Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

The Coral/Cherry Ghost/The Red Suns
The Alexandra Theatre Birmingham 12th July 2010

The Alexandra Theatre Birmingham then, "The Alex" - not been here for a while. And let's be honest, however nice it might be at The Alexandra Theatre it's not a suitable venue for "Popular Music Presentations" or gigs. For why? Cos it's all bloody SEATED that's why! OK so The Alex has a great sound and a good view from all areas. And yes the theatre staff are "friendly" and the security is anonymous. And yes the décor is salubrious and very very mildly diverting. But it's still all bloody SEATED! - AND ALL SEATED VENUES (in case you didn't know) ARE THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!!!!

I've only been to the Alex a few times over the years and never with any great conviction. The gig that sticks in my diseased memory particularly is a David Sylvian back in 1986. Yes David bleedin Sylvian! I must have been drunk (probably), desperate (definately) and having to keep someone company against my will to go and see David bleedin Sylvian. I can't remember much about the gig now, and anyway on the night I fell asleep after track two. Back then the sudden form of narcolepsy known as INSTANT COMA was always a distinct possibility at a Sylvian gig. He continues to ply his trade today I believe, but now thankfully he only plays all bedded venues.

So like it or not (mainly not) and for the first time in my history I was seated for The Coral. And up first on the night were "The Red Suns"; a four piece from the Wirral who were actually pretty damn good. OK so they're only young whipper snappers and in places they did lean quite heavily on the early works of The Bunnymen for their general sound. But hey, you won't find me complaining about that! Bass & drum boomed around the insides of the Victorian theatre with accompanying guitar riffs aplenty. Vocals were assured enough, and came from the Cope/Curtis neck of the parish rather than the MAC. Yeah these "Red Suns" were pretty damn good. GO LISTEN. Hopefully "The Red Suns" can bring us a more substantial slice of grey gloomesque post punk. More substantial than the likes of those Editors & White Lies chappies anyway.

[Now when it comes to the likes of ELBOW and CHERRY GHOST there is a massive editorial schism at the heart of this FANZINE. And for that reason if you are now reading a hard copy of this glorious publication in the environs of Wolverhampton you won't be getting this next bit - but then you won't know you've missed anything either]

Back in early 2007 I saw Cherry Ghost at the Glee Club in Brum prior to the release of their debut "Thirst for Romance". It was another bleedin all seated gig, and another PILS (odd) gig to boot. Cherry Ghost played it in stark daylight; with the house lights basically on full throughout. It had all the ambience of a University Lecture, but Aldred and CG soldiered on with a nervousness that seemed to work for them. Luckily that night I was able to give my seat the bird. I was "allowed" by the good people at the Glee to stand at the back of the venue. No such luck tonight though - have I mentioned I don't like all seated gigs - they're the work of the devil you know.

Anyway back in 2007 CG opened with "Thirst for Romance" tonight they chose to kick off with four from their new album "Beneath this Burning Shoreline". First off came the immediate "Black Fang" (or Midnight Swimmer), then the majestic slowburner "A Month of Mornings" (or Roll River Roll). Two bass less tracks followed, "Diamond in the Grind" and then to complete the four, the balladeering "The Night They Buried Sadie Clay" with its trumpet led death march middle section. The new stuff sounded good.

Simon Aldred then made mention of the new album. He couldn't remember when it had been released, but it had, at an unspecified time, sometime, recently. Maybe last week or possibly this week, he couldn't recall, but it was out there, probably. For us poor shits with a Fanzine to write though, and just so we're all clear on this point COMRADES, as Mr Aldred was doing the hard sell, "Shoreline" was residing at number 40 in the charts.

Cherry Ghost then played their first single "Mathematics" which got a biggest ovation of the night. As the ovation subsided though a woman in the crowd shouted out "Play it again". Now in my experience if a woman asks you to do something again you do it pretty damn quick and think yourself lucky you got asked, but Simon Aldred just smiled and said. "I don't know what the protocol is, but I'm sure you can't play the same track twice in a set". Oh dear Simon………….Oh dear.

If I had a penny for every time I'd heard the same track twice in a set, I'd have £1.39 now. Back in the day one hit wonder merchants The Vapours used to play "Turning Japanese" at least three times in their set. Even when they were supporting with only 20 minutes to fill. And recently at the Roundhouse The Stranglers played the whole of their set twice from start to finish. Just cos something wasn't quite right in the keyboard department. And then there was.......yeah anyway - There's no protocol in these matters, so if a woman asks to do something again you just do it, trust me - chance would be a fine thing. Instead of a MATH encore Cherry Ghost played their most recent (download) single, the bittersweet "Kissing Strangers". It was a good sub. But then they were gone, and six tracks didn't seem enough.

So what of "Beneath this Burning Shoreline"? Well I'm sure the Henry James reading; chin tugging, music journo intelligentsia who scribble for the glossy mags will love this album. And why not? There's a lot good stuff here for us normal folk to enjoy also.

Amid the grit and shuffle of the opener "We Sleep on Stones" it becomes immediately apparent that Cherry Ghost have come back as Cherry Ghost. There has been no big sea change - and nowadays that in itself is worthy of admiration rather than contempt.

Everything on "Shoreline" is crafted, as it should be, around the bluegrass inflections of Simon Aldred's vocals. That said there are three neat musical interludes here also, for punctuation probably, but definitely not for light relief. Because on "Shoreline" Cherry Ghost prove unequivocally that no one can do buttoned up Bolton black and bruised mizzle laden bleakness like Cherry Ghost. And "My God Betrays" is top banana in the bleakness category. Ian Curtis and Martin Hannett were only playing at it folks! This is BLEAKNESS with a capital B, and definitely my favourite moment on the record.

