Where Worlds Collide

The Ministry of Information has posted good reviews of both Porcupine Tree’s “Fear of a Blank Planet” and their gig at Preston.

But there are a couple of thowaway lines I rather take exception to. This one…

Queuing outside the venue, the audience seemed older and more predominantly male than usual, wearing a disconcerting number of retro ‘prog’ T-shirts.

And then this…

The album features guest appearences from Alex Lifeson and Robert Fripp from Rush and King Crimson respectively, if not respectfully – I’m not an admirer, and including what music critics and potential album purchasers could regard as ‘prog dinosaurs’ was needlessly dangerous. I didn’t exactly welcome the announcement that they’d be participating.

Even knowing which guitar solo was provided by Lifeson, I didn’t regard it as noteworthy; SW could easily have composed something himself and denied lazy journalists the opportunity to dismissively liken Porcupine Tree to retro ‘prog’… stuff. Fripp’s contribution, a layered guitar interlude between 4:11 and 4:48 on ‘Way Out of Here’, reprised towards the end of the song, was pleasant enough but again, not distinctive, and nothing SW couldn’t have generated himself.

So why have guest appearences by ‘name’ musicians only of interest to old-time ‘prog’ fans, which have the very real potential to alienate more mainstream listeners and critics? It’s a bad idea in terms of mass-market credibility, which succeeded musically only because the guests’ contributions were unobtrusive to the point of being anonymous. I’d call that a pointless gimmick.

I was probably one of those older males wearing a retro-prog T shirt, which I’d purchased at The Reasoning the night before.

I’m really annoyed by the whole “we’re not prog” attitude of some people; Porcupine Tree’s Steve Wilson and Marillion’s Steve Hogarth, I’m looking at you. I’m thinking of SW’s ridiculous spat with Roine Stolt 18 months ago.

I don’t believe there’s anything to be gained in attempting to appease NME-school music critics. They’re never going to like a band like Porcupine Tree. PT are all about musical content, rather than image or attitude. Their lengthy songs, instrumental virtuosity, complex musical structures and lyrics that aren’t about fights outside chip shops in Leeds are the antithesis of everything the NME school stand for.

Which is why pandering to them is akin to battered wife syndrome. “If only they didn’t invite certain unfashionable musicians these nasty critics wouldn’t be so mean” is a bad, bad strategy. Better to challenge the stupid revisionist ‘post punk orthodoxy’, and get the world to recognise that a clique of critics that seem to think Mark E Smith is a greater genius than Roger Waters aren’t really worth listening to any more.

Wonderful rant by Charlie Brooker on the subject of fashion

Last week, hardcore idiots across the nation stood in rows at dawn, desperate to get their hands on a cotton bag with “I’m not a plastic bag” printed on it. Right now, a group of determined oafs is camping out in preparation for tomorrow’s launch of the new Kate Moss clothing range at Topshop. If Grazia magazine printed an article declaring it fashionable to smack yourself in the forehead with a limited-edition ball-pein hammer designed exclusively by Coleen McLoughlin, a mob would form outside your local B&Q before the ink had dried on the page.

It’s a mystery to me. If the whole point of fashion is to distinguish yourself from the herd, why queue up to be part of it? Am I missing something here? I suspect not. But then I don’t “get” fashion. I once went out with a girl who was obsessed with dressing up; a real clothes nerd. While we were together, she developed a serious jeans habit. Each week, a new pair. She’d bring them home and show them to me, bubbling with excitement. I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between one pair and the next, and I was staring pretty hard, in case there was a quiz at the end of the relationship. Doubtless a fellow jeans spod would’ve been thrilled by her purchases. To me, it was like trying to spot minute discrepancies between two marked playing cards.

I’m with Charlie Brooker here. Last Friday night we had a works do which ended up at some dreadfully trendy nightclub full of fashion victims, everyone just posing around, with a DJ playing ‘cool’ (i.e. crap) music. I felt totally out of place, as if I’d landed on an alien planet, and just stood around wishing I was somewhere else, like the gig the week before.

When I moved my blog from Moveable Type to WordPress, it broke all the permalinks, which mean any old incoming links end up at my 404 page.

Unfortunately I’d chosen an archive/URL structure in MT that’s impossible to reproduce in WordPress. I have generated a 1500 line text file that translates old URLs to new ones, which leads me to my techical question - will adding 1500 lines to my .htaccess file put a heavy load on the server and slow my site down?

A while since I’ve done one of these.

This time, rather than select random songs from the last N CDs I’ve played, the list is taken from the 11 gigs I’ve been to so far in 2007. Just to make things interesting, all of these were performances by a different band from the original recording. Some are covers, others were performed by the original songwriter, but with a different band. One band appears both as the coverer and coveree!

1. Birds flying high you know how I feel
2. Comin out of nowhere, Drivin like rain
3. I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. “I am the Walrus”, guessed by Rob. But who performed it?
4. I remember who you are
6. I’ve exposed your lies, baby
7. Lend me your ear while I call you a fool. “Witches Promise” by Jethro Tull, performed by Odin Dragonfly, identified by Hippydave
8. Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na
9. Put your hands upon me, feel the light inside. “Talk to Me”, by Karnataka, performed by The Reasoning. Identified by Hippydave
10. Your love is like a tidal wave, spinning over my head

Yes, #5 is an instrumental. But it shouldn’t be impossible to identify if you’re been reading this blog and know what bands I’ve seen.

As before, put your guesses in the comments, not just the songs themselves, but the band that played them. Yes I know one of two are by little-known local bands, but they’re all listed in the blog archives. Think of this as a test to see if you’ve been paying attention.

I haven’t posted reviews yet of Marillion’s Somewhere Else and Porcupine Tree’s Fear of a Blank Planet, perhaps because there’s not much I can add to what others have already said. Electric Nose clearly loves both albums. NRT, of The Ministry of Information loves FoaBP, but is decidedly lukewarm on SWE.

For me, the Porcupine Tree’s opus clicked almost immediately, although hearing the whole album live certainly didn’t hurt. “Somewhere Else”, on the other hand, still isn’t working for me. A couple of songs, most notably ‘The Wound‘ are starting to stand out, but too much of the album still reminds me of Radiation and Marillion.com, two of my least favourite albums in Marillion’s back catalogue.

Perhaps it will all start making sense in June, when I get to see them live.

After these small intimate club gigs where you can chat with the band in the bar afterwards, a visit to an enormodome is a different experience entirely. Nothing quite like those long queues for overpriced crap lager instead of real ale on tap!

First up was ‘Thin Lizzy’. Featuring no original members, and just guitarist Scott Gorham from their 70s heyday, they’re really more a tribute band than anything else. They weren’t quite as bad as I was expecting; John Sykes does a passible impression of Phil Lynott’s voice, and those classic songs stand up well enough in their own right regardless of who’s singing them. They played for just over half an hour, playing a set made up entirely from the biggest hits.

Styx were the revelation of the night. I have to admit that it was their presence on the bill that tipped the balance for me, although I didn’t really know what to expect from them. Without Dennis DeYoung in the band, they left out their later commercial fluff like “Babe” and “Mr Roboto” in favour of older, rockier material by James Young and Tommy Shaw. And they absolutely rocked, great music and great showmanship, and a hard act for Purple to follow.

At about 9:30, Deep Purple hit the stage, and launched into ‘Pictures of Home’. Perhaps it’s because I’ve been seeing all these bands fronted by 22 year olds, but Purple look old; all grey hair (those that have hair, that is). But they still rock, even now. The setlist included most of the standards people expect to hear like ‘Smoke’ and ‘Highway Star’, and enough surprises to keep those of us who have heard ‘Smoke’ 101 times before interested. Biggest suprise was a great rendition of ‘The Battle Rages On’ from the late Blackmore period, an era they’ve normally skipped. Another gem was an emotional version of ‘When a Blind Man Cries’ which got a few raised lighters. Ian Gillan might not be able to hit the high notes (no ‘Child in Time’ nowadays), but was still on good form vocally. The real star of the evening for me was the newest member of the band, Don Airey, on the Hammond B3 with some incredible keyboard runs. And it was a real B3 with rotating Leslie cabinets; none of these plastic synths.

