On 18th December 2004 at 12:50 Anonymous 1200 wrote...
That's weird, how come this review never made it onto the front page? Must be a multiple review thing.
Anyway, cheers Annalee, you goddamn fox. You can hold my hand anytime.
Angelo Palladino
Live at Mixing Tin on Sunday, 5th December 2004
Sometimes Annalee would venture into town to see live music in venues she'd never been to before...
Time to reassess? Let's not go there. Let's go here instead. And, yeah - no; I'm not a big fan of Mixing Tin - the 'Loft' floor should be laid at an angle -it just looks long and thin - stretching it. The sponsored back-drop designates the performance area, but why the Bacardi spiel? Huh? I used to work with a Cuban guy... he sent money home to his folks from a glass-collecting job in a crappy town bar. The guy worked his groovy "boxer piano playing cool as fuck dancing black market" arse off to send his mother thirty pounds a week. Needless to say he never drank Bacardi. Habana please... Seven Year or Anejo if you got it - with lots of lime. But tonight is busy. The sofas are full and the barstools loaded. The far end is set up with P.A. and a solitary guitar. The wine is expensive, but the admission price was low so it kinda balances out - we get over it, and order a big ones. The fact that live music has been foregrounded here is good enough for us.
This is not contemporary rock 'n' roll -the NME crowd are no doubt washing their hair for corporate duties tomorrow. Good luck. I'm expecting a call in the morning regarding my electricity/gas/phone/credit card bill. Get some sleep love, you'll need it. For those about to diet, we salute you. Et cetera. Now bring on the circus.
Curious to observe - I do believe I wrote of a Jon Gomm some time before. However, that talented young man resides in the archives. Onwards! Tonight is this Jon Gomm's first of six, monthly, residencies here, (otherwise playing across Britain on a weekly basis). Taking the reins from Mr Brendan Croker, he is a veritable host. 'Stupid Blues' is anything but and his brief homage to Danny Ash after advising us to hold hands is outstanding (except, of course, I am sat down). 'Clockwork', from the 'Hypertension' CD, is, of course, delivered with utmost precision and effort.
The guitar is still a versatile instrument, now made obvious, and Gomm's interpretation, utilising a briccolage of techniques from Classical, Jazz, Spanish and Rock, with extraneous pedals augmenting his own three-armed playing style (lead, bass and drums), is exemplary. His episodes of love and passion (a preconception/free-form narrative dialectic) are performed with sweat and etiquette, Miles Davis expletives aimed in no particular direction and a focus Yoda himself would be proud of. Gomm, indeed, plucks that guitar like a harp, crossing his arms at will; the bastard son of Steve Vai and Davy Graham. What's not to like? The cover of 'High and Dry' is funding Thom Yorke's Hob-Nob addiction, and is rather distinctive... waking the blonde on the sofa. A broken banjo peg hinders him not; you'd have to break one of his fingers to get him to sound like any other guitar player...
An opportunity to think outwards, instead of feigning a complicit façade - No pause. Angelo is something of a wild card. Cigarette-voiced he launches into a song 'hopefully' written by Keith Richards - 'Play with Fire' - His staccato guitar, a blatant antithesis to Gomm's warm delay and fuzz driven ensemble, is tight, tight, tight; and his slightly twisted delivery - worldly and off-centre, is charismatic.
Are all the successful one's bastards? I think so. For all the posturing of lime-lit fair-trade pushing personas, it's that purity of egocentricity that spreads the genes; that touch of complete self-centredness, oft captured in song. And seeing now that social and party politics are dead (well, a little bit unwell), only the personal seems to remain, which is why solo songwriters are so damn important.
(Observe, for example (though I believe I could cite many, many, other similar voices), the Kaiser Chiefs' interview in Vibrations - "you have to be careful when you're small not to be too outspoken politically" - really boys, the 'Man' simply wants you to create a return for his investment of capital. Say whatever you want. Sell your product. Tour. Get laid. Then cry when you find no-one cares about your apathy - is not creativity a political act, whether as a reflection and/or representation?).
Even The Gang of Four reform for gigs.
No. Angelo Does much more than sit with a fencing-post up his arse. His 'Reckless Road' - an harmonica driven workhouse fable, is telling - and 'Two Crows' - with its tale of resurrection and dead carrion birds is grimly poignant. A song for black-clad lovers if ever there was one. (Sadly, I regret that we will probably not, and idiots will. However, I promise to be always polite to them... to a certain degree at least.)
Whether he has heard of Depeche Mode or not, (he states he has heard not the original), his cover of Johnny Cash's 'Personal Jesus' is either an idiot savant act of mimetic brilliance, or a proper good song done good. I'm happy with either interpretation; playful polythemic and self-referential/reverential interpretation is one of few head-joys left, considering our oh-so-limited focus options.
He relaxes with his honesty and installs a continuing sense of purpose. 'Far Away Town' is touching - 'I'm gonna take my beat-up Fender and my cat, and drive all day to a town called Faraway' - (It's the 'all day' thing that gets me. Anyone can be a romantic in the dark). Otherwise, the couple with the matching tattoo (remember that?) remain, smouldering, in the embers. Chet Baker and 'Midnight', and the Mariachi song about Mexican Heroin, steer us into our brief sojourn to the bar. Rah-rah. Drug of Choice.
Knowing that visualising a couplet was always a prime factor - the third set is Jon Gomm and Angelo jamming together; 'Superstition'; 'Mystery Train'; 'Waiting in Vain', and 'I Just Wanna Make Love to You'. All good. Not perfect but a unique synthesis. Angelo ends the night with an homage to Lonnie Donnegan -and why not? Observe Paladino's skiffle influenced strumming - you couldn't fake it in a weekend. Both performers adhere to their own personal techniques. No sell out. No cheap soap-boxing. Or soap-dodging. Or soap opera. A lot of talent. I whet and I dry my eyes. I smile, I laugh and I stay until the end.
Don't tell anybody. Let them find out for themselves...
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On 18th December 2004 at 12:54 Dave LMS wrote...
That's right. The front page "list" de-duplicates, with the first posting taking precedence.
Jon Gomm
Singer-songwriter and virtuoso guitarist, described by Acoustic Magazine as "One of the world's most successful, gifted and inspirational guitar players"