For me though, however wonderful Cherry Ghost are, they still have one problem, and that is they always play 11 across the middle. This problem was most evident when they backed up "The Manic Street Preachers" a few years back. The "Manic Punters" were deathly in their quietness throughout the Cherry Ghost set. What they wanted - Desperately - Was for Cherry Ghost to "at some stage" press the ROCK BUTTON. But they never did. And that is the only problem with "Beneath this Burning Shoreline" at no stage is the ROCK button depressed. Serene and stately are all very nice, but sometimes, for reasons of definition alone, the cojones must be clutched and waved around in a threatening manner. But hell what do I know? I sound like Ian Hislop on "Loose Talk" chiding Tom Waits for not selling himself hard enough. So let's move on, Cherry Ghost will be back doing there own tour later in the year, and God willing I'll be there. GO HERE FOR THE DATES.

After Cherry Ghost were done the usherettes came front of house and sold ice creams. I shit you not. And the guys next to me left their seats momentarily, to return, later, not with the faint odour of TEA on their clothes or a pint of BANK'S mild, but brandishing a family pack of Revells and a family pack of Chocolate Buttons respectively. Whatever happened to drink, drugs, glue, glass, needles, blood, spit and sputum! Is this how it ends? Dying in a Victorian Pleasure Palace seated on a red velour covered throne with a bottle water between my legs and a choc ice down my front? NO PLEASE NO!

I'll shut my eyes I thought. Block it out. And as I sat there in the dark WORDS began appearing on the insides of my eyelids, words like this:

In the beginning was the word, and the word was good, and the band was Rory Storm & The Hurricanes.

And the Hurricanes did begat The Beatles and The Beatles did begat Gerry & The Pacemakers, and Gerry & the Pacemakers did begat et al.

And et al did begat a glorious global din which did reverberated around the universe igniting a million Flaming Pies.

And the flaming pies did begat The Bunnymen who did begat The La's, and The La's did begat Cast and Cast did begat The Coral and the Coral did begat The Zutons.

And so in this way, every note, every chord and harmony, can be traced back to the UNIVERSAL GODHEAD THAT IS: RINGO!

Yes you can stuff Peter Frame's Rock Family Tree up your arse (sorry Pete) and any kind of intellectual reasoning too for that matter, this is how it was, how it is and shall forever be.

It is written.
RINGO was DAVID,
RINGO was the first,
RINGO was the chosen ONE;
and any musician who can trace his royal linage directly back to THE RING is truly blessed, amen!

AYE UP IT'S THEM CORAL!

With CORAL album number 5 or 6 (depending on whether you count "Nightfreak" or not) released on the morn The Coral's hour set quite naturally was constructed around the psychedelic psounds of "Butterfly House". "More than a Lover", "Roving Jewel", "Walking in Winter", "Butterfly House" and "Falling Around You" all got a Brum debut. As did the MODtastic "Two Faces" and recent download single "1000 Years". From days of yore we got the likes of "Pass it On", "Jacqueline", "Simon Diamond", "Spanish Main", with "Calendars and Clocks" closing down part one.

The encores were "Goodbye", a very fast version "Dreaming of You" and finally the last track on "Butterfly House"; the dark shadows of "North Parade". The tale of woe was told, the outro reached, the ROCK button depressed, and THE CORAL exited amid a fury of their own making.

So what about "Butterfly House" then? Well my copy of the album didn't reach me on the day of the gig. My offshore supplier based somewhere in the Isle of Dogs didn't get my copy to me until much later on that week. Mustn't complain though, I did once, I spoke to someone called Nosher, he was quite pleasant on the phone. He took my name and address and seemed very concerned. He came round my house later that day with the record I'd ordered, and then kicked the living shit out of me.

Anyway what was I saying, oh yes "Butterfly House", yeah - if I was forced at gun point to be a musical monothete I guess The Coral would top my list of 1. They are a musical compendium; Morrison, McCartney, McCulloch, Marriot, Lennon and Lonnie Donegan all there in their musical scatologica. And on "Butterfly House" the musical scatologica continues.

On the first bending I kept expecting to hear the voice of Brain (Sounds of the Sixties) Mathews in between the tracks, saying stuff like "Now this next track was produced by Joe Meek in '68 and released by DECCA as a double A side with blah blah……" But it never happened. On second bending, I realised I'd missed the point totally. On "Butterfly House" The Coral haven't replicated the psychedelic psounds of the sixties, what they've done is produced a Portmeirion. You know Portmeirion that strange Italian village in North Wales where they filmed The Prisoner. Well the geezer Clough Williams-Ellis who made Portmeirion didn't really make an Italian village; he made an Italiante town out of his own imaginings. And that's what The Coral and John Leckie have done with "Butterfly House". They've created a scouse-a-delic version of the sixties out of their own imaginings. Yep the timeless tunes and the diamond hard vocals of James Skelly are there as always. But this time everything is illuminated by the multi coloured light of a Lava Lamp.

So get yourself a copy "Butterfly House" and a strong cup of tea. Lie back with your feet in the stream and let the pink fish nibble your toes. Listen to the guitars jingle jangle, watch the colours dancing round the walls of the sky. And slowly, very slowly, feel yourself drift.....away………away…….away. GO HERE