and two | drdn't want to get out of bed m the the grain women hacking singers, so we have srx mOm'ng- EVemUal'Y ' 381 dOWH Wlth VOICOS Talk about a brrj vocal sound
the company presrdent and told hrm (Mercury, has spontaneous fee! that rts we played our first gig rn the Houston my 510W H9 55'd 00 make YOUr OWn predecessor lacked Mattea rs no Astrodome, which was really scary, but record, and call us when you’re done.’ stranger to oornc; quietly (ifltilll‘s'. the l think the harrrtonres are stril echoing The resulting album, Love Travels rjrarn rn Nashvrlle, as her work rn around rn there ' rKenny l.lathresonr
Il—sl / Apr lQQ/ THE LIST 45