Blues Enthused Christmas Stocking 2019 - Part 2

So this is Twixtmas, that twilight zone between Christmas and New Year when we all struggle to remember which day of the week it is.  Peace has possibly descended for a couple of days until the next round of celebrations, so it’s a chance to catch up with Part 2 of the Blues Enthused Christmas Stocking!

Steve Van Zandt preaches soul to the faithful

Part 1 of this review of 2019 focused on album releases, and there’s a little more to be said on that front, but let’s kick off by talking about some of the best live shows seen this year.  And for the third year in a row, one of the very best gigs I saw was courtesy of Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul.  This time it was in Milan, while I was in Italy for a lengthy holiday this summer, and once again Steve Van Zandt and his gang delivered the kind of life-affirming rock’n’roll celebration that’s a joy to behold.  Loved it, basically, and it set the bar very high for anyone else.  Here’s an example from elsewhere this year, with‘Trapped Again’.

Samantha Fish gave it a very good go though, on a run of incendiary dates in Britain and Europe.  I caught four of ‘em, greedy man that I am, and though all of them were great, the two on my home turf in Scotland were in the jaw-dropping category.  Fish’s band, sans horns on this European trip, have a terrific chemistry, while she of course adds blazing guitar, unique vocals, and knock-em-dead performance levels to the mix.  Here they are with the dreamy ‘Fair-weather’, at the Troubadour in L.A. a couple of months ago.

Both Stevie and Samantha also delivered new albums this year of course, and very impressive they were too.  Van Zandt and his soul train’s Summer Of Sorcery may have been a little uneven, but tracks like ‘Love Again’ and ‘Superfly Terraplane’ were irresistible, Kill Or Be Kind could have been a contender for my favourite album of the year, if it had had a more impactful closing track, an explosive rocker perhaps, to bookend the album with opener ‘Bulletproof’.  As it is though, with its gathering together of soul, blues, punkish rock’n’roll and down and out pop elements, it was the outstanding crossover album of the year.  And I managed to collar the lady for a pretty good interview too!

Situation normal - Samantha Fish tearing it up

and it was undeniably fun.  Meanwhile Fish’s

Getting back to the live stuff, the early months of the year produced some other corking shows.  In January, Sugaray Rayford provided a bonkers evening of entertainment, an out and out party to complement the more disciplined delivery of his subsequent album Somebody Save Me.  Here's Sugaray feeling good on, er, 'Don't It Feel Good'.

The following month King King created a communal, even congregational atmosphere at their Boiler Shop show in Newcastle, which was sadly the penultimate show to feature bassist Lindsay Coulson and, less expectedly, drummer Wayne Proctor in the fold.  I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance to see their new line-up for the first time, due to other commitments, but it’ll be interesting to see for myself what the new rhythm section of Zander Greenshields and Andrew Scott bring to the party, both live and on their upcoming album.  In the meantime, here’s the new line-up performing ‘Old Love’, on this summer’s Keeping The Blues Alive Mediterranean cruise.

February also brought the tremendous double act of Blue Oyster Cult and The Temperance Movement to Glasgow.  In my view BOC are one of the most underrated hard rock acts of yesteryear out there, and this performance confirmed me in that conviction.  And while Donald ‘Buck Dharma’ Roeser may not indulge in much posturing or posing, as a guitar hero his playing speaks for itself – eloquently.  Check out this run through their old classic ‘Harvester Of Eyes’.   The Temperance Movement, meanwhile, underlined their credentials as one of Britain’s leading rock’n’roll outfits, like a modern, edgy incarnation of The Faces.  Here they are with ‘Take It Back’, from a show in July this year.

A month later my first live exposure to Wille And The Bandits was another example of a current band in a classic rock vein who manage to produce something fresh, blending both world music influences and post-grunge punch into their blues-rock core, and doing so with smiles on their faces and a very distinct lyrical manifesto.  As with King King, Wille And The Bandits enter the new year with a couple of line-up changes, but it would be good to see them continue on an upward trajectory.  Check out the new line-up on this ‘live in the studio’ rendition of‘Make Love’.

