The line-up appears to be the quartet however there is some keyboard playing so I assume this is Helal.
This iteration of the band had its problems live and it is refreshing therefore to hear a consummately played gig from the line-up. All band members are tight and Smith is in fine form.
Its starts with a loose spacey version of "Anecdotes" dominated by wah guitar from Wilding and some excellent bass playing from Helal. "On my own" is DAT driven and features interesting spacey noodling from Wilding and long synth chords from Helal. "F-oldin'" is incredibly tight and morphs into an excellent two-fer of "Hurricane" and "Raggazi" with some bespoke synth twiddiling, heavy use of echo and good old improvy noises this leaps into "Touch Sensitive" which is delivered with extensive aplomb but has a rather odd break about 3 minutes which leads into an extended coda and much use of echo on the vocals.
"This Perfect Day" feels a little constipated in the guitar area however the drums are solid - Smith does not appear until about half way through but then delivers an excellent performance overrunning the band at the end. "The Joke" so often cocked up by this version of the band is exemplary. A venomous "Shake-Off" is the highlight for me - probably the best version of this song I have heard with Smith full of caustic bile and Wilding playing a simple chord/scratch accompaniment which works perfectly.
Mark starts "And Therein" with some muttered asides - which is delivered well but suffers from annoying audience chattering. Wilding on acoustic and Head on stripped down kit are perfect foils to a marvelous slurred version from Smith - despite some timing problems from Wilding it works very well.
"Antidotes" is very good indeed. A glorious noise fest with the guitar over-driven and Smith wailing like a banshee throughout. More canine weirdness follows with some interesting use of tapes etc building layers of sonic mayhem as Smith chatters away over the top as the band plays with the DAT and the band twitter away until Mark intones the opening lines to "Jet Boy" and the band sort of gets it together to play it - very garage and very sloppy - excellent!
"Eve" is suitably manic after the excesses of "Jet Boy" - a sort of distressed punk-rock version with Smith admirably coping with the words over a basic riff...excessive use of echo...excellent "shards" section with a "rap sort of Pink Floyd style" as advised by Mr Smith....couple of echoeys whups and then back to the riff. Damn good stuff this with Smith howling like a moonlit lycanthrope at the end.
There is a short encore call with some trancey music and some chattering from the audience and then an odd rhythmic audience participation bit and a subtle launch of "Prinz" which is remarkably well delivered for a three piece - a testament to Helal's excellent bass playing.
Some odd taped music and then a restrained introduction to "Spencer" from Wilding builds into a tense version with Smith in fine form delivering little epithets of psychedelic imagery. Band is instructed to play "Calender" and so they do - sort of - its mostly bass and drums - with Wilding providing a scratchy take on the descending chord sequence.
Ir concludes with a raucous version of "Ol gang" a breathtaking version to sign off the evenings entertainment,
Overall this an excellent gig - top notch performances throughout and a remarkable variety of material.
This iteration of the band had its problems live and it is refreshing therefore to hear a consummately played gig from the line-up. All band members are tight and Smith is in fine form.
Its starts with a loose spacey version of "Anecdotes" dominated by wah guitar from Wilding and some excellent bass playing from Helal. "On my own" is DAT driven and features interesting spacey noodling from Wilding and long synth chords from Helal. "F-oldin'" is incredibly tight and morphs into an excellent two-fer of "Hurricane" and "Raggazi" with some bespoke synth twiddiling, heavy use of echo and good old improvy noises this leaps into "Touch Sensitive" which is delivered with extensive aplomb but has a rather odd break about 3 minutes which leads into an extended coda and much use of echo on the vocals.
"This Perfect Day" feels a little constipated in the guitar area however the drums are solid - Smith does not appear until about half way through but then delivers an excellent performance overrunning the band at the end. "The Joke" so often cocked up by this version of the band is exemplary. A venomous "Shake-Off" is the highlight for me - probably the best version of this song I have heard with Smith full of caustic bile and Wilding playing a simple chord/scratch accompaniment which works perfectly.
Mark starts "And Therein" with some muttered asides - which is delivered well but suffers from annoying audience chattering. Wilding on acoustic and Head on stripped down kit are perfect foils to a marvelous slurred version from Smith - despite some timing problems from Wilding it works very well.
"Antidotes" is very good indeed. A glorious noise fest with the guitar over-driven and Smith wailing like a banshee throughout. More canine weirdness follows with some interesting use of tapes etc building layers of sonic mayhem as Smith chatters away over the top as the band plays with the DAT and the band twitter away until Mark intones the opening lines to "Jet Boy" and the band sort of gets it together to play it - very garage and very sloppy - excellent!
"Eve" is suitably manic after the excesses of "Jet Boy" - a sort of distressed punk-rock version with Smith admirably coping with the words over a basic riff...excessive use of echo...excellent "shards" section with a "rap sort of Pink Floyd style" as advised by Mr Smith....couple of echoeys whups and then back to the riff. Damn good stuff this with Smith howling like a moonlit lycanthrope at the end.
There is a short encore call with some trancey music and some chattering from the audience and then an odd rhythmic audience participation bit and a subtle launch of "Prinz" which is remarkably well delivered for a three piece - a testament to Helal's excellent bass playing.
Some odd taped music and then a restrained introduction to "Spencer" from Wilding builds into a tense version with Smith in fine form delivering little epithets of psychedelic imagery. Band is instructed to play "Calender" and so they do - sort of - its mostly bass and drums - with Wilding providing a scratchy take on the descending chord sequence.
Ir concludes with a raucous version of "Ol gang" a breathtaking version to sign off the evenings entertainment,
Overall this an excellent gig - top notch performances throughout and a remarkable variety of material.