peter murphy - dingwalls - 5 august 2010

Better late than never I suppose. I've just found this review of Peter Murphy's show at Dingwalls in Camden which took place nearly six years ago. It was a terrific night so here goes...

 

 

Peter Murphy put on a very fine show, despite some technical problems which clearly annoyed him. 

 

Firstly the gig was moved at the last minute from the Electric Ballroom to Dingwalls, just up the road in Camden Market. Not entirely sure why, as both venues hold similar numbers – only around 500. But Dingwalls' stage is very small, and very low, only about knee height, and this meant that Peter and the band had very little room. Cables and equipment were everywhere! 

 

I got there just as the doors opened, about 7.30, and went straight up to the front. So there I was, centre stage, right at the front! Brilliant. 

 

Greenhaus came on first – not, as you might think, a sort of Eco version of Bauhaus, but a rather good indie band with a Japanese girl singer called Phoenix whose lovely vocals over shimmering swirly guitars made them reminiscent of a slightly heavier Cocteau Twins. The keyboard player looked like a Robert Smith clone and spent the entire set grinning happily to himself, whilst the other band members were ultra serious. Not a bad start. 

 

Then they spent a few minutes frantically unplugging stuff and dismantling equipment whilst Lettie and her electronics guy Mike began setting up for their set. The cramped stage was chaotic for a while as various leads were plugged in and out and techie people tested stuff. It seemed like the Dingwalls staff were unaware of what Lettie required – two mics, about ten different electronic gizmos on Mike’s table - all needing power. And it took quite a while to get everything working - I guess the late change of venue didn’t help. Consequently Lettie was somewhat flustered and frustrated when she began her set of very good keyboard and electronics-led quirky pop. Some new songs, plus some from her excellent album Age Of Solo. I’d really enjoyed her support set last time I saw Peter Murphy and although this time she wasn’t as happy on stage, it was still a solid half hour of very original pop. 

 

Then PM’s crew took over, speedily plugging in various guitars and taping down leads everywhere so no-one would fall over them. The audience were very patient – an odd mix of Goths, really done up to the nines, and people my age or older. 

 

And at 9.20 the Murph followed his band onto the little stage. They wore regulation black, PM in a blue jacket with a feathered collar. The loon. 

 

This what they played...

 

Low Room,

Raw Power,

Velocity Bird,

Disappearing,

Silent Hedges,

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything,

Lots of chat with the audience,

Subway,

The Prince And Old Lady Shade,

A Strange Kind Of Love / Bela,

Stigmata Martyr,

Dark Entries,

Uneven And Brittle.

Encore –

Cuts You Up,

Ziggy Stardust (abandoned),

Your Face.  

On the set list but not played were “Kick In The Eye” and “She’s In Parties” and a couple more that I couldn’t make out.  

PM was in a very good mood at the start of the gig, but after the lighting was messed up during “Strange Kind Of Love” he seemed to get rather annoyed and so a couple of encore tracks were dropped and his performance changed a bit. 

 

“Low Room” was a cracking opener, with PM leaning on his guitar player, Mark Gemini Thwaite, throughout – goodness knows how Mark was able to play. Then with a grin Murphy shouted ‘A sandwich short of a picnic, am I?’ – a clear reference to Brendan Perry’s recent comments – before the band played a blinding “Raw Power” and PM did some wild Iggy-style dancing. He also used the shoulder of the guy next to me as a foot rest as leaned out into the crowd. Interestingly as the song began a roadie nipped out with the song words written on a big piece of card and placed it under the mic stand. After this was a slight pause and people in the crowd started calling out – someone said ‘Come on Peter!’ and PM looked baffled. ‘I have just come on! If this (pointing to his feathers) doesn’t make an entrance I don’t know what does!’

 

New song “Velocity Bird” was great as always and “Disappearing” rocked – hard – as PM decided to lean on the drummer, Nick Lucero, this time, and then grab spare drum sticks to whack the cymbals (not always in time it must be said…) A quick change of guitars for a couple of acoustic Bauhaus numbers, which went down very well with the old Goths. “Silent Hedges” was especially good.

 

Then a pause as PM chatted merrily away to people he’d spotted in the audience. He brought a girl from the front row up onto the stage and introduced her as someone who keeps contacting him via Facebook. He seemed genuinely pleased to finally meet her, though she seemed somewhat overwhelmed. It was all rather sweet actually. PM preened himself in his feathers and said something like ‘it takes a lot of effort to look this gorgeous!’ His self mockery throughout the show was extremely funny and showed what a terrific sense of humour he had.

 

A keyboard was plonked in front of PM and a guest violin player joined them for a terrific “Subway”. Best song of the night I reckon. And I shook his hand at the end of it!

 

My favourite new song “The Prince And Old Lady Shade” followed, nice and chunky on the guitars, then a lovely version of “A Strange Kind Of Love” with that pretty keyboard melody beautifully played on the bass by Jeff Schartoff.

 

PM has taken to singing “Bela” over the last part of "ASKOL" and was just going into the “Bela” part when his ‘Bela’ light didn’t switch on. This is a spotlight from the floor of the stage that shines up under his chin and makes him look all spooky – he called out ‘Where’s my f…… Bela light?’ as the band vamped over the "ASKOL" music and then a couple of big spotlights flooded the stage. ‘Well, that’s killed the moment,’ moaned Peter and he stopped the band playing. Then fiercely strumming his acoustic Murphy said he would keep hammering out the same bit until they got the lighting right - ‘this is the seventh show, you should know what you are doing by now!’ he shouted to the lighting people.

The spooky light eventually worked and he intoned a very cross version of “Bela”.

Then he grabbed a spare electric guitar and started getting all sorts of hideous noise and feedback from it as the band launched into “Stigmata Martyr”. PM does usually play the noisy parts of this track on stage anyway, but I got the impression, from the faces of the band, that he was making WAY more noise than usual. It was deafening, as was a pounding “Dark Entries”. I loved it!

The main set finished with powerful new track “Uneven And Brittle” but it didn’t work terribly well following “Dark Entries” – but to be honest, what could follow “Dark Entries”?? 

 

“She’s In Parties” should have been part of the encore but PM chose to play “Cuts You Up” instead – a very good version and PM’s mood seemed to have lightened again, but halfway through the first verse of “Ziggy” he stopped, saying that the guitar was out of tune. Mark Gemini Thwaite looked bemused and tentatively strummed a few chords that demonstrated that he was in tune, but Peter had already moved on, thanking the band who now left and reintroducing the violin player from earlier. Accompanied only by a prerecorded backing track, and the seriously haunting violin, PM sang an astonishing “Your Face” which silenced everyone who was still calling for “Ziggy”. He stalked around the small stage throwing those haughty stares and dramatic poses he does so well, amazingly powerful singing, a stunning performance. Then with a big smile he sincerely thanked us all for coming and off he went. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the show, despite the limitations of the venue and PM’s evident irritation halfway through. I think he enjoyed it too, in a slightly perverse way. I would say that the show he did at the IndigO2 in 2009 was probably better, the sound certainly was, but it was terrific to see Peter up so close, right in front of me. It’s a shame that these gigs are promoted so badly – I can’t believe that only 500 people in the whole South East want to see Peter Murphy – he puts on a really great show, the band are hot, the songs are brilliant, yet he can only get crowds of 500 or so.

lettie - good fortune, bad weather

Lettie has been releasing her music since 2008's excellent debut album Age Of Solo, on which a charming and beguiling mix of old fashioned synths, guitars and clever looping combined to create startlingly original folky electro songs. This was rapidly followed by the more acoustic Everyman. Both albums mixed personal reflections with dashes of sci-fi, ecology and loads more to create hypnotic, dreamlike songs. Both albums were intelligent, catchy and hugely inventive and if there was any justice in this world then both should have reached a much wider audience.

2009 found Lettie occupying an excellent support slot on Peter Murphy's European tour (Murphy's producer David Baron had worked with Lettie on her albums), plus she gained some valuable exposure via the BBC Electric Proms, and in 2010 she was performing on the BBC Introducing... stage at Glastonbury.

Then it all seemed to go quiet. Occasional new songs trickled out onto you tube, there were indications that a new album, probably called Other Days, was underway but then everything seemed to grind to a halt. Lettie had to keep what seemed like several day jobs running in order to fund her music, but the daily grind appeared to be robbing her of her passion for songwriting. Her online blog hinted at more personal relationship problems too with the result that a number of completed tracks were then abandoned.

