THE BE GOOD TANYAS. 
CHINATOWN.
EMI 07243 58146325.

CANADIAN trio Be Good Tanyas impress on this, their second album, almost an hour’s worth of atmospheric acoustic music.  Frazey, Samantha and Trish sing and play a variety of instruments including guitar, mandolin, banjo piano and harmonica, helped out by a number of guests who vary the instrumentation even more with cornets, fiddles, accordion, even a musical saw.
  The tracks are a mixture of self-written and traditional songs and the mood is very laid back and folky with a touch of blues and country.  There are no dud tracks - even the much-flogged “House of the Rising Sun” is given an original treatment.  I particularly liked the fast-paced “Reuben” and the plaintive “In Spite of All The Damage”, but the whole album is very listenable and has a wide appeal, covering so many musical styles.  Highly recommended.

Beach Boys Inc
The Brook, Southampton.
BEING a big Beach Boys fan I approached this gig with some trepidation.  How could you capture that classic sound live when much of  it was originally created in the recording studio, with overdubs?  I needn’t have worried - these five guys were spot on from the moment they opened with “California Girls”, both vocally and instrumentally.
  Those glorious harmonies were replicated in flawless fashion on all the early surfing hits: “Help Me Ronda”, “Fun,Fun,Fun”, “Little Deuce Coupe” and the rest.  The heavier 70s stuff like “Sail on Sailor” and “Student Demonstration Time” from the album “Amsterdam” was delivered with equal authenticity and commitment.  Sublime versions of “God Only Knows” and “Heroes and Villains marked Beach Boys Inc out as one of the best tribute bands around.  A faultless performance - catch them if you can.

Spaceritual.net
The Brook, Southampton.

I DON’T know what colour the sky is on Spaceritual.net’s planet, but they painted The Brook multifarious colours, both musically and visually, when they landed at the Southampton music venue.  Nik Turner’s dynamic dozen including four original Hawkwind members, plus a transvestite and an exotic dancer produced a totally compelling two-hour set.
  Amongst the highlights were psychedelic stormers like “Brainstorm,” “Ejection”, “Children of the Sun” and “Watching The Grass Grow”, all fusing rock, jazz and Eastern influences with Nik excelling both vocally and on saxophone.
  The band closed with the inevitable Hawkwind 70s hit “Silver Machine”.  Spaceritual.net produced a totally brilliant performance which can only be described as a cosmic experience.  The Brook roar said it all as the band left the stage with a packed house shouting for more. (©Peter Ashton 2002)

North Cregg,
Turner Sims Concert Hall, Southampton.

TO my continuing shame, I’ve yet to visit Ireland, but the next best thing was a stirring concert by this lively young six-piece band from Cork.  “Walk Beside Me”, highlighting the pitch-perfect voice of Fiona Kelleher opened the set, followed by some instrumental mayhem as the band stormed through three polkas and a lively reel.
  An impressive bunch of musicians featured Christy on accordion, Caoimhin on fiddle, Claran on piano, Martin on drums and Paul on guitar, banjo and Kleenex (the poor lad was suffering from a heavy cold).  Highlights  included the idyllic “Summer At Her Feet” which allowed Fiona to give full rein to her sensitive vocals and a country hoedown, “Unhappy Anniversary”, written by Loudon Wainwright.
  An impressive set of locomotive jigs, reels and polkas, plus an unaccompanied Irish ballad by Fiona preceded a frenetic finale played at frantic pace.  Look out for this superb band at Gosport Easter Festival.

LINDA GAIL LEWIS.
OUT OF THE SHADOWS.
LANTASI LD 71107.
Running time 66.23 minutes.

JERRY Lee Lewis’s younger sister lets rip with 18 songs on this brand new CD which also includes a bonus video featuring the song “I’d Rather Stay Home & Rock ‘N’ Roll”. Linda Gail herself wrote over half the songs which are a good balance of country, rock and soul but rather too MOR to my ears.
  Still, it’s all done very professionally with some classy Nashville musicians backing up Linda Gail’s strong voice.  Two songs about adultery, “Never Wear Mascara (When You Love a Married Man)” and a fine version of Dan Penn’s classic “Dark End of the Street” were stand-outs for me, while several other songs have a feel very similar to Dr Hook’s mid-70s “country disco” period.  Curiously the schmaltzy closer “Relentless” a duet with Jeff Bates was written by none other than Smokey Robinson.

BIG RED
TALKING HEADS, SOUTHAMPTON
24TH JANUARY 2003
     Rumours about this Soul/Swing Band (for want of a better description) had been filtering through to me for some time after 2 acquaintances had seen them perform at 2 different private parties in the area.
     I had heard they were good, very good actually. So, it was with great
anticipation that I went along once more to the re-vamped Heads. I have to say that I don't think they'd got the heating back on as it intially was
freezing in there. However, I have to admire the landlord, who seems to have a genuine affection for Live music and seems to want to upgrade his venue to a really great place to see Bands. I'd not been for a few months and it was nice to see that the pillars which used to obstruct a fair bit of the view from the bar, had been all but disposed with.
     Big Red seem to play a mixture of old Atlantic soul classics, “Take Me To The  River”, “Knock on Wood”, “Land of a 1000 Dances”,” Treat Her Right” etc,etc and that swingy type of Soul such as “Flip,Flop & Fly”, “Sweet Home Chicago.” The swingy type numbers were especially refreshing as they were enhanced by the stonking 3 piece horn section, which is a rare treat in live bands these days !!!!  Big Red have taken several possibly lesser-known tracks such as (excuse me if I get the original artists names wrong) “In it for the Money” - Jimmy Smith?,
“Blind Leading the Blind” - Stevie Ray Vaughan/ Robin Ford?, “Prison of Love”,  and added their own feel to them that I for one like a lot.
     The lead singer, Eddie Goodall, is obviously a seasoned pro in crowd participation as he lured us into liking his cheeky style and "bonding" with the audience. He had everyone on his and the bands' side before long. The band seem spoilt for soloists too, it seemed that everyone in this Band took a solo at some point or other !!!! and this was shown off to the fore in “Peter Gunn”, when the entire band took in turns to solo through a variety of styles that never stopped being fascinating to the ears, guitar, Hammond Organ (what a player!!!), bass, trombone, sax, drums all had their turn and the audience were lapping it up.
     The soul numbers were delivered with a rawness and energy that so many soul bands seem to miss these days, I remember a lot of these tracks from the first time round and they sounded as fresh with these guys as they did back then, full of  vitality, just great "let your hair down" music. It was good to see the Heads so full and so jumping, I can't remember ever having seen so many people dancing there before.
     Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the night and it was a great way for the Heads to re-open. It boosted my lagging post-Christmas winter spirit and had me singing all the way home. Ok the material was always going to be my taste given my musical upbringing ( ie Soul) but it was a treat to see this band after having heard such good reports.  Well done guys, keep up the good work!!! (Guest review by M. Quigley)


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