Elvis Costello – Carnegie Hall – June 25th, 2014 – The second of a two night stand but this is the one to have watched. A solo performance, started with half of My Aim Is True, ended with a brand new song, a good one, and “Peace Love And Understanding” and in between he spend two and half hours wandering round his future history with unvarying, unwavering and very thrilling results
Dave Alvin of the Blasters original covered by Marshall on the sublime Live… My Truck Is My Home, the original is a rough and tumble rockabilly rave up you can just imagine the Blasters charging through. But Crenshaw… man, that guy finds the heart in everything .
He isn’t cute. There is something off center about him as a performer, a sort of nolle prosequi which was at the heart of both punk and No Wave: he doesn’t play nice. This saves him some headaches, among them the question of aging and it gives stuff like “Design To Kill” an entirely timeless quality: it exists in its aggression.
The last time I saw James Chance backed by the True Groove Allstars he stopped the show at the Cutting Room, now the No Wave maestro is back for what should be the gig of the year. Pushing the remastered and deluxe Buy (I wrote the liner notes) and with Marla Mase -who has an excellent new release herself, opening, this should be a huge huge huge gig. Don’t miss this Thursday June 12th at the Cutting Room.
The Love Bug – George Jones – Wayne Kemp, country journeyman, wrote it and George Jones got it right; a smashing, lighthearted romp with love is a disease undertones riddling into the perfect lick. Jones vocal is a masterclass in Williams generation country singing.
So I grabbed a beer bottle and I broke it and I slashed my own face. I started slashing my own face with it and blood was coming down. They completely backed off. I didn’t get the rest of the money but I didn’t get the shit kicked out of me
The week belonged to Kraftwerk. Yes, there is only one original member left and, yes, the other three are hired hands and, yes indeedy, there isn’t much action. But having noted all of the above, the 3D Kraftwerk was a blast of sound and sign and numbers.
Roving Eye – James Chance – Not only does Chance blow like a dream that is emerging out of a nightmare, he sings like a white boy coked out yelping twitching basket case channeling James Brown in the best way and this is a Ze Records peak from the early years.
The audience let its hair down and Doncker had them snapping their fingers and stomping their feet throughout the show. A master master of ceremonies, Tomas directed the full stage with a sure handedness that soon transcended to rock star cockiness. True Groove has arrived.
This “I Don’t Want Nobody” is a steady groove with skronking in the song break and Chance yelping and sweating through the track; it is the second time Chance has recorded the classic but this latest version is the better of the two; Chance is in tremendous form here on a recording made late last week.
There couldn’t be a record company more in tune with Chance’s avant garde funk sounds and more considerate of his immense musical gifts. For an early viewing make sure that you check out the True Groove All Stars on March 11th, 2014 at the Cutting Room
The “True Groove All Stars” concert at the Cutting Room on March 11 th will be a terrific chance to reacquaint yourself with the wonderfulness that is Sir Tomas, or the opportunity to catch up with his truly all stars, bassist Kevin Jenkins and spoken word maverick Marla Mase (whose new album is gonna blow you away) at the top of the list
at the end of the set during “Money To Burn”, James would pull out a wad of cash and put it on fire. Well, this night a woman jumps on stage from the audience and tries to snatch the money out of James hands and James jumps on her and hey fight and fall into Tomas who can’t believe his eyes and wonders if they’re gonna spend the night in jail.