In the autumn of 2010 Lettie spent a couple of weeks with David Baron at his studios in the US and it was there that the bulk of the new album took shape. As on her previous records Baron co-wrote the music but this time, instead of it being mainly the two of them creating all the music, Baron called in some formidable talent to assist with many of the tracks. Among them were drummer Zachary Alford (Bowie, B52's and many others), bassist Sara Lee (Robert Fripp, Gang of Four, Robyn Hitchcock, B52's and tons of others) and guitarist Danny Blume (a massive array of artists from Kid Creole and the Coconuts to John Cale).

Over the course of 2011 the album was slowly tweaked and teased into shape - a few tracks were dropped as newer improved songs were added and by the end of 2011 David Baron had mixed and mastered the final version. The long and troublesome gestation period has been well worth it, as the new album is surely her strongest collection of songs yet. The title Good Fortune, Bad Weather obliquely hints at the ups and downs endured in trying to get this record finally ready (even the cover photo caused problems as the original photographer turned out to be a con man who ran off with Lettie's hard earned money!) But all those trials are forgotten when the songs kick in, for the album is a wonderful collection of uniformly strong tunes.

These songs (the fourteenth was added when Lettie decided that it would be bad luck to have only thirteen) cover all of Lettie's styles and add considerably more. Her vocals are stronger than ever across the whole collection and her lyrics range from what appear to be personal and intimate to rather more oblique subjects such as technology and robotics.

"Swirl" starts the album off with an amusingly sly lyric having a dig at X Factor and similar talent shows (surely that's Cowell as 'the puppetmaster'?). The irony is that while this song is 100 times better than anything ever produced by a TV talent show, I doubt Lettie would ever get anywhere on X Factor as she's too original to fit into any of their shallow pigeon holes. Thank goodness.

"Lucky" initially sounds like a throwback to an earlier Lettie sound, all simple keyboard and breathless vocals but with every passing line the sound grows and deepens and by the midway point you realise that a full band is playing. This is then topped off by a delightfully playful piano which joins the band and jauntily plays until the end. Such a fun song. 

"Bitter"- an incessant acoustic guitar underpins the whole song, but layers of other instruments all but bury it at times. This is a cracking tune with a terrific chorus. Great drumming from Zachary Alford. 

"Never Want To Be Alone" is a brilliant dance floor stomper, and would be great to hear on the radio. Interestingly it seems like Lettie and David let their influences run riot on the track. It might just be me but in the ghostly synth intro I can hear the choral fade out of Bowie's "Word On A Wing", the jumpy keyboard melody sounds a bit like "My Sharona" and the heavenly backing vocals on the choruses remind me of Kraftwerk's "Metropolis", but it's all stirred together in a perfect slice of infectious electro pop that manages to sound totally fresh. Possibly the catchiest track on the album, and certainly the most upbeat.

"Sanctuary" is up there with "Mission" as one of my favourite Lettie tracks. Again there's a rhythm track with skittering electronics mixed with Alford's powerful beats. I love the desultory 'oh, ohh's which come in faintly on the verses. As with many of the tracks on this record it's the little details that impress. Nearly every song allows the listener to find more and more happening in the backing tracks. The more you listen the more you discover. David Baron has managed to create fascinatingly complex musical beds for the songs, but at no point do any of the songs sound cluttered or overly busy, which is quite an achievement. 

"Digital" has some very amusing lyrics which seem to encapsulate Lettie's love of mixing the old and defunct with the modern, shiny and new. 'I've still got VHS, and tapes inside my car', yet everything is going digital... like the brilliant little synth solo in the middle eight which sounds like an updated version of Eno's analogue VCS3 freak out on Roxy Music's "Editions Of You".

Without a pause we move into "Pandora". Truly funky and full of little guitar licks from Danny Blume. Great bass work from Sara Lee. The chorus is beautiful, and the track is the seventh song in a row which would make a very commercial single.

"Fitter" - another one which could easily be a hit, given the chance. Great lyrics and I love the little touches again. The stuttering synths after the choruses are terrific, and the handclaps are lovely. (Another bit of back up to my argument that many songs are immediately improved with the addition of either handclaps or oboes - of course that depends on whether the song is upbeat or melancholy...)

Mind you, violins also really help with an introspective mood. "Mister Lighter" was available last year for a while but didn't have the beautiful strings or vibes that this version has. And both really complete the song. It's a lovely arrangement too, almost like chamber music. Gorgeous vocal, really intimate and up front, as if Lettie is right beside you. 

