Good audience recording. Some minimal audience chatter. Vocals a little low at the start but soon picks up and then gets worse again - something to do with Mr Smith being off stage I am reliably informed.
One of those gigs where the historical reportage would tend to imply a "car-crash" however the opening "Spencer" is a magnificent piece of intense Fall noise. At one point in my recording there appears to some sort of altercation with security who do not want the gig recording. Some particularly strong guitar from Tommy Crookes which carries over into an energetic "Jungle Rock". Reading the reviews of this some nine years later i'm not sure which gig some of the nay-sayers were at as this appears to be a very good performance from a band which of course would beset with troubles later. Not to say everything was perfect tonight - half way through "Jungle" Mr Burns departs the stage leaving Crookes, Hanley and Nagle to cope as their Leader pushes the song to its end in a rhythmless shredded version.....eventually it collapses into an inchoate guitar splurge that is recovered when Burns returns about 6 minutes in - demonstrating Crookes inability to cope with the rhythm to help him hold the riff.
"Levitate" with an in-tune guitar is a bonus at any time and, despite some muffled Smith vocals, this is a good take on the tune from the eponymous album with a particularly good chorus section. Burns plays it straight but with particular venom. Some nice chord work from Crookes is supported by a wash of cymbals from Burns. Pity a version like this did not make it to the album as this is very fine indeed.
At some point here Mr Smith departs the stage for a change of clothes and other personal matters and we are treated to an excellent instrumental version of "Idiot Joy" which is centred around some stunning bass work from Hanley and effective drumming from Burns. I'm mystified as to why Crookes energetic guitar style here did not make it to the album or later live shows.
The ghostly voice of LE Salinger presages a keyboard dominated "Levitate" with Smith an ethereal voice buried in some deep reverb plated cave - about half way through it sort of collapses as Crookes loses the rhythm and the bass & drums drown out whatever Smith is saying. It then turns into a sort of malignant one note / one beat drum dirge - interesting, spartan and brutish. It resolves into an odd sort of dub version which constant repetition and raucous guitar.
"Container Drivers" sort of....although I think Crookes is trying to play "Fiery Jack" - Smith again sounds like he is in some side room narrating - spazzy guitar links from TC in the middle bit don't quite work and - Mr Smith calls on Mr Burns to a "Drum Solo Now!". Utterly captivating and probably totally worthless but in some strange way totally mesmerising.
Some wag in the audience shouts for "Athlete Cured" - instead the techno sensibilities of "Eve" kick in and then the drums and guitar tend to drag it towards "Inch" territory - at this point on my version there is some muffling and loss of dynamic - however it sort of recovers and we get a rock version which turns into a prog march during the "shards reconnect" section. A glorious re-entry into a dense garage sound wash with suitably funky beat. It calms down with the loping rhythm of "Hip Priest" which has some pretty dire and overloud guitar - totally innappropriate and horribly out of tune. Hanley saves the day with restrained bass and Smith - when audible - produces an introspective then tense narrative.
"M5" comes across as hard rock - for one moment I thought I was in Northampton Cricket Club in 1972 listening to Phil Mogg and U.F.O. Little evidence to dispel this until Mr Smith enters at 3 minutes in and drags us back to reality. Some evidence here that the core of the band is MES and that without him there is a danger in some of the line-ups to slip into lazy rock motions. Utterly peculiar version of "Spinetrak" follows - Crookes guitar is too loud and the vocals are lost - however they manage to get away with it by providing a driven manic rock take on the song.
"Pearl City" - to say Tommy Crookes cant hold a riff without the drums - other than repeating myself from above - is amply evidenced by a cack-handed start to the song. Probably the most shambolic thing of the evening - lacking a centre and a focus. A bleeping pulse and then more early 70s rock guitar leads to a leaderless "Ol Gang" - could be a backing track to a Meatloaf album for what its worth.
Encore time - accapella Smith introduces "Behind the Counter". Crookes guitar is horribly out of tune but some how it works - on one level - in that it is a noisy mess of unredeeming in your faceness until Burns picks his game up and starts playing a little more freely. After about 3 minutes it improves and finishes in a disparate wash of unforgiving notes. Mark continues to intone "Behind the Counter" as the band kick into a heavy metal version of "Lie Dream" (Smith cackles "it just goes to show that some people can't play Northern Soul" with perfect irony) - wouldn't be out of place on a Nuggets album with the cheezy keyboards and the four to floor headbanging garage rhythm. At 2:47 a strange drum drop-out and then back in again to relentless riff and rhythm. To say this song has an extended coda would be an understatement. The song proper is over after 4 minutes the remaining 2 is a relentless repetition with some excellent interplay between Smith and Burns. The last two minutes appears to be a backing tape played at the end of the gig.
