Vitality vs. Nostalgia

 I've written before about nostalgia in music. some might call it 'heritage'. In shorthand, for me, it signifies an inability or a desire not to move on. It sits with views such as 'things were so much better before' and in the case of music 'there is no music worth listening to now'. I don't subscribe to these views.

Sure I listen to music that was made decades ago and enjoy it. I also like to re-evaluate music from my past. While it can give you a warm glow and rekindle memories it is best in my view not to get caught up in a web that devalues what is going on now. There is plenty happening now that is fresh and new and worth listening to.

It is not all about the absolute new. There are bands who have been around for a while and have kept putting out new material, never relying on greatest hits to get people to come and see them.

On Friday I went to see the Nightingales play live, a band that has its roots in the post punk world that shaped my musical choices. Mysteriously I never really listened to them at the time and only discovered them a few years ago - live on the recommendation of a friend. With only lead singer Robert Lloyd remaining from the original line-up this is a band that has astutely avoided the mainstream but managed to keep evolving and making relevant new music. I've seen them three times and the sets are always fresh and full of new material played with with a considerable intensity and brio that would put many bands to shame both old and new. There is something vital about their shows. The current line-up has been stable for a number of years now and produce a powerful live show that is a must see. There is no hint of nostalgia, the songs on Friday night bleed into each other creating a wonderful cascade of sounds and words.

Supporting them were the Blue Orchids. Again a band that has a track record date back to the same post punk roots and led again the one surviving member of the original line-up in Martin Bramah an original member of the Fall (another band that had no time for nostalgia). I'd seen the Blue Orchids a few years back supporting the Nightingales and remembered them more clearly. Like the Nightingales they have kept going producing music and touring. This was a new line-up to me and a combination of the new energy in the band, which includes Tansy McNally on lead electric ukulele (yes really), and the power of Bramah's new songs (they are touring new album 'Speed the Day') delivered a set brimming with vitality that left the crowd cheering.

From these two bands that could rest on their heritage and nostalgia there is a clear lesson - vitality beats nostalgia. Keep it contemporary.

Shout out too to the strange and wonderful Kamura Obscura who opened the night with a series of electronic soundscapes that were at times psychedelically chilling, other times dancy. A kaleidoscope. 

https://uknightingales.bandcamp.com/

https://blueorchids.bandcamp.com/

https://www.kamuraobscura.com/

Courtney Marie Andrews - Mackintosh Church Glasgow

It had been too long since I'd seen Courtney Marie Andrews play. December 9th 2018 to be exact at the CCA in Glasgow. A gig that nearly didn't happen as Courtney Marie had contracted flu and had cancelled a number of UK dates only returning to the stage in Perth on the 8th where she was clearly still suffering and the next night in Glasgow. Both those gigs were strong performances and closed off the touring of the 'May Your Kindness Remain' tour.

She should have toured the 'Old Flowers' album in 2020 but a stronger flu virus closed everything down worldwide so that elongated our wait for this much anticipated tour and Glasgow gig. 

The venue for this a Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed church was fitting both for the solo performance but also for her devoted following sitting in pews rapt with attention and in awe of her power and the poignancy of her songs. As a member of the support said 'I guess you're here for some sad songs'. Sad songs indeed but delivered with a lyrical and performative maturity that made the show life affirming.

The set focussed on the songs from 'Old Flowers' with the title song kept for a powerful piano accompanied encore. It was breath-taking and closed the night. Songs from her breakthrough album 'Honest Life' filled out the set. She also featured three new songs (James Dean, On/Off, To Be Wanted) which were unfamiliar but very well received. The single 'Near You' also featured and has graced her setlist for some time now.

While it was a solo show Courtney Marie was joined in stage by support act Memorial who provided beautiful harmonies for a trio of songs from 'Old Flowers' - If I Told, Burlap String and Break the Spell. These unique reinterpretations of the recorded songs made the evening something to savour. 

It was wonderful to see her again that the crowd gave a thunderous call back for her encore and a heartfelt standing ovation at the close.

Welcome back Courtney Marie, we have missed you.

https://www.courtneymarieandrews.com/

https://www.communionmusic.co.uk/artists/memorial/

Nostalgia for a time yet to come: New sounds from Scotland

Someone I know suffered a disappointment recently - the Genesis reunion tour was cancelled due to Covid. I felt for the disappointment but not the band I'm afraid. a group of rich middle class men temporarily unable to top up the pension pot is not something I can get too sympathetic about in this world. I wish love, happiness and health to all bands whatever their age but a Genesis reunion tour is one bus I'm happy to miss.

My focus as I've got older has been to seek out new music. I've never subscribed to the nostalgia circus of bands reforming to play on past glories. There may be the occasional exception....but only for something exceptional (my judgement) like Magazine reforming to perform 'The Correct Use of Soap' album (to be fair they also threw a new album into the mix) and then they were gone. 

In the current landscape of the restarted gig scene I have discovered new music that means more to me than any Genesis redux. 

Mt. Doubt, Victoria Park Hotel

First up was catching Mt Doubt play the Victoria Park Hotel in Leith. This was most probably the first live gig in Leith since Covid hit and closed things down. Indeed at the height of the first Covid lockdown the Victoria Park Hotel became accommodation for homeless people with no recourse to public funds. As a venue its a good size and as I arrived it was clear that Mt Doubt were more than capable of filling the space. It was heartening to see the crowd gather almost as if things were normal but for the adoption of facemasks. 

Mt Doubt are new to me. While I have been aware of them for a while I was there on the recommendation of a friend (who couldn't show as he'd was with lurgy though thankfully not that one!). I settled in for the show and was won over by Leo Bargery and band as they worked though the phenomenally good 'Doubtlands' album. I had flashbacks to those bands form Scotland that I'd never saw about a decade ago like The Last Battle or Admiral Fallow but listened to obsessively. Here was a music that was its own but harked back to something recognisable to me but with no hint of nostalgia. These are songs from Scotland and the world now. To say I enjoyed to evening is an understatement - I bought the album on cd and bagged a t-shirt as well. Shout out to Lisburn who opened for Mt Doubt, I really warmed to that sound as well. New music not old nostalgia that's the future.

Lizzie Reid, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

Hands up my daughter plays music and as a music fan I'm very supportive. So much so I drove in atrocious weather to Dundee and then from the city of jute, jam and journalism to Glasgow and the legendary King Tut's Wah Wah Hut to take her to a support gig for rising talent Lizzie Reid. I hadn't heard Lizzie Reid until the journey from Dundee to Glasgow and those Spotify moments hit home with the songs 'Company Car' and 'Cubicle'. The gig was busy as you might expect for someone shortlisted for the SAY award on the strength of an extended e.p.. After opening sets from Juan Laforet  and Naomi Munn (I confess to many proud dad moments during that return to stage after two years away from live music) Lizzie took to the stage with a full band and put on a show that was as stunning in both song writing and performance as anything I've seen for some time. Whatever that alchemy is that song writers on the rise have she's got it in spades and whether she pulls of a SAY win or not is immaterial really as the strength of these songs indicates that we'll be hearing a lot more from Lizzie Reid. There was a lot of love in the room for her on Friday night and the room was generous enough to share that love with the support acts. As they should as this was a night of new music not nostalgia. This is the future.

To anyone who says they've heard it all before I say really? Shake off your memories of youth and listen to the new sounds of young Scotland. It's all out there now and you don't have to use your pension lump sum to buy a ticket. 

https://mtdoubt.bandcamp.com/

Lizzie Reid - Company Car

Juan Laforet

Naomi Munn

Anna Ash - the Hug & Pint Glasgow 16 September 2021

 This was Leith Notes return to live gigs in the fullest sense. A favourite small venue and a performer who had come all the way from California to be with us (and all the logistics barriers that Covid19 touring entails).

Suitably tested, masked and sanitised I entered the venue and made my way to the downstairs performance venue. When I arrived there was only one other person there - in Covid times do people actually go to gigs like this anymore? That question got its answer as the venue started to fill. The audience was, for me, surprisingly young. It's a usual rule of thumb that artists that fit the singer-songwriter Americana label usually pull in an audience older by far than the performer. Tonight looked like being an exception. The reason became evident once the support acts (Dawn Coulshed and Kirsteen Harvey )took to the stage - these young Scottish performers had brought their followers with them. Smart bit of booking and perfect for creating a lively and engaged audience when Anna Ash took to the stage.

I'd hazard a guess that most of the audience hadn't really heard Anna's music before. Perhaps sensing this Anna opened with an inspired acapella reading of the soul classic 'Do Right Woman, Do Right Man'. Anna possesses a unique and incredible voice and performing this song without any back up instrumentation  certainly caught peoples attention and set the scene for a warm and appreciative rapport with the audience. It wasn't long before someone shouted out 'welcome to Glasgow' and by halfway through the set enthusiastic applause had become loud cheering. Anna had hit her mark and found a new audience and it was a delight to witness.

