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Hi, you're in the Archives, May 2008 - Part 1 |
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May
14, 2008 |
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| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan |
MICK
TAYLOR'S BLUES SUMMIT |
Mick
Taylor, Mitch Mitchell |
| Queen
Elizabeth Hall, London, May 5th 2008 |
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This
should have been a great evening.
It’s a holiday, the first
one of the year, and the weather
has been fantastic. And who wouldn’t
want to come out to see that great
blues guitarist Mick
Taylor play with a
group of musicians including Terry
Reid on guitar and vocals, the
excellent harmonica player Sugar
Blue (James Whiting), keyboard
player Max
Middleton, and drummers Collin
Allan (Stone the Crows, Zoot Money,
John Mayall etc.) and former Hendrix
mainstay Mitch
Mitchell? Starting with ‘Fed
up with the blues’ and ‘Losing
my faith’ from his second
solo album things seemed promising
enough. But as the gig continued
Taylor became increasingly disaffected,
and to be frank, apparently disinterested.
From my ringside vantage point it
appeared that the source of the
irritation was Mitch Mitchell, who
clearly doesn’t get out much,
and whose drumming was, to use a
non-technical term, “all over
the place”. Having mouthed
to Reid, “Get him off the
fucking stage” (or so it seemed
to me), |
Taylor then left himself for an
extended cigarette break, leaving
his chum Terry to hold the stage.
He did this with the verve of an
ageing music hall trooper, singing
with great gusto, but was clearly
as perplexed with events as everyone
else on the stage, except Mitchell,
who kept on coming forward to take
the microphone and tell us how happy
he was to be there. Taylor eventually
returned in a cloud of smoke and
the band stumbled on for a few more
numbers (with Mitch bashing away
in happy oblivion to the friction
he was causing), of which Bob Dylan’s
‘Blind Willie McTell’
hinted at what a great evening it
could have been. We were then treated
to an appalling encore (Ray Charles’
‘What I’d say’),
half way through which, after playing
a simply awful solo, Taylor laid
his guitar down on the stage (I
had thought he was about to plant
it on Mitchell’s head) and
left. |
I
really don’t like writing
a bad review, particularly of an
artist I admire, but you have to
tell it like it is. There’s
just no excuse for this sort of
thing. It’s unprofessional
in the extreme, and quite honestly
anyone who was there has got a right
to feel that they were severely
short-changed on the price of a
ticket. - Nick Morgan (photograph
by Kate) |
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TASTING
– FOUR IMPERIALS |
Imperial
11 yo 1996/2008 'Lime Pair' (46%,
The Nectar, Daily Dram, 303 bottles)
Colour: white wine.
Nose: a very fresh and clean whisky,
blending notes of clean grain and
mashed potatoes with rather delicate
notes of lemon pie and fresh butter.
Simple put most pleasurable, a perfect
summer malt as far as the nose is
concerned. Mouth: sweet, clean and
fruity, more on pears this time (butter
pears) with just a slight zestiness.
Pleasant oakiness coming through after
a while, that spices up the whole.
Finish: medium long, clean and fruity,
with a little pepper. Comments: this
one reminds me of some young Bladnochs
or Rosebanks. For summertime indeed.
SGP:631 – 85 points. |
Imperial
17 yo 1990/2008 (53.1%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #359) 
Colour: pale gold. Nose: This is much
oakier, almost plankish at first nosing.
Develops more nicely, on interesting
– albeit most unusual –
notes of green olives, warm butter
and vanilla. With water: the wood
comes out even more, as well as something
like lemongrass. Unusual indeed. Mouth
(Neat): much, much nicer than at first
nosing when neat. Rounded, slightly
candied and orangey, with the oak
giving the whole a good structure
here. Gets very spicy (wood). With
water: it’s at this stage that
it got really better. Orange marmalade
and quince jelly, baklavas, candy
sugar... Very enjoyable now. Finish:
long, sweet, candied, sligthly gingery.
Comments: a very good Imperial once
you went through the oak (using water).
SGP:551 – 83 points. |
| Imperial
17 yo 1990/2007 (53.9%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #353)
Colour: white wine. Nose: more austere
and restrained, much less oaky than
cask #359. Grains, ash and yellow
wild flowers. The oak comes out after
that. With water: not much changes,
maybe a little more porridge. Mouth
(neat): extremely close to cask #359,
which is normal. Maybe a tad more
lemony. With water: uber-clean now,
very fruity (tinned pineapples). Good
balance. Finish: long, clean and fruity,
with notes of pear juice and peeