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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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| The
100 Club, London, February 20th 2009 |
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| Colin
Blunstone, you may remember, was lead
singer with sixties outfit, The Zombies, whose 1968
album, the famously mis-spelt Odessey and Oracle,
is now widely regarded as a masterpiece of pop from
that decade. |
| The
band had already disbanded when it was released,
with Blunstone working in an insurance office when
the ‘phone started to ring with offers of
a solo career when ‘She’s not there’,
a single from the album, went into the top five
of the Billboard charts. He re-recorded ‘She’s
not there’ under the pseudonym of Neil MacArthur
(I have a copy somewhere on a piece of forgotten
vinyl) before embarking on a successful stint as
a solo artist with hits like ‘Caroline goodbye’
and ‘Say you don’t mind’. As his
solo career waned, Blunstone joined the Alan Parsons
Project, eventually returning to touring and recording
with fellow Zombie Rod
Argent. Along with Argent and the two other
surviving members, the Zombies (guitarist Paul Atkinson
died in 2004, and was replaced by Keith
Airey) performed their magnum opus last year
at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (spawning a
live recording) and are touring a small number of
venues later this year, presenting O & O “for
the very last time”. Perhaps buoyed by
the interest this has engendered, Blunstone is back
with a new solo album, The Ghost of You and Me,
and a short tour of the United Kingdom. |
Colin Blunstone |
There
may be a recession, but outside it’s London
on a busy Friday night. We only just managed to
get seated for our Keralan dinner (thanks heavens,
no more fish and chips for a while), and the 100
Club is pretty full. It’s a wonderfully mixed
audience. Diehard Blunstone fans (mostly female,
mostly over 55) have staked out their spots right
at the front of the stage – their partners
(mostly male, mostly bald, mostly over 60) have
got the bar under siege. But there are some families
here too (less Dads and Lads than Mums and Daughters),
and some young folks who’ve come along to
see a legend at close quarters. And it is close.
Blunstone has never played here before, and I’m
not sure how unnerved he is by the proximity of
his admires, all only an arm’s length away.
I heard him interviewed on the radio by chance and
he explained that as his dancing skills were limited
he was under orders from his family to keep his
arms by his sides and not to move under any circumstances.
This then explains the rather awkward figure he
can cut (a figure that is bulging slightly over
a tightly buttoned pair of trousers, I observe).
He certainly sounds relaxed enough when he speaks
– pleasant, in fact quite charming, and certainly
self-demeaning. |
| Predictably,
the evening mixes old material with new, most of
which manages to sound pretty much like the old
stuff, or, I was just thinking, the aural equivalent
of a comfortable pair of old bedroom slippers. And
he mixes this with a broad sweep of his back catalogue:
there’s the Zombies/MacArthur ‘She’s
not there’, and ‘Caroline goodbye’,
‘Say you don’t mind’ and ‘Misty
roses’ from his first solo album One Year.
‘What becomes of the broken hearted’
was a Zombies favourite cover, which he subsequently
recorded with Eurythmic Dave Stewart. Then there’s
a clutch of songs from his other seventies albums,
Alan Parson’s Project’s ‘Old and
wise’, ‘Turn your head around’,
recorded with Keats (a short-lived post-Parsons
venture) and Oxygen from his 1995 album Echo Bridge.
I have to say it all sounds a bit the same –
but that’s not a criticism, rather a tribute
to the impact of Blunstone’s voice, which
is so distinctive as to define almost anything he
sings. It’s not entirely flattered by the
sound system of the 100 Club, and his surprisingly
rocking band (driven on largely by the highly accomplished
Airey) mean that occasionally he has to fight to
be heard. But it’s still a masterful performance,
and seeing him work at such close quarters demonstrates
the real concentration and effort he puts into his
singing, with nothing left to chance. |
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The fans are delighted – some transfixed for
the whole performance. The guys at the bar, their
football talk occasionally hushed by the disapproving
crowd, are several pints of pretty decent beer for
the better. And the curious no doubt more than satisfied.
Personally I’d find it hard to give a Blunstone
album any room amongst my CDs or downloads, but
as a live performer he’s difficult to resist.
- Nick Morgan (concert photographs by Kate) |
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the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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