The late Wee Willie Walker

Later in the year, another live introduction was to London-based Jawbone, who impressed me hugely last year with their self-titled debut album.  And they did it again onstage, injecting rock’n’roll energy and a good-time vibe into the delivery of their top drawer, rootsy but pigeonhole-defying material.  I wanna see ‘em again, and I wanna see a bigger audience getting into their distinctive sound.  Here they are performing ‘Leave No Traces’ earlier in the year.

My summer sojourn in Italy also allowed me to pay visits to a couple of Italian outdoor music festivals, in Pistoia and Porretta Terme.  The former may have been a straightahead show featuring guitar hotshots Eric Gales and Robben Ford, albeit in the shadow of Pistoia’s cathedral, but the latter is a remarkable small town affair, which every year showcases some legendary soul names.  This time around the bill included the likes of Don Bryant, Pee Wee Ellis, and Wee Willie Walker, the last of whom sadly passed away just a few weeks ago.  Seeing performances like these, in the purpose-built amphitheatre of Rufus Thomas Park, was a singular experience.

These were just some of the highlights of 2019, but there were plenty of other artists keeping music live in terrific fashion in the course of the year.  Even if they weren’t listed here, more power to their collective elbow, and here’s to more of the same in 2020.

You can read Part 1 of the 2019 Christmas Stocking here.

Blue Öyster Cult and The Temperance Movement - O2 Academy, Glasgow, 24 February 2019

“ON YOUR FEET, OR ON YOUR KNEEEEEES!  HERE THEY ARE, THE AMAZING BLUE – ÖYSTER – CULT!”

Ah, days of my youth. It’s over 40 years since I first saw Blue Öyster Cult, at the old Odeon Cinema in Edinburgh. There’s no Patti Smith howling the introduction tonight, like she did on their first live album.  There’s no laser extravaganza either.  But I tell you what, BÖC still put on a damn good live show.

These days this is less a matter of spectacle, and more because of the awesome repertoire they’re able to draw on.  And that repertoire is delightfully schizoid, ranging from stuff that’s constructed on lead-heavy, bone-crunching riffs, through elements of blues boogie, to songs that grab you with vocal harmonies and sublime, surprisingly pop-rock hooks. And the fact that they walk onstage to the theme from Game Of Thrones is emblematic of lyrics that can be cryptic, gothic, cinematic, and often downright funny.

Glasgow O2 Academy goes up in flames with rock'n'roll 

The twin founding members Eric Bloom and Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser are still the spearhead of the operation – as Buck says, they’ve been compadres for 50 years now, and there are some signs of the ageing process.  Bloom’s gruff voice strains for some of the notes nowadays, on ‘Unknown Tongue’ for example, and he doesn’t so much prowl the stage as potter around it. But he can still rock shades and a leather jacket the same as in days of old.  Roeser is a little greyer, a little portlier maybe, but it has to be said his lighter, airier singing voice sounds just the same as ever.  And he continues to be one helluva guitarist.

So it is that on something like ‘The Golden Age Of Leather’ you get an a capella intro, then three guitars grinding away – Bloom’s, Buck’s and that of new sideman Richie Castellano – plus four part harmonies, and typically intricate little licks being scattered around by Dharma.  And I wouldn’t even classify this as one of the highlights.

‘Burning For You’ however, is a classic of their melodic side, with a truly great hook that has plenty punters near me happily singing the chorus to themselves, and wonderfully fluid guitar from Buck.  On the other hand ‘Harvester Of Eyes’ is a trademark heavy affair, with a seismic rumble of a riff, and Roeser and Castellano getting together on guitar harmonies.

