1999

Tuesday, 11 pm.

Faithless

Heaven

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

UK composite, Faithless has been gaining ground for about three years now. From the debut single, Salvea Mea to their album success, Reverence , the band has been getting regular airplay and recognition for their cross-over success. For cross-over success, read mainstream. Which is why even a stranger to Clubland such as I, might have stumbled over the techno energies and quirky lyrics of their single, Insomnia. And also …

1999

The Dave Graney Show

Flinders Uni Tavern

December, 1998

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Is this Dave Graney ? Sans purple safari suit ?  Sans mohair trilby ? Sans that killer band the Coral Snakes ? Well… yes. It is a time of change for the former, self-anointed King of Pop, and a testing time at that. Dave Graney is making some career moves and it is important that he gets them right. Important for him. And, as admirers of …

1996

The Sex Pistols

with Skunk Anansie

Thebarton Theatre

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

In 1975 the Sex Pistols proved you could sell anything. Now, with their Filthy Lucre Tour they are proving that you can sell anything  twice. Never has a band been surrounded by such legend. Despite their best efforts not even Oasis can generate the tabloid loathing and fan fascination that, in their heyday, the Pistols engendered with their chaotic, apparently inept, anti-sound. They are the apotheosis of …

Mental as Anything
Flinders University Tavern

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

The Mentals have turned twenty-one and a right old pub crawl of passage it has been. From their nippy beginnings playing on top of a pool table in the Unicorn hotel in Paddington to their current chic in the art scene they have, you might say, done things their way. Even though they were part of an amazing profusion of local bands which included The Sports, Jo Jo Zep, the …

1998

Bob Dylan (with Patti Smith)

Entertainment Centre

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Last time Bob Dylan visited our part of the planet he had Bonnie Raitt on the bill. Patti Smith is more of a statement. Or, at least she makes it so. In skinny jeans, a crumpled orange top and a shapeless black jacket Smith coils around the microphone stand and opens with People Have the Power– Elephants Memory-style agitprop from her Dream of Life album.

The Widow …

1998

Neil Finn

Thebarton Theatre

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

Split Enz was a highly accomplished cubist band with wonky costumes and a repertoire of angular, elliptical songs when lead singer Tim Finn sent back to Te Awamutu for his younger brother. Enter Kid Eager. Neil Finn. With the sublime melody and harmonies ofI Got You, he showed Split Enz their true colours and propelled them into the Top Ten.

And Neil Finn just kept on going. After the Enz; …

1998

Arlo Guthrie

Norwood Concert Hall

Reviewed by Murray Bramwell

You can get anything you want-  at Alice’s Restaurant. Just walk right in. It’s around the back, just half a mile from the railway track. When I first read, in1967, in Sing Out, the folkie equivalent of Burke’s Peerage, that Arlo Guthrie, the son of the legendary Woody Guthrie, had just created a sensation at the Newport Folk Festival with a twenty minute song called Alice’s Restaurant, I …

1998

Adelaide Entertainment Centre

15 April, 19998.

Murray Bramwell

When Kenny Rogers last toured, ten years ago, he performed with Dolly Parton. Which sure proves that he’s not afraid of a bit of competition. This time, opening his Australian tour in Adelaide, he shares the stage with yet another country pop luminary, Reba McEntire-  and it is not hard to see why, between them, they have sold 120 million albums. The Kenny and Reba show has it all. It looks …

1998

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 …