Fish played the Tavistock Wharf on Saturday which was the opening night of the December Fishheads tour which sees Fish in "acoustic" mode accompanied by journeyman guitarist extraordinaire Frank Usher and keyboard maestro Foss Patterson.
I caught the Fishheads tour back in August this year at The Orange Box in Yeovil and was knocked out by the Fish back catalogue reworked in an acoustic setting and Tavistock raised the game further with classic Marillion numbers being aired in the shape of "Punch and Judy", "Incubus" and encore "Fugazi" which brought the house down !!
It was also great to hear the brilliant probably underrated "Suits" album getting some songs injected into the set by way of "Somebody Special" and "Jumpsuit City"
Overall this was a stunning gig and quite rightly Fish announced at the end of the show to the audience "Tell them I'm back!"
Post show found me back at my hotel where a certain fellow resident happened to be the Fishmeister himself and a wee few drinks were subsequently consumed ;-))
with Fish @ Tavistock
A very chilly Monday November 29th found me at the bar in the Exeter Phoenix drinking chilly pints of Carlsberg in anticipation of another Fall gig. I arrived at 7pm only to discover Mark E Smith and co wouldn't be on until 10pm !!
10pm arrived and as is the norm these days before a Fall gig, a Video DJ ponces about with archive footage of "iconic" rock stars filmed in concert against a giant projection screen - tonight was Black Sabbath with Ozzy Osbourne! This went on for about 20 minutes and was very boring. The Fall came on about 10:20 and were finished by 11pm - short gig and the bass was far too loud in the mix.
Last year's Fall gig was far better and I had the great pleasure of meeting Mark who was a true gentleman and whose hospitality that evening threw some free cans of lager my way ;-)))
Set List for 29/11/2010
Change
YFOC
Cowboy George
Bury
Chino
Strichniyne
Greenway
Muzoweri's Daughter
Hot Cake
Sparta FC
What About Us
Friday November 19th 2010 found me in the Jazz Cafe, Camden for a rather special evening to see Chaz Jankel do an amazing gig in support of his latest album The Submarine Has Surfaced
As you can see from the Set list below, Chaz and his brilliant band ensemble played alot of material from the new album whose guest vocalists Alex Watson, Steven Tart, Natalia Scott and Blockheads singer Derek Hussey join Chaz through out the evening.
Highlights of the set for me, were Chaz classics "Glad To Know You" which kick started proceedings, "Number One", "Get Myself Together" and the wonderful "Ai No Corrida" which Quincy Jones later covered though certainly not the definitive version by any means !!
Chaz inevitably played a couple of Ian Dury & The Blockheads numbers in the shape of "Reasons To Be Cheerful" and "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" joined onstage by fellow Blockhead John Turnbull and again Derek Hussey
Chaz had mentioned during the show that last week he was suffering with the Flu and nearly cancelled the gig - I was so glad he didn't as this was surely GIG OF 2010 !!!
There is promise of further shows next year so watch this space !
da Set list !!
with Chaz aftershow
Carrie Tree the wonderful folk singer from Brighton has released her debut album The Kitchen Table
I caught Carrie back in September this year do an intimate gig at The Rusty Bike in Exeter
Carrie showcased a scattering of songs from the new album and some wonderful covers of Portishead, John Martyn and Leonard Cohen classics !!
The Kitchen Table is I hope the first of many releases from Carrie whose fragile vocals and gentle acoustic guitar playing are a joy to listen to and are indeed what Carrie firmly believes is "heart music".
The album is released on Wild Cedar Records
with Carrie Tree
nice to see Panic Room getting good reviews for their new album "Satellite"
The band consist of current and ex-members of Mostly Autumn, Karnataka and Fish's band.
Anne Marie-Helder is the voice behind Panic Room and the band mix a nice blend of prog, folk, jazz and rock flavourings to produce a very heady cocktail for those with discerning musical tastes.
with Anne-Marie Helder
.... November 2010 sees Steve Hackett further touring his excellent "Out Of The Tunnels Mouth" album around the concert halls of the UK. Last November I had the opportunity to see Senor Hackett perform an amazing set at the Exeter Phoenix and in his brilliant band was Nick Beggs, Bass extraordinaire from Kajagoogoo.
I had the great pleasure of meeting Nick and Steve after the show. Nick has always been a musician I admire and his bass prowess can be heard not only on the new Steve Hackett album but the classic Kajagoogoo album "Islands" which was the album the group made following the departure of Limahl.
"Islands" is a beautiful piece of work, which not only housed the barnstorming singles "Big Apple" and "The Lion's Mouth" but also contained the very Balearic "Melting The Ice Away" which along with Nick's fluid bass lines has one of the best keyboard solo's I have ever heard. If you are unfamiliar with this album it is definitely well worth checking out.
with Steve Hackett
with Nick Beggs
I had the great pleasure on Sunday October 31st 2010 to see Steven Severin do a live score of his soundtrack to Jean Cocteau's "Blood Of A Poet - Le Sang d'un Poete" movie at the Exeter Picturehouse Cinema.
Steven premiered this sublime score at the Silent Movie Theater, Hollywood in January 2010 and it was a real privilege to be able to see this amazing musician live. Steven's soundtrack is available on Cold Spring Records.
I had a nice pint of Yellow Hammer after the performance and Steven kindly signed the soundtrack and my Siouxsie & The Banshees "Tinderbox" album.
...
so I find myself in an indie record shop in Exeter in 2003 and start chatting to Amy behind the counter who is very, very attractive and she tells me The Webb Brothers 3rd album "The Webb Brothers" is out today. I tell Amy that up to that point I had been a big fan of their "Maroon" album and had seen them do a couple of gigs at the Cavern Club in the city and was very impressed. Amy was very pleased to report that the new album does not disappoint and I acquired a copy there and then. I leave Amy and head home in the rain. "The Webb Brothers" is produced by the boys themselves and Neal Ostrovsky(who also plays Drums) and is THE album of 2003 with beautiful chilled out songs contained in the very Floydsy "The World Is Big", the 10cc influenced "Just As Sweet" and the haunting, Neil Young feel of "The Chill". Fast track to Thursday 23rd October 2003 and I catch The Webb Brothers only gig to support the album in the UK at the Scala, Kings Cross and I chat to the Webbs in particular Christiaan who voices his disappointment with Warners Music for not promoting the album properly....
... November 2009 and The Webb Brothers return with father Jimmy Webb to release "Cottonwood Farm" an album of Jimmy Webb classics re-recorded including a sublime version of "The Highwayman" and beautiful vocals from James Webb on "Where The Universes Are". With also a few new Webb Brothers songs to boot, "Cottonwood Farm" is a homespun piece of Americana Webb style. A gig at the Union Chapel in London brings "Cottonwood Farm" to Islington and I sit on the holy pews with a can of Red Stripe and hear Jimmy and his sons (and The Magic Numbers) perform a set that includes "MacArthur Park" "Up, Up and Away" and "All I Know".
The after show party finds me drinking more Red Stripe and some great photographs with The Webb Brothers....
with Christiaan Webb
with Justin Webb
With Jimmy Webb and James Webb
Hi
Marc's Music Blog will be arriving here very, very soon
in the meantime let me just finish this chilled bottle of Laville-Haut-Brion and I will put pen to paper.....
