LAST WEEK IN LONDON
- Posted on October 12, 2007 5:08 PM
- 1 comment
Something New, Something Blue
- Peter Coulston
It’s been a very South London week for me this week, as the furthest north I ventured was Trafalgar Square. It all began in Putney on Monday night at the Half Moon, where my friend Al Lewis was playing the acoustic night. The venue itself has lots of history and has recently been renovated, but it has lost none of it’s former glory. A lick of paint and a few more seats and it’s business as usual. Located on Lower Richmond Road, just south of Putney Bridge, it can be reached on the District Line tube to Putney Bridge or you can drive and park easily. The show was opened by the host, Redvers Bailey, who performed a couple of his own songs and a fair version of Dylan’s “Boots Of Spanish Leather”. He was followed by a couple of Aussie guys known collectively as Dead Mans Caravan. With nice harmonies and guitars they gave us three numbers including “Lunatics In Dressing Gowns” which went down well.
Dom Coyote has a nice line in dark urban songs with guitar which was unusual and impressive. He’s on myspace so check out “Six Feet Under The Thumb” among others. I’ve seen Gavin Wyatt before at the Bedford and was impressed, but ran out of time and space to review him. He works with a band called Mercury Men, a CSNY influenced band, and did a couple of the songs that you can hear on their myspace. I would be interested to here the whole band. Anvit Sond is a guitar instrumentalist who specialises in semi classical pieces in unusual tunings. Great stuff, but maybe a little heavy for some tastes. Check him out on myspace and see what you think.
Sarah Howells is the singer with Cardiff based indie band, Halflight, and her emotional vocals were a high point of the evening. You can hear the whole band on myspace, and I would certainly like to listen to her again. I enjoyed a very good set at the Bedford last week from Karim Fanous and his band, but on Monday he was solo, and none the worst for it. We saw another side of Mr Fanous, which was very enjoyable and included an old Robert Johnson blues and the very dark “Perfume”. Always a class act, Karim. Last, but by no means least, was the feature artist, Al Lewis, who never fails to impress. He opened with the jazzy “From The Start” and included the very commercial “Waiting For You”. “Las Vegas” was as dark as ever, and the excellent “All That I Came Here For” was a nice ballad to end with. Monday nights at the Half Moon is always good entertainment and good value at £2.50; give it a go sometime.
Tuesday night was when we got into something new; namely Shayan Italia, an Indian singer/songwriter of considerable talent. At a single launch at the Mint Leaf Restaurant on Haymarket hosted by Sterling Media and Universal Records, we heard examples of his work including the single, “Reflection”, which will be released on 5 November. He is unique in that he is the first person to auction his life’s earnings on EBay, which led to him raising £500,000 through private investors to fund his debut album and video. His musical influences are wide and include Elton John, Bruce Springsteen and Enrique Iglesias; consequently, his album is a tasteful mix of ballads, rock and latin influenced material. The common thread is the lyrics, which are exceptional and require repeated listening to appreciate their complexity. The quality and accessibility of his material is without question, and with the right marketing he could well be mega. Watch this space.
So, for something completely different, I hit the nostalgia trail on Wednesday to visit the Grey Horse in Kingston upon Thames to share an evening with Maggie Bell and Dave Kelly. These two are legends on the blues and rock scene and have considerable history between them. Maggie was lead singer and founder of Glasgow rockers Stone The Crows before embarking on a successful solo career. I remember seeing her in 1976 at an all day event at Charlton Football Ground where she was second on the bill to headliners, The Who. Lou Reed was there, as were Lindisfarne and Bad Company performing their first live gig. She also sang over the opening titles of the original Taggart TV series. Dave is in the same league as Clapton, Page and Beck as blues guitarists go, except Dave kept playing the blues. He’s worked with Son House, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Buddy Guy and is now part of the legendary Blues Band. I remember him working the folk clubs with his sister, the late, great Joanne Kelly, playing those old Memphis Minnie classics that she did so well. With Dave switching between slide and regular guitars they performed a great set of well known numbers starting with “Bring It On Home To Me”. So many wonderful songs including Ray Charles’s “Lonely Avenue”, “Dock Of The Bay”, a great Memphis Minnie number, “What’s The Matter With The Mill”, the Staples’s “Respect Yourself”, Nanci Griffiths’s “Gulf Coast Highway”, Dylan’s “Ballad Of Hollis Brown” and Etta James’s “I Just Wanna Make Love To You”. This is just a selection of the many, and we even got “Bony Maronie” as an encore. As you have probably guessed, I had a great week and am looking forward to doing it all again somewhere else next week. How about you?
Tags
Half Moon, review, Shayan Italia
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Tiago
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Posted on October 14, 2007 1:58 PM
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