Overall, a great show, for which the audience got their money’s worth, and then some. Purple were good, but in my opinion the band of the night were Styx. If they come back to these shores for a headline tour I’ll be getting tickets.

Because Manchester Academy 1 is in the middle of being refurbished, Porcupine Tree played their northwest show in the 53 Degrees in Preston. Preston is a longish trek from Manchester, but fortunately there was a late train back, and with an 11pm curfew at the venue I wouldn’t have to miss the encore to catch it.

I wasn’t the only person that had trouble finding the venue. I met up with three guys (one wearing a Pineapple Thief t-shirt) who I assumed were heading for the gig; unfortunately they were lost as well. After going round and round in circles we eventually did find the place with enough time to get some food from the pub round the corner (can’t remember the name, but it was the bright orange one across the road).

The 53 club is a modern building, about the same size as Manchester Academy 1, and the gig seemed pretty well attended, although I don’t think it sold out. While it’s not a ‘home’ gig for me, I did bump into a few familiar faces, such as Ian who I’d met at the Mostly Autumn convention in Ringwood. NRT apparently recognised me, but tells me I’d disappeared before he realised who I was.

Support was Amplifier, one of the ‘new wave of prog’ bands that have attracted the attention of some sections of the media. A trio, pretty bass-heavy, and to my ears more metal than prog, although there were vague hints of Muse about them. I was reasonably entertained, but not completely blown away. They were loud, though. This was one of those gigs where you could feel the bass in your guts.

This was the fourth time I’d seen Porcupine Tree, and they just get better and better. Some people, such as HippyDave, have claimed they’re not as good as a five-piece augmented with John Wesley on second guitar, but this is the only lineup I’ve seen, and the five-piece works fine for me. They need those two guitars for a lot of the newer heavier songs, and they don’t overplay on the older songs. As at previous shows they used a lot of back-projected videos to augment the music, including some shots of withdrawn Danish DMUs and 0-6-0 shunters for one song from the new album. The band’s performance was as precise and tight as I’ve come to expect.

As I expected, the two hour set included the whole of the excellent new album “Fear of a Blank Planet”, plus an additional song (can’t remember the title) that didn’t get included. In contrast to the last show in Manchester that drew almost exclusively from “Deadwing” and “In Absentia”, this time we were treated to an excellent selection of older songs; going right back to ‘Sever’ from “Signify”, along with ‘Lightbulb Sun’, ‘Even Less’ and ‘Smart Kid’. The oldies were well received by the crowd; so much for the claims that newer fans know nothing before ‘In Absentia’.

Another great show from a band that have yet to disappoint me live. I spent the 90 minutes travelling back home on a class 185 tired but happy

Thursday night was the first of three gigs in four days, The Reasoning at Crewe Limelight. I’d previously seen their first ever gig at the Uplands Tavern in Swansea back in January. That was very much a low-key warmup gig in preparation for the tour to come. This one was a higher profile show at a larger rock club, which happens to be one of my favourite small venues. I phoned the venue the night before the gig, to be informed they’d sold a grand total of 13 tickets, so I concluded I’d have no problem getting tickets on the door. In the end, fears of an almost empty venue proved unfounded; there were about 150 people there, about the same number as for Karnataka a few weeks back. Of that 150 I recognised an awful lot of familiar faces; the north-west Mostly Autumn fanbase had turned up in force.

Support was Touchstone, a band I hadn’t seen before, although I’d read some favourable reviews. They play the same sort of blend of melodic hard and progressive textures as the headliners. This gig marked the debut of their new singer, Kim Serviour, yet another of those performers who make me feel old by not having been born when I started going to gigs. They played an entertaining and energetic set; I think we’ll be hearing more from this band in future.

The Reasoning didn’t hit the stage until gone 10pm. Their performance was an order of magnitude better than the somewhat nervous set in Swansea three months before. The whole band were far tighter and more confident, and were clearly enjoying being on stage. Naturally they drew much of their set from their excellent debut album “Awakening”. They still included a few Karnataka favourites, the highlight of which was still the amazing ‘Talk to Me’. Those more atmospheric Karnataka oldies don’t quite sit comfortably with the rockier and more guitar-driven new material, but at this stage in their career it’s still great to hear them performed live. While I don’t remember the complete setlist, I think they played the whole of the new album. The encore was the atmospheric epic ‘Within Cold Glass’ followed by their barnstorming cover of ‘Stormbringer’, with Rachel singing Glenn Hughes’ vocal parts. I’m sure there was a hint of Tommy Bolin in Dylan’s guitar fills too.

Since I had some time to spare before the late train out of Crewe, I had time for a brief chat with Dylan, Matt and Rachel, and Kim from Touchstone. They all remembered me from Swansea; I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

In the past 48 hours, I’ve been to two rock concerts (The Reasoning and Porcupine Tree), done one full day at work, attended the Derby Model Railway exhibition, and ridden on ten trains (four Northern Rail 323s, three First Transpennine 185s, one Virgin Voyager, one Central Trains 158, and one Virgin Pendolino, if you’re interested)

I think I can be forgiven for having a quiet night in tonight.

I’ll try and get reviews on the concerts up the next couple of days.

Latest news from Fish, on the lineup for the forthcoming album “Thirteenth Star” and tour.

After much consideration I decided to take Chris Johnson on board as second guitarist to Frank. Chris has been playing in a similar position with ‘Mostly Autumn’ backing up Brian Josh on acoustic and electric guitars as well as keys and vocals. He’s a great all rounder and I have not only seen him with ‘MA’ but also in his own covers band ‘Hazard County’ that’s been playing in the Old White Swan in York on Friday nights, impressing me on both counts. Chris has also written material on the last ‘MA’ album “Heart Full of Sky”, and with his other band ‘The Evernauts’ so his appointment at this juncture in time when we are still in writing mode is fortuitous.

But where does that leave MA?

With Gavin Griffiths out on loan playing drums for ‘MA’ and Heather and Angela working with me as backing vocalists on the “13th Star” and the supporting tour, Chris’s appointment takes us up to 4 out of 7 active members of ‘Mostly Autumn’ in my outfit this year. Obviously the question is raised as to when ‘MA’ go out on tour next year, what do I do for a band? I think we may have come up with the perfect solution

I am planning to go back to mainland Europe in Spring next year after the South American tour and with that in mind I have suggested to Brian Josh that his band come out and work with us on that leg giving him a great window on Europe, me a great support and a working band, the fans a great bill and the promoters something to get their teeth into. Everyone is very positive about this idea and if it comes off I think it will be an exciting and very positive project.

Could well be a tour worth hopping over the channel for. I’ve always thought MA should try to build an audience in places like Germany, which seem to be a more receptive market for proper rock music than fashion-obsessed Britain.

I hope there will still be a window towards the end of December for the traditional Mostly Autumn Christmas shows.

Update: Bryan Josh (whose name Fish seems to have trouble spelling) posted this on the official Mostly Autumn forum

Bryan here. Sorry guys, statements regarding the possibility of me doing a solo album and Mostly Autumn tour matters seem to have leaked out prematurely, an accurate statement is due to be posted very soon regarding future MA plans e.t.c and I can assure you there are many and all will be very positive.

Oops. Bad Fish

Whatever happens next year, the ‘Mostly Fish’ tour is going to be worth seeing. I wonder if we’re going to hear any of Angie’s flute playing enhancing some of Fish’s back catalogue; I sure it would enhance songs like ‘Brother 52′.