Un primo commento, non del tutto positivo, al concerto del Canterbury Sound di venerdì scorso si può leggere su What's Rattlin'. Lo invia Stephen Reynolds.
[...] The Puffins were already on stage and not really expecting to like them I joked 'shall we go to the bar' but we stayed and although they had a strict no photo policy I tried taking a few without the flash which didn't come out!.
The Puffins had Geoff Richardson and Jim Leverton from Caravan, plus a female percussionist and a acoustic bass guitar player, GR switched between ukulele, acoustic guitar and viola. As ever he is excellent and projects a great cheering personality that brightens the whole room, JL was a good acoustic guitar player and sang in that smokey style of his and was fine.
I felt irked when people requested a Caravan or was it a Dave Sinclair number, to which was politely declined with a remark about contacting Japan. I was on their side then and enjoyed their set except the excerpt of Caravan they didplay from 9ft Underground, which was originally sung by RS, it never sounds quite right with Jim Leverton's voice but it was well arranged.
So they left the stage and the feeling was what was that to do with the Canterbury Sound? they had played a Eric Clapton and a Travelling Wilburys number! So not very Canterburian to me...
Then the bare footed Chris Cutler followed Hugh Hopper onto stage, HH doing hisusual bedrock bass and CC 'playing' sounds and his electric drum kit, see his website for explanation. With wierd and wonderful sounds and recordings emerged floating over HH's superb bass booming out.
My partner looked highly ill at ease by now and she asked me if I wanted to go to the bar... touche!
Then the great one emerged, Daevid Allen! I can't describe him to do him justice, but his completely fab look and huge stage presence encapsulated me,and we were off on heady ride off old and even older hits and some I didn't recognise. 'We did it again', 'Hope for Happiness', 'Dedicated to You but you weren't listening' (with rewritten words by DA) and many more, I loved the Brainville 3 they were great, and at times he had me in stitches with; Who's afraid...e specially when he said Who's afraid of crowds and somehow suddenly seeing usall repelled back with a Aaargh, Who's afraid of dying suddenly felt poignant, when the numbers really started driving Chris Cutler was fantastic, as an amateur drummer myself I can attest he has a unique style with a flamboyant looking revolving arms and he was pounding them drums, driving the set along. DA led the ostinato fest, a true star, as for his axe he was playing a truley bizarre and wonderful white plastic looking guitar with no head and mostly played with a punky distortion, and some lovely glissando.
They were all too soon gone, with a touching three cheers for Pip and some lovely comments from Daevid Allen about Pip being a 'classic'. True enough there's no one that can play like Pip as we would soon see...
So too the break, a crowded bar and then back in, no photo policy now so I got some shots of Hatfield & the North who took to the stage with an announcement/introduction from Jonathan Coe.
They started with Share It, with Doug Boyle (Caravan) guesting on lead guitar, he was superb, but the band sounded unrehearsed to me, Mark Fletcher who I have seen with Richard Sinclair at Coventry and many times with In Cahoots is a great drummer, but he fell well short of Pip's standards, he appreared a lot of the time to be reading the material and I felt he was off the beat or the feel wasn't right on most of the songs, he did best on Nan's True Hole, the former Matching Mole number which is a heavy riff number, but then throughout the night Richard kept forgetting lyrics, which on previous occasions I have taken in the spirit of their 'eccentricity' and it's not bothered me, but tonight I found it, rude and inconsiderate, there is a paying audience with you, this isn't a rehearsal room.
Which let's face it they could have done with in my view. So they played mostly Pip's stuff with RS burbling when he forgot words! They played Underdub, but an interlude commenced when they couldn't find Doug Boyle who rushed back on stage and was duly heckled 'best go get your guitar' which was jovial but it looked a tad shambolic.
As stated SB was great, and the numbers were soon over, Alex Maguire's introduction to the band had been successful when I had seen Hatfields previously, but tonight I found that he overplayed in places, not much 'less is more' in his performance. He seems a very energetic soul but we don't need 10million notes a minute all the time. So we got to the end and they played 'God Song' one of my all time Canterbury favourites. SB joined Phil Miller and Richard Sinclair and the guitars were beautiful, but Richard delivered the song 'karaoke' style, the original irony/feeling lost in transit, I know I am being mean but that's how it came across to me, very disappointing. They then looked to do another song but couldn't find the other members of the band and it fizzled out. My thoughts were left that maybe the Hatfield monicker should be dropped, replacing one member was survivable but not two, without Pip it does not fly.
Vi risponde poco dopo Simon Knights:
Well, The Puffins. What can you say about the Puffins. Is there a Canterbury connection? To be honest, and I have thought about this, I can't find one. Yes, I know that Geoff Richardson was there and so was Jim Leverton. But it just doesn't do it for me. Musically I can find no connection with the genre. The one thing that I thank them for was that Geoff didn't start to play his spoons - perhaps that had been spot-welded together. The one thing that I wouldn't thank them for was for playing 'Disassociation' from 'Nine Feet Underground'. I've heard Caravan do this in the last few years with Jim Leverton on 'vocals' and it just isn't right.
Next up, Brainville 3. Now we are talking. Chris Cutler perched up high with his kit and electronics. Not only visually captivating, but the sounds he produces are really ace. He holds back, fixes sounds when they are needed, he is a really intelligent percussionist. But when the music needs his power he just turns it on and drives the band forward. And Hugh Hopper and the power of his bass. Repeating patterns, fret-sounds, scraped strings. Solid. Rhythmic. And so inventive and distinctive. Then when Daevid enters the stage his presence is commanding. Eccentic, witty ("who's afraid"), challenging. Different versions of old tunes and songs "We did it again..", "Dynamite", "Memories" etc.
Hatfield - I saw Hatfield last year in London, and earlier this year in Deal on the Kent coast and was, as always, looking forward to hearing them again. An extended band this time with Doug Boyle on guitar. Now Doug is a great guitar player but I had the feeling that he was present just to give a another 'Canterbury' link rather than complement Hatfield as a band. As Stephen said in his posting, Doug's second entrance was shambolic (but did generate a titter around the theatre). Richard did manage to remember the words to most songs but (and this is something of a trademark these days) did have to burble through parts of some.
Mark Fletcher. Great drummer, but not Pip Pyle - which is fine, because he wasn't there to be Pip Pyle - he was there as Mark Fletcher. More animated than Pip but not as loose and relaxed as Pip. In fact, on the occasions when I did see Pip drum, I was always amazed at how little he needed to move in order to play the way he did. He seemed to have this natural ability to conserve energy and play brilliantly.
Qualche momento iniziale del concerto di
Brainville 3, con i soli Hopper e Cutler in scena, è visibile in un filmatino di poca qualità a
http://tinyurl.com/tc3b9
