After a clear run down the M62 we arrive in Oldham Street a little early, too early to sit inside a dark bar on such a pleasant evening so we go in search of a bite to eat. Unfortunately the only place we can find is Burger King so we place our order; a double swiss and an american classic. They sound tasty don't they? well I'm afraid they only served to remind us of something we already knew... we prefer MacDonalds!
We get to the Night and Day which is one of the better smaller venues in Manchester. However it doesn't do draught ales so we order two bottles of Budvar, the Czechoslovakian Budweiser , we sit down relaxed and enjoy. After a couple of swigs I'm reminded of the subtle superiority in flavour that it has over it's American cousin......we prefer Budvar.
After being won over by the random musicality and experimentalism of Rich Terfry aka Buck 65's last long player 'Square' ( reviewed on W&H ) and being impressed by the similarly eclectic follow up 'Talkin' Honky Blues' (released Sep 8th) I was well lookin' forward to this. However, ( and you might have seen this coming..) my expectations dropped significantly when I
saw that Rich was here on his own accompanied by only a tape machine and a turntable, there was no band!
It's something he's quick to point out, and says it's simply that he can't afford a band. Apparently it had been reported in the local press that he would have some back up tonight but the fanbase in attendance don't seem to mind. He appears well used to the
situation and his show is half standup, half hip hop with no shortage of stories, rants and stoner philosophical musings in between the songs.
For me, I can't get past the fact that he's singing along to a tape and that the massive live drum sounding beats and breaks from the albums are lost. It's not entirely his fault, what's a guy to do? I'm left to wonder what it would sound like if he had a live drummer in tow. Maybe I'm missing a trick, the thing with tonights show is that it's very rap orientated, something that's not neccesarily true of 'Square'or 'Talkin Honky' which both carry a
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more musical and harmonious approach. So if you're picking up on that rap vibe then fair play to you. I still manage to hear some pedal steel and the bass sound does it's best to compensate but as a whole it sounds stunted.
The scratchin's still good and there's no doubting his talent nor his
ability to pull it off, completely unphased as he is by the limelight. The rap about food.."puts me in a good mood" the song about his Dad and the epic opening of the first mix on 'Square' are the highlights along with his questioning rant about Yamaha; asking the crowd if the same company were responsible for both motorbikes and pianos? And if so which came first?
His delivery is a slow rasping drawl which he uses to full effect and he engages the audience throughout. He's a cool performer and this I suppose is some consolation, there's no awkwardness, no inhibition from this crazy Canadian entertainer. He doesn't give a shit as he openly declares "the last time I was down to play Manchester they cancelled the show.............no ticket sales."
I'm left to ponder how much I'd prefer seeing Buck 65 as I hear them on their albums. It's a big difference from hearing the fullness and textured sound of his reckids to hearing this, justice is not done by it. I have to say that the rest of the people here don't appear to agree, reacting favourably to every suggestion whether musical, standup or both. Even so, it still doesn't alter the fact that........we prefer live performance to contain live sounds.
A band rather than a tape, MacD's to BK, Budvar to Bud and so on.....
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