From: BRIAN (bbaltin_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 2003-02-12 21:51:03
Wendy,
Thanks very much for the info. I would most certainly have to add Working
Week to the top of your list of Anglo soul acts (and if you wanted to reach
into more abstract territory a bit, several of the Crepuscule and Factory
groups and Rip Rig + Panic share a bit of that lineage as well).
I was fortunate enough to see Galliano at the very beginning with Talbot,
along with the Brand New Heavies and Gilles Djing. This was about 92 I
think, at the Village Gate in NYC for New Music Seminar, and it was
absolutely sublime. I've never heard Gilles better than that first time,
and while I was new to the music, it struck me as the best DJ set I'd ever
heard. Now that I know most of his selections, I wish I knew what it was
he'd actually played that night. And the Galliano live show at that point
was just psychotropically brilliant (and they obliterated the Heavies).
At any rate, I did get to see Weller last night, because they added a last
minute, low-key show @ the House of Blues here in L.A. Was something of a
marathon set, and overall I'd say quite lovely. A beautiful acid
jazz-soaked version of "The Long Hot Summer" was probably the high point,
along with some faux-jazz work on the drums, and much attempted Wall of
Noise bits toward the close. "Wildwood" was also lovely, "It's Written in
the Stars" came off well, and while I was also never a Jam fan, "That's
Entertainment" and "A Town Called Malice" also sounded rather good. The
band also gets into some lustrous guitar noise jams in the mode of old
Spiritualized or MBV (although not carrying it off quite as well as either
of them).
The Weller tour is hitting NYC and Chicago soon (check
http://www.liquidatorgraphics.com/culture/gigs_nyc.htm). Very worth
checking to anyone who's a fan at all.
All the best,
Brian
On 2/12/03 1:38 AM, "nethed" <nethed_at_ninjatune.net> wrote:
> Brian
>
> not sure who was dissing weller on the list, but last nite jazz fm late lounge
> (ok middle of the road sure, but this show at least mixes it up)
> played some Paul Weller... I was round @ the beginnings of Talkin
> Loud workin with Gilles.
> The Disciples were in the studio with weller all the time - he came
> round my house cause my partner had the entire original blue note &
> fantasy collection & weller was deeply into jazz, house, soul. I was
> dragged kickin & screaming to a Jam gig in Oakland in the 70's, hated
> them, and in the early 80's someone played me "The Long Hot Summer"
> by The Style Council and I was hooked onto the entire uk "blue eyed"
> soul scene which included everyone from Style Council, Dr.Robert and
> the Blow Monkeys (who lived across the street from Madness studio and
> around the corner from my house when I moved to London in 88 after
> Bush sr entered the white house), Swing Out Sister (they were all
> such talented session musicians), Simply Red (ok dis me, but Mick
> Hucknell was/has been known to be a northern soul boy dj deeply into
> dub), Brilliant (youths attempt via Beggars) and more than I can
> remember but are all still cherished in my 80's collection.
>
> The biggest risk Weller ever took was in 1991 when, after Polydor rejected his
> house album, he appeared at the Royal Albert Hall and played an
> amazing mix of house, soul, jazz, funk and failed to satiate the
> aging mods who stood up angrily during the gig.....and were totally
> ignored as the band played on. Mick Talbot later was the genius on
> the road with Galliano..... and Weller was good mates with the
> Disciples and formed a fast friendship with Carleen Anderson who then
> did backing vocals on a few Weller tunes and at some gigs.
>
> And I even stand by his recent decision to remove himself from the
> political fray of taking any position about politics @ the mo.
>
> wendy
>
>
>
> At 7:41 pm -0800 7/2/03, BRIAN wrote:
>> Hello all,
>>
>> A Also here this week, Paul Weller on the second gig of the Illumination
>> tour. Was baffled by a note on the acid jazz list dismissing Weller as
>> simply mod and questioning his a-jazz credibility. Absolutely, unforgivably
>> ridiculous. The Style Council were at least as-IF NOT MORE-responsible for
>> creating the archetype for the sound that became acid jazz as any other
>> group in the years immediately preceding the birth of the sound. Why the
>> hell do you think Mick Talbot went on to help form Galliano and mentor the
>> Young Disciples? And Weller's songwriting has-albeit only at its best-come
>> closer to offering an Anglo counterpart to Terry Callier, Jorge Ben or
>> Marcos Valle than just about any other male vocalist/songwriter in recent
>> years. Acid jazz owes plenty to the Style Council, and I think most people
>> realize that. If they don't, they should go back and listen to the
>> catalogue again (check Universal Japan's immaculate Café Blue Café Best
>> comp). At any rate, I'm sadly too broke to catch it, but the word is that
>> he's doing Style Council and Jam songs with a band for the first time since
>> the originals.
>