Reports indicate that this was one of "those" gigs and the recorded evidence implies that this was something quite unique. Which it is.
One of those gigs where the historical reportage would tend to imply a "car-crash" however the opening "Spencer" is a magnificent piece of intense Fall noise. At one point in my recording there appears to some sort of altercation with security who do not want the gig recording. Some particularly strong guitar from Tommy Crookes which carries over into an energetic "Jungle Rock". Reading the reviews of this some nine years later i'm not sure which gig some of the nay-sayers were at as this appears to be a very good performance from a band which of course would beset with troubles later. Not to say everything was perfect tonight - half way through "Jungle" Mr Burns departs the stage leaving Crookes, Hanley and Nagle to cope as their Leader pushes the song to its end in a rhythmless shredded version.....eventually it collapses into an inchoate guitar splurge that is recovered when Burns returns about 6 minutes in - demonstrating Crookes inability to cope with the rhythm to help him hold the riff.
"Levitate" with an in-tune guitar is a bonus at any time and, despite some muffled Smith vocals, this is a good take on the tune from the eponymous album with a particularly good chorus section. Burns plays it straight but with particular venom. Some nice chord work from Crookes is supported by a wash of cymbals from Burns. Pity a version like this did not make it to the album as this is very fine indeed.
At some point here Mr Smith departs the stage for a change of clothes and other personal matters and we are treated to an excellent instrumental version of "Idiot Joy" which is centred around some stunning bass work from Hanley and effective drumming from Burns. I'm mystified as to why Crookes energetic guitar style here did not make it to the album or later live shows.
The ghostly voice of LE Salinger presages a keyboard dominated "Levitate" with Smith an ethereal voice buried in some deep reverb plated cave - about half way through it sort of collapses as Crookes loses the rhythm and the bass & drums drown out whatever Smith is saying. It then turns into a sort of malignant one note / one beat drum dirge - interesting, spartan and brutish. It resolves into an odd sort of dub version which constant repetition and raucous guitar.
"Container Drivers" sort of....although I think Crookes is trying to play "Fiery Jack" - Smith again sounds like he is in some side room narrating - spazzy guitar links from TC in the middle bit don't quite work and - Mr Smith calls on Mr Burns to a "Drum Solo Now!". Utterly captivating and probably totally worthless but in some strange way totally mesmerising.
Some wag in the audience shouts for "Athlete Cured" - instead the techno sensibilities of "Eve" kick in and then the drums and guitar tend to drag it towards "Inch" territory - at this point on my version there is some muffling and loss of dynamic - however it sort of recovers and we get a rock version which turns into a prog march during the "shards reconnect" section. A glorious re-entry into a dense garage sound wash with suitably funky beat. It calms down with the loping rhythm of "Hip Priest" which has some pretty dire and overloud guitar - totally innappropriate and horribly out of tune. Hanley saves the day with restrained bass and Smith - when audible - produces an introspective then tense narrative.
"M5" comes across as hard rock - for one moment I thought I was in Northampton Cricket Club in 1972 listening to Phil Mogg and U.F.O. Little evidence to dispel this until Mr Smith enters at 3 minutes in and drags us back to reality. Some evidence here that the core of the band is MES and that without him there is a danger in some of the line-ups to slip into lazy rock motions. Utterly peculiar version of "Spinetrak" follows - Crookes guitar is too loud and the vocals are lost - however they manage to get away with it by providing a driven manic rock take on the song.
"Pearl City" - to say Tommy Crookes cant hold a riff without the drums - other than repeating myself from above - is amply evidenced by a cack-handed start to the song. Probably the most shambolic thing of the evening - lacking a centre and a focus. A bleeping pulse and then more early 70s rock guitar leads to a leaderless "Ol Gang" - could be a backing track to a Meatloaf album for what its worth.
Encore time - accapella Smith introduces "Behind the Counter". Crookes guitar is horribly out of tune but some how it works - on one level - in that it is a noisy mess of unredeeming in your faceness until Burns picks his game up and starts playing a little more freely. After about 3 minutes it improves and finishes in a disparate wash of unforgiving notes. Mark continues to intone "Behind the Counter" as the band kick into a heavy metal version of "Lie Dream" (Smith cackles "it just goes to show that some people can't play Northern Soul" with perfect irony) - wouldn't be out of place on a Nuggets album with the cheezy keyboards and the four to floor headbanging garage rhythm. At 2:47 a strange drum drop-out and then back in again to relentless riff and rhythm. To say this song has an extended coda would be an understatement. The song proper is over after 4 minutes the remaining 2 is a relentless repetition with some excellent interplay between Smith and Burns. The last two minutes appears to be a backing tape played at the end of the gig.
Reports indicate that this was one of "those" gigs and the recorded evidence implies that this was something quite unique. Which it is.