Nine
Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston,
Book by Arthur Kopit.
Directed by John Diedrich
Festival Theatre
It is now twenty five years since Federico Fellini’s 81/2 was first released. A film about a filmmaker making a film, it is bizarre, narcissistic, sexist and cinematically fearless. 81/2 remains a classic not least for the performances by Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale and Anouk Aimee.
Nine is more than fractionally different from 81/2. …
Continue Reading Back to top1998
Will Oldham
Tivoli Hotel
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
After a succession of albums as the Palace Brothers, Palace Music or just plain old Palace, Will Oldham is now travelling under his own passport. With a current CD, Joya (Shock Records) and a compilation Lost Blues and Other Songs, Oldham is presently giving us plenty of opportunity to peruse his singular talents. His music is fragile and perilous. With scraps of elliptical lyrics intoned in his high pitched, mewling …
Continue Reading Back to top1998
Teenage Fanclub
Heaven
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
Liam Gallagher has called them the second best band in the world, but don’t let that put you off. Teenage Fanclub, back again touring yet another strong new album, represent with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of talent the best of UK pop. Since their emergence as The Boy Hairdressers in Glasgow back in 1989 the re-badged Teenage Fanclub has produced a succession of highly regarded albums- from the drolly …
Continue Reading Back to top1997
Deborah Conway
Governor Hindmarsh
November, 1997.
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
The Spring 1997 performances by Deborah Conway might well be called the Great With Child Tour. Certainly, the singer- on the road with a band featuring her creative and procreative partner, Willie Zygier- is in very full bloom.
Resplendent in a spangled red dress, Conway puckers her poppy lips and rattles earrings the size of chandeliers. But there is nothing garish here. Deborah Conway is not only one of …
Continue Reading Back to top1997
Long John Baldry
Governor Hindmarsh Hotel
Adelaide
Murray Bramwell
Recently, in an interview, Long John Baldry whimsically recalled that old conundrum from the Bonzo Dog DoDah band – Can Blue Men Sing the Whites ? Hoary questions about the authenticity of the British blues seem almost laughable now. In the early sixties the blues had virtually been reborn in England- and then exported, value added, back to the US.
The Rolling Stones reaped the main rewards of course, as …
Continue Reading Back to top1997
Keb’ Mo’
Tivoli Hotel
Johnnie Johnson
Governor Hindmarsh
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
A late despatch from last month. Keb’ Mo’ – that’s Delta blues for Kevin Moore- is beaming at the stand up crowd at the Tiv. “Yo’ got yourselves a championship football team.” His drawling pentameter turns the phrase into twenty five syllables. And the Crows fans love every one of them. It has been a top weekend. Yesterday a win at the MCG and now some Sunday …
Continue Reading Back to topKeb’ Mo’ (Blues soloist)
Tivoli Hotel, Adelaide.
29 Sept. 1997.
The Blues Fall Like Rain
Keb’ Mo’ – that’s Delta blues for Kevin Moore- is beaming at the stand up crowd at Adelaide’s Tivoli Hotel. “Yo’ got yourselves a championship football team.” His drawling pentameter turns the phrase into twenty five syllables. And the Crows fans love every one of them. It has been a top weekend. Yesterday’s win at the MCG and now some Sunday night good-time blues from …
Continue Reading Back to topLeonardo’s Bride
Flinders Uni Refectory
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
It’s not very often we hear a debut album as good as Angel Blood, released earlier this year by Sydney band, Leonardo’s Bride. There is a lyrical introspection and a perky confidence about them that is reminiscent of Do Re Mi or even the Go-Betweens. There is also a sense of a group arriving on the scene, not with the usual larval potential but already formed. You know… butterfly-ready.
With both …
Continue Reading Back to top1997
Paul Kelly
with Monique Brumby
Her Majesty’s
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
A lot has happened since Paul Kelly played at Womad in February. For a start he has become a household word. When his Greatest Hits collection, Songs From the South (Mushroom/Sony) hit the stores in June, it seemed like everybody had to have one, or even two. Perched in the top five of the album charts week after week, the CD has gone gold, platinum, double platinum, cadmium. …
Continue Reading Back to topThe Mutton Birds
Cartoons Club
Dave Graney ‘n’ the Coral Snakes
Flinders Uni Refectory
Reviewed by Murray Bramwell
There are plenty of bands with unappetising names but there can be few less prepossessing than the Mutton Birds. They could have chosen something a bit more… lyrical. Even the Shearwaters sounds better. But, no. Just plain old muttons. A salty seabird and a possible sheep joke, that’s how they like it. And always have. Lead singer and principal composer, Don McGlashan …
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