ARTHUR’S LANDING
ICA, London
20th February 2010
After years of escalating legend and fresh new converts discovering the strange and spiritual world of the late Arthur Russell through Audika’s superlative release programme of previously unheard material, this was the closest most acolytes had got to the real deal. Arthur’s Landing is a loose group of the enigmatic avant-disco-folk genius’s closest friends and collaborators, who have got together to honour their old friend’s legacy in the spirit in which it was created, meaning anything can happen.
They were also making their UK debut to launch Tim Lawrence’s marvellous Russell biography Hold On To Your Dreams: Arthur Russell And The Downtown Music Scene 1973-1992. The author started the evening reading selected passages, relating to the creation of the landmark 24-24 Music album, the haunted voice-cello excursions on 1986’s World Of Echo and Russell’s last years before dying of AIDS in ’92, backed by Jo Thomas’ electronic collages around tracks like the tumultuous spaced-disco of ‘Go Bang!’.
Lining up were guitarist-musical director Steven Hall, trombone titan Peter Zummo, bassist Ernie Brooks, master percussionist Mustafa Ahmed, drummer Bill Ruyle and heavenly vocalist Joyce Bowden, who told often-hilarious anecdotes about their old friend while reaching into his massive catalogue, including never-completed or released songs used as springboards for frequent liftoff as the musicians locked and jousted into little glimpsed sonic stratospheres.
The set balanced poignant ballads like ‘Oh Fernando Why’ and ‘Lucky Cloud’ with heart-lifting, melodic outings like ‘Love Is Overtaking Me’, ’Don’t Forget About Me’ recalling classic Fleetwood Mac, plus the expected stellar instrumental excursions and a pile-driving avant-disco knees-up around Russell’s early ’80s New York disco anthem ‘Is It All Over My Face’, encoring with a time-stopping ‘This Is How We Walk On The Moon’.
In short, this emotions-charged but smile-inducing evening ranks as one of the warmest, downright inspirational events I’ve been privileged to witness in over 40 years of gig going. In May, Arthur’s Landing release an album on Strut and will be playing UK shows in the summer. Try and check them out; magic this rare is once in a lifetime stuff.
Kris Needs
THE CLAIM/THE DENTISTS
Dingwalls, London
25th March 2010
In these times, where even the most seemingly unlamented of artists can sell out venues on the back of a reunion it is heartening to see a couple of bands who really were playing again due to popular demand. It has to be one of life’s great mysteries why these two Medway affiliated bands didn’t meet with much wider success, though tonight wasn’t a time for chin scratching contemplation of what might have been. The celebratory and emotional atmosphere put paid to any of that.
For starters, this wasn’t just a reunion for the two bands concerned as the crowd seemed like they had been beamed down from planet 1987 especially for the occasion. Hey, we’ve all aged a bit since those halcyon Hammersmith Clarendon days but, back in those times, crowds seemed to enjoy gigs much more and it was certainly the case again here, at a packed Dingwalls.
The taught, hook-laden, Kinks-y Claim were the first up on this double bill, with frontman David Read showing he is still a compelling stage presence. Making a focused and unfussy return to the crease, he nonchalantly batted away some mid-set technical problems, which the band played through with a collective grin and a shrug. It was heartwarming to see dancing down the front right from the start as The Claim played tightly and efficiently, the perfect showcase for their tunes, which were always embellished by David Arnold’s ringing guitar lines. Difficult to pick highpoints but particular standout songs were ‘Mrs Shepherd’, ‘Birth Of A Teenager’ and ‘Dear’, with ‘God, Cliffe And Me’ a fantastic peak. This band showed beyond doubt that they could, if they wished, still wipe the floor with some of today’s insipid janglers.
Onto The Dentists then, who I always thought should have made much more of the (very) early REM tinges to their sound but these were not the kind of guys who took themselves as seriously as their music, and, despite their winning way with a tune, they did not find the appeal they deserved. Always up for some light-hearted banter with their fans, perhaps this was part of the reason for their unfortunate lack of mainstream success when other less talented bands who had a more cultivated mystique were able to make it.
With singer Michael Murphy having only jetted in from his African home a week before, it was clear to see that this geographical stumbling block hadn’t made a difference, as The Dentists stormed through a powerful set including the majority of their mid-80s favourites, even making time for a drummer substitution at the halfway mark, Ian Smith being replaced by Rob Grigg.
As with The Claim, it’s baffling how these accessible songs did not find favour with the broader populace but, with hindsight, it was their loss. But for now it’s clear that there are still a lot of people who hold these men from the Medway towns very close to their hearts.
Nick Levy
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