The set drew heavily on her recent album 'L.A. Flame' with standouts, for me at least being 'Earthquake', 'Apologies' and 'Stalemate'. She also featured her two Lucinda Williams covers 'Fruits of My Labor' and 'Righteously'. There was a story about how she had performed the latter song - if you don't know it a song about sexual desire - on a zoom performance to a fan who was critically ill. His whole family was there, parents, children. It was his favourite song and she had to play it. The other cover that she featured is her sublime version of America's 'Sister Golden Hair'. Key tracks from her previous album 'Floodlights' also featured with the title track and the slinky 'Player' making an impact on the night.

All too soon it was over and there was the queue at the merch stand. Vinyl, CDs, t-shirts and L.A. Flame candles (do you see what she did there?). There were clearly some big fans there some who'd bought their tickets for the postponed 2020 tour. I didn't do that because I thought that will never happen and I held back buying 2021 tickets but did following a social media post from Anna saying the tour was happening. I mentioned this to her and she said 'I just kept saying YES when people asked me if I still wanted to do the tour.' That positivity came over in Glasgow that night, Anna was in town and putting on a show.  

https://annaash.bandcamp.com/album/l-a-flame  

Nanci Griffith: a remembrance

The news that Nanci Griffith had died came to me via a friend's post on Facebook. Like me he was heartbroken to learn that Nanci is no longer with us.

I saw Nanci Griffith and her Blue Moon Orchestra many times over the late 1980s and into the mid 1990s. Her songs were as much a soundtrack to my life then as R.E.M. or Huskerdu but the music she played was not rock but a literate folk country that she sometimes called 'folkabilly'. 

She was a performer who engaged her audience - she connected with folk on that human level. People identified with the characters and observations in her songs sure but a major factor in her appeal was the way she built a rapport with her audience. Her folksy song intro, stories that had you laugh and, at times, shed a tear. Her intro to 'Love at the 5 and dime' is legendary and one that I never tired of hearing. 

I remember going to see her at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow and finding myself very nervously perched in the 'gods' feeling I would fall forward at any point. Nanci came on stage looked up at the top of the theatre and said something like 'are you alright up there?' Instead of tipping me over the edge I was reassured and the tension left - she knew we were up there and now she was going to sing to us.

I'm glad I was able to share the room with her and share communion with with her audience over those years and see the mix of people touched by her music, yes there were punks, there were families and there were always sad eyed dreamers.

Thank you Nanci for sharing your time and your songs with us. Rest easy.

The Staves, Edinburgh International Festival

 And just like we were back occupying a space watching a live band. Part of it was like it had never been away and the other part was the odd part of strange. The venue a huge temporary tent structure like a giant long gazebo with a stage at one end and socially distanced seating 'bubbles'. There was app ordered waiter service for drinks - that could catch on. It was both comforting and strange to be back in a space with other people and a live band in the same space.

It was great to see the Staves on stage again singing those gorgeous harmonies and touring their wonderful new album 'Good Woman'. they did reach back to songs like 'Mexico' and the non-album gem 'Tired as Fuck'. That song perhaps voiced what we were all thinking after the 18 month long haul of Covid 19 restrictions, setbacks and anxiety. We are all tired as fuck. The Staves got there first unintendedly but the song now .

Performing as a duo - eldest sister Emily is at home with her baby- the Staves sound as strong as ever  thanks to well placed harmonies by replacement Rob you'd hardly know. Welcome back.

Memphis '69

Fat Possum Records have posted  'Memphis 69' on YouTube - a film of the 1969 Memphis Country Blues Festival and you'd be well advised to give it a watch. Including performances by country blues masters Fred McDowall, Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and Furry Lewis along with the Bar-Keys backing Rufus Thomas the film catches the time when the confluence of the the roots of black blues and r&b met the white blues wave with appearances from John Fahey, Johnny Winter, Jo Ann Kelly, Sid Selvedge and the Insect Trust. 

It shows a coming together, a shared communion through music of different races and cultures that could have signified a new American. The venue used had hosted a Ku Klux Klan rally only weeks before so came loaded with that racist view of America. The young white faces in the audience evidence a freshness and hope. Filmed over 3 days and two nights in June 1969 it captures a time long lost but one well worth revisiting to reflect on that opportunity and what was lost.