I got into the 100 club early but not quite early enough to catch the start of MIRACULOUS MULES' set which was a shame as then I'd be able to say with certainty that they had played a one song set!! The one song in question that I heard was Satisfied and it's a garage rock/soul classic with about six or seven false endings. I kept thinking they would start another tune, but no it's more of Satisified: a great trick pulled off brilliantly. Everyone already there was more than satisfied by Miraculous Mule.
After a very short break on came STERLING ROSWELL (ex of Spacemen 3) performing solo. His was the least satisfying set of the evening. The two songs he played were okay but overshadowed by how good everyone else was. Give Peace One More Chance has good lyrics and sounded OK but it was a touch flat. Nobody Loved The Hulk really needed a full band behind it to bring out the best in the song.
Coming on almost the moment Sterling Roswell finished were Psychobilly veterans KING KURT. The current line-up featured some familiar faces including Strangy on Double Bass who I'm used to seeing in either Celtic Bones or The Klingonz and a guitarist and drummer who are usually in various bands playing at the 12 Bar Club. They opened with the primal roar of Rack And Ruin and had a great rumble of a sound going on, even if we need to have a whip round to get Strangy a new Double Bass as his had a hole in the side where one shouldn't be.
They then did a crunching version of Ghostriders In The Sky only instead of singing the verses they inserted some field hollers and yelps and the singer then sang the chorus. It worked really well. Then it was time for their first hit Zulu Beat that still sounds both faintly ridiculous and yet pretty cool. Certainly many of the Psychobillies in the crowd were singing along to it.
They followed that with a decent version of Rocking Girl with some great gurning from the singer and then finished with the legendary Destination Zululand: the song that actually got them onto Top Of The Pops and was thankfully free from the food fight elements that it used to induce. It has to be said that King Kurt are still more than able to put a smile on everyones face and remain well worth seeing.
After another short break it was time for a rare London show by TAV FALCO & THE UNAPPROCHABLE PANTHER BURNS who were in town to promote both the new album Conjurations: Seance For Deranged Lovers and the beginning of a re-issue programme for all of Tav's earlier records, this being the 30th Anniversary of his debut album Behind the Magnolia Curtain. It will soon be back out on www.stag-o-lee.com but shockingly for a record launch night wasn't available at the gig!
Still the band opened with the Panther Burns theme and Tav looks every bit as dapper as ever in a crisp blue suit with leopard print inserts below the elbows. Oh he looks good! Come On Little Mama sounded great and the band started to get into their laid back groove of old school Rock & Roll and Blues. She's The One That's Got It has always been one of my Tav Favourites and it still sounds great and in this case it was probably the female drummer who was the one that's got it, got what you say, well you know!!
Next up was probably the one song of the night that made me a little uncomfortable. Hey High School Baby is about falling in lust with a 16 year old girl, it was fine for Tav to sing it 30 years ago, but now they lyrics are almost as pervy as hearing Alex Chilton singing 13 in his latter years. No matter how great a tune it is, hearing a midlle aged man singing it is kinda wrong.
Still they turned it around as we set sail down the River Of Love and the current French Italian, Panther Burns really cooked as they did on Ooee Baby even if they weren't following the track listing. It was great to hear Behind the Magnolia Curtain live and direct with that great Hohner sound Tav has. Snake Drive still makes me think of sideshows and freakshows and then all of a sudden Tav is singing You're Undecided like his very life depends on resolving the situation sometime soon.
Snatch It Back and Hold it one more time was always a classic live and although this time we don't have George Reinecke guzzling from a medicine bottle and writhing over the stage like he did back at the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden in 1987 (the first time I saw Tav play live) the band nail the song before we get the mellow dance tune Where The Rio De Rosa Flows. That gave eveyone a moment to catch their breath before they played Bourgeois Blues and the St Louis Blues back to back for us. The latter had some fine interplay between Tav's guitar playing and I think it's Gregoire Cat's Gretsch.
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Tav complimented the band on having learnt all the old material for this show before a storming Bertha Lou which I think was followed by Blind Man (but I'm not certain on that one) before we had the song that up till that point had had most requests from the audience. Yes it was time for a Brazil that featured Tav taking his guitar for a dance around the stage. Damn that guitar makes one good dancing partner!
For the last song of the first set they are joined onstage by the current Keyboard player who has the tough job of filling Jim Dickinson's shoes as they Move On Down The Line with the keys just fleshing the sound out a little.
Then Tav left the stage and the band played an Interlude instrumental while Tav did what any self respecting Gentleman would do and went to change into another very dapper suit - this time a slate grey tonic affair with very narrow lapels. Indeed he returned to the stage and spent a minute or so combing his hair to get it just so. It's been years since I last saw anyone combing their hair on stage and his quiff looked very cool by the time they open the second set with a song Tav is partially responsible for making Wanda Jackson re-learn due to how many requests she got for it in Europe.
Yes they were singing Tav's superior version of Funnel of Love that was swiftly followed by Tobacco Road which although missing Alex Chiltons guitar on its album version still sounded mighty fine.
I'm afraid I'm unable to decipher my notes for the next song. I must have been over-excited. It was, however, followed by the first new song off of the current album with a nice version of Garden Of The Medicis that Tav insisted is based on a true story and who are we to argue with him. They then struck up the legendary tango of Drop Your Mask and onto the stage came Tav's dancing partner. For the instrumental break Tav and his extremely lithe partner danced a very sensual tango around the stage, damn he has some fine moves and they did some very cool lifts.
It certainly made me want to spend time with the Lady from Shanghai also from the new album Conjurations. By this stage Tav was checking how much time was left as he was determined to play until our 11pm curfew, telling us he still had another 45 minutes of material to play.
Make Me Know You're Mine was a touch on the slow side to make sure you could get nice and close to tell the object of your desire how much she was yours! The Ballad Of The Rue De La Lune sounded great live and is the lead off track on the new album and yet another ture story according to Tav. He then explained that Lotus Blossom was about taking Opium and it did have that dreamy opium feel to it. It was followed by a song about Tav himself, yes he is The Gentleman In Black. He then seemed to bring his teenage self back out for Dateless Night as it is hard to Imagine Tav being stranded alone on a Dateless Night very much in the last 30 years.
They then wrapped things up with a couple of classics. Yes, Tina The Go Go Queen can still shake her fanny like a washing machine it was played slower than it used to be played but damn it's always a high point of any Tav Falco or Alex Chilton set that it's a part of. The final song for the night was My Mind Was Messed Up At The Time and I'm sure mine was by the end of this great show came to a close. As they had reached the curfew time there was no time for any encores so we missed out on the chance for them to play Bad Motorcycle or Mala Femmina or Red Headed Woman but then if you go and see them on the upcoming US tour you may be lucky enough to get the full set. This set was a handsome two hours and didn't drag at all.
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