‘Shooting Shark’ isn’t really from my preferred vintage, but they still manage to elevate it from catchy-but-a-bit-wet status to something gripping – Buck decorates the intro with a stunning throwaway solo, Castellano gets his own chance to shine, and then Dharma comes to the fore again with a display of dazzling playing, full of inventiveness and musicality, delivered from his trademark pose, slightly crouched and with one foot forward on an effects pedal.

‘E.T.I.’ gets a big, deserved cheer, with a ringing riff duet revving up its latter segment while current drummer Jules Radino flays his kit big time.  Then it’s time for ‘Buck’s Boogie’, on which Dharma demonstrates that aimless noodling is not his thing.  From a guitar and keys (also Castellano) call and response section it progresses like a miniature suite of signature guitar motifs, and into a spell of harmonic exchanges with bassist Danny Miranda.  By which time they’ve made an hour simply fly past.

‘Last Days Of May’ lets Richie Castellano off the leash again, for an impressively twiddly, echoed solo.  He’s a good fit, and in many another band he’d be the full-on axe hero.  But in this outfit he can only be junior to the dapper little gent at centre stage, as Buck illustrates with a fierce solo.

They head for the home stretch with the supermonster riff of the epic ‘Godzilla’, before closing the set proper by unfurling ‘(Don’t Fear) The Reaper’, on which Bloom mischievously mimes a bit of cowbell playing, and by the time they’ve finished the guitar wig-out ending I’m thinking ‘Hotel California’ is a bit tame by comparison.

‘Dancing In The Ruins’ seems like a strangely poppy choice for the first encore, though it evidently makes some folk happy.  More to my liking is ‘Hot Rails To Hell’, on which Castellano gets to run wild in addition to taking the lead vocal.  It’s poundingly anthemic – but not half as much as the concluding ‘Cities On Flame With Rock’n’Roll’, on which there’s a pregnant pause while Buck grins and cracks his knuckles in readiness for the explosive ending, on which the three guitars and bass line up at the front of the stage in time honoured fashion.

There’s no guitar-clashing ‘Born To Be Wild’ finale, and no room for ‘The Marshall Plan’, or ‘Joan Crawford’ or ‘Astronymy’ . . . or . . . I could go on.  Which is a shame, but as someone once said, you can’t always get what you want.  But even without all of those classics, Blue Öyster Cult can still produce two hours worth of what you need.

And as an added bonus, they have The Temperance Movement opening for them, which

Lights, cameras, and Phil Campbell action

makes this a dynamite two-for-one offering.  TTM stroll onstage to the strains of ‘The Stripper’, which may not be entirely original, but still fits the sense of fun that comes courtesy of singer Phil Campbell.

And they’re off, with a stomping bass drum triggering ‘Only Friend’.  By the time they’re done with ‘Caught In The Middle’ with its chopping riff, Campbell is taking his shoes off, and as they get wired into ‘The Way It Was And The Way It Is Now’ he’s in full flight – a kinetic, madcap, Iggy-spindly, apparently double-jointed presence.

Campbell may be the focal point, but he’s the focal point of a forceful rock’n’roll band. ‘Ain’t No Telling’ features interleaved licks from guitarists Paul Sayer and Matt White, over groove drumming from Simon Lea, ahead of wailing solos from both guitarists.

And so they go on, piling on the winners.  There’s a rock’n’rolling intro to ‘Take It Back’, with its “Woah-oh-oh-oh” pub singalong, southern rock guitar strains on the intro to ‘Another Spiral’, and a strung out blend of guitars on ‘A Deeper Cut’, with Lea hunched over, deep in the pocket, and Paul Sayer adding a chiming solo.

The Temperance Movement are one of Britain’s best contemporary rock bands.  Phil Campbell is absolutely one of British rock’s most captivating front men.  They take some old-style rock’n’roll vibes and yank them into the 21st Century. They’re the business, and hopefully this support slot has recruited another battalion to their fan base.