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Dislocation Dance, Harlem Spirit, Mothmen
Band On The Wall
1984

From City Life, student special, Sept ’84.Add for B.O.T.W. showing recent good stuff including some of Manchester's finest, to entice new students along. Lots of similar adds throughout this issue all competing for the fickle loyalty of the new kids on the block, before they found their feet and got set in their ways. Some good stuff on that line-up. Alexis Korner, Godfather of British Blues and probably one of the few people that could have mentored John Peel in his post pirate radio days. His mellifluous tones graced many an add, like an English version of Orson Wells, as well as having his own Sunday Radio 1 show.
Dr. John, still yet to see him but probably New Orlean’s finest son. “”Right Place, Wrong Time”, “Walk on Guilded Splinters”, ah yes it’s all coming back to me now. Missed out on seeing the Queen of Noo Orlean’s, Irma Thomas t’other night , soz Irms. A couple of young Jamaican upstarts, Anthony B and Ce’cile were in town the same night and it doesn’t happen that often. Funny thing with Dancehall queens, their lyrics are slack enough to make Peaches blush, Lady Saw being about the roughest and toughest of them. It’s a long tradition but I think it’s mostly tongue in cheek, though it gets a bit much sometimes. It was a good show. Also saw a Texan Country rebel, Dale Watson, the following evening and he was surprisingly good, as well as being a born stand-up comedian, mostly of the ad-lib variety. Don’t know too much about that sort of music but I’ve always liked some of what I hope is the good stuff. It was a very mixed age affair in a small venue but I was quite taken by the audience reaction. I couldn’t help but notice that during many of the songs, much of the crowd were just beaming, unself-conciously as if they were transported or lost in the moment, with almost a childlike joy; Very odd. Can’t say I’ve ever really seen anything like that before, especially at Crass/ Clash gigs in days of yore; but there was a good vibe in the room so I enjoyed it. It kinda showed and reminded me the power it can have over you when you get lost in music. It can be a wondrous/ priceless thing. Andre Rieu does it to me every time. All that was missing this Easter weekend was a German Umpah band and I would've truly been living the dream.
Talisman, “Living in the Dole Age”; apt song for the times; local legends Harlem Spirit and their smash hit “Dem a Sus” , all about the “Sus” laws , with the rousing finale about walking out to the frontline, just past the Russell before being arrested under the suspicion of possibly contemplating committing some sort of misdemeanour. Under such a law we’d nearly all have been arrested at some point, but it was pretty much aimed solely at the British black community and a cause for much grievance. It was hard to conceive that the your average bobby possessed the superpowers, or could be trained in the fine art of mind-reading . It was a “bazzin” choon though and I’m sure there’d be a link to it somewhere on the site. Moving along the bus......