"Aluminium Man" was also up on you tube last year with a funny video. The idea of a robot boyfriend made out of recycled aluminium cans seems both very amusing and very ecologically sound. Much fun to be had from this song with the delightfully robotic synths and the rigidly clattering drum pattern.

A total change of mood with the title track as Lettie solemnly intones "Good Fortune, Bad Weather" over a dub reggae backing, all shuffling beats and heavily echoed rimshots. It's as if we're deep inside the speakers as the whole song takes on a very dreamlike quality. Gentle whistling and half heard guitar only add to the faintly spooky air. I could happily have more of this sort of stuff.

"Come Back" is a rather sad little song of yearning, but again it's full of detail and invention. Based around a pulsing guitar "Come Back" is expanded by some great swirly keyboards as well some incongruously jaunty whistling, which actually works perfectly.

"Crash And Burn" harks back to the sparser sound of "Everyman", but there's nothing wrong with that. Is it perhaps about the crook who ripped off Lettie over the album photos? Seems like it could be... 'can you forgive yourself?' But although the lyrics hint at retribution the song's arrangement is kept fairly light with some gentle piano accompanying the guitar for most of the song, along with some more of David's synths. 

"On And On" closes the album on a quiet note. Choral synths start us off before guitars and cheery keyboards join in, with slide guitar taking us to the fade out. It sounds to me as if it could have gone on longer, but the song decided that, once it's achieved what it needed to, it simply chose to fade away. Which again somehow fits perfectly with the sometimes dreamlike quality of many of the tracks.

Basically this one hell of an album. Every song is strong, different from each other, original, inventive, charming, supremely catchy and above all extremely entertaining. It's a great way to spend 45 minutes, and another 45 minutes, and another... Because I'm pretty certain that after one listen almost anyone would be hooked. 

peter murphy - ninth

Very happy to report that Peter Murphy’s unimaginatively titled ninth album Ninth is really tremendous.

I don’t have the actual CD yet but rather weirdly amazon.com (the US one) have the whole album streamed, so I've captured a decent enough copy of the album to keep me going until the real thing drops through my letterbox.

I’ve known quite a few of these songs for nearly two years now, and right from when they were first performed back in May 2009 it was clear that the Murph would have a storming album on his hands.

This is PM’s most immediate album since 1995’s Cascade, and rivals that album and Deep in the catchy top tunes stakes. PM doesn’t sound like someone in his mid 50s, he’s energized and pumped up, the vocals are strong and clear and as always he commands your attention with That Voice. The lyrics are the usual faintly silly Murph nonsense. For example, what exactly is a Velocity Bird? But he makes the words sound so exotic and fully enjoyable. Thumbs up from me for another mention of Djinn and absolutely full marks for the use of the word ‘vespertilian’ (I had no idea what it meant and just looked it up - it means, pertaining to, or resembling a bat! Brilliant and so appropriate that I can't believe that Peter Murphy hasn't used this batlike word before).

The tunes are superb, cracking melodies and supremely catchy choruses. Many of the choruses consist solely of the song’s title. For example the chorus in “I Spit Roses” is simply that line repeated, as is the chorus of “The Prince & Old Lady Shade” and others. Makes it easy to sing along I guess.

There are a number of tracks that PM hasn’t played live yet and these tend to be the quieter numbers – “Never Fall Out” is a lovely ballad and “Slowdown” is a growling edgy and rather jumpy piece. The closing piano led “Crème De La Crème” has faint echoes of “My Last Two Weeks” at the start but builds dramatically – this tune has been around since 2002 actually and was played live on the Dust tour in a much more funky arrangement but never since.

David Baron's production on this record is great (and I'm looking forward to his production of Lettie's forthcoming record too) – lots of little touches like the synth strings and the hugely meaty guitar riff on “The Prince…”, the amusingly U2ish guitar in the background on “Seesaw Sway” (which is such a commercial track, but in a good way), bits of synth underpinning many tracks, the layers of guitarwork, the backing vocals, the massive and hugely satisfying CRUNCH of the guitars on "Uneven and Brittle", the way a number of tracks have marvelously sudden endings, you get the picture – I like this record. A Lot.

Anyway, this is certainly one of PM’s best albums and deserves to be a big hit. Because PM doesn’t get onto X Factor, it won’t be a hit of course, and that’s a terrible shame, but I guess Peter is used to that by now.