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Bob Harris Saturday Show 12/01/08 - a review by Cherskiy

 
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Cherskiy



Joined: 08 Dec 2006
Posts: 3701
Location: near Amble, Northumberland

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 7:52 pm    Post subject: Bob Harris Saturday Show 12/01/08 - a review by Cherskiy Reply with quote

And I was doing so well - managed to get the first hour done last Sunday, then the time just ran away from me! Haven't had time to listen to anything from the second or third hours, I'm afraid.

There certainly seemed to be a different feel to tonight’s programme following an initial look at the line-up – any doubts I may have harboured before listening though were well and truly blown away by the music Bob played. Tonight’s guest in the middle hour was Paul Carrack.

First up was 1962’s version of ‘Teen Idol’, Freddy Cannon with his “Pallisades Park”, a real rocking start – and a track that was mentioned by Dennis Locorriere last week.
The Del-Lords popped up next with “Cheyenne” from their 1988 album “Based On A True Story”, arguably one of the better exponents of the grittier side of mid-to-late-1980s rock and roll and a band that Roger Scott used to feature on his R1 shows. Here front man Scott Kempner delivers a fairly no-nonsense, solid performance – although looking back at the contemporary acts you could almost call it a ‘by the numbers’ song. Still worthwhile listening, though.
Colorado-based Big Head Todd And The Monsters definitely takes the title for strangest band name heard so far this year, but “Runaway Train” from their 2002 album “Riviera” took a more conventional, if still hugely enjoyable approach to rock. ‘Big Head Todd’ is Todd Park Mohr, who definitely knows how to belt out a tune whilst giving the guitar a good thrashing – as Bob said, ‘big guitars’ – practically unknown this side of the Atlantic, they’ve got a decent following State-side, with several albums to their name. I liked this track so much I’ve put the album on my ‘wish list’….
Hadn’t really heard of the Swedish outfit Oh Laura before, so was fairly intrigued by the prospect of “It Ain’t Enough” from the band’s “A Song Inside My Head, A Demon In My Bed” – the first of two tracks from this album that Bob was playing tonight. Frida Öhrn’s vocals clicked immediately – sounding something like a cross between Gemma Hayes and Cerys Matthews – a comparison with the former name guaranteed to get me on-side. The band cite their influences as a wide range, from country to pop and a little of in-between – rather like fellow countrywoman Lisa Miskovsky, who I’m also a fan of. This particular track was really good, Frida’s vocals becoming more Cerys Matthews-like as the song progressed, backed up to the hilt by founder member Jocke Olovsson’s guitar and the remainder of the five-piece band. Bob reckons the band really know what they’re doing – he obviously liked them so much he decided to feature another track from their debut album a little later on, and who can blame him?
Another album Bob milked a couple of tracks from was the 2005 boxed set “We’re Gonna Rock, We’re Gonna Roll”, from which he first selected Arthur Crudup’s “That’s Alright Mama”, followed by Betsy Gay’s “Hound Dog”. A couple of inspired choices, in my ever so humble opinion – Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup being a delta blues artist who wrote songs later covered by Elvis (the link here), before his return to bootlegging in the 1960s, whilst Betsy Gay started off as a child actor in Hollywood in the late 1930s before turning to singing at 12, and beginning recording in 1946 – this version of Willie Mae ‘Big Mama’ Thornton’s 1952 original recorded a year later, and two years before Elvis took it almost as his own.
A friend of mine bought Martyn Joseph’s latest album “Vegas” since he’s a fan of the artist, and following the artist’s excellent live session on Bob’s show last year, it was good to re-visit this popular but never household name again. “Kindness” is the last track on the album and tells of the freezing homeless on Toronto’s streets – an acoustic track which almost suggests he’s sitting on the sofa performing the song in your living room. Rather good.
Another artist featured in live session last year who I liked was Yvonne Lyon, Bob rather generously featuring her “Be Strong” track from “A Thousand Questions Why”, her latest album that was recorded last year, but which is now only just available on line from her website. A Scots singer-songwriter, she too benefits from strong yet clear vocals and minimal backing which only serves to emphasis her excellent voice. In truth, this track however suffered a little from ‘lyrical repetitive strain’ syndrome, but was still quite haunting and beautiful.
Ray Bonneville’s current album is called “Goin’ By Feel”, and Bob picked “Crow John” to illustrate this Canadian artist’s take on traditional roots and Americana music. A self-confessed ‘North American’ with dual Canadian-American nationality, his laid-back, weathered voice is eminently suitable for this genre – although this song also suffers slightly from oft-repeated lyrics. I suspect Bob will play more tracks from this album in the future, though.
Never heard of [/b]Motherstation[/b] before either, but Bob’s build-up (“ever heard a band having more fun?”) had me intrigued. Their mid-1990s debut (and only) album “Brand New Bag” yielded “Fool For A Pretty Face” – vocalist Susan Marshall giving it all she’s got here, ably assisted by Gwin Spencer on lead guitar. The band itself split as the members went off on their own projects – a great pity, though, given the strength of this song and “Put The Blame On Me”, which is available on Youtube….

Stewboss are lined up for the 26th January show….
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Lord Evan Elpuss



Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 3417
Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bob's playlist is now up on: http://www.bobharris.info/pages/playlist.asp?progcode=s19012008
Good if you like Blues, with tracks by Walter Trout & Joe Bonnemassa, Rock oriented first part with Nickelback, Lynyrd Skynyrd (no, not the two radio favorites) & JoJo Gunne (Yes, that one is the best known one) Certainly sounds like one I'll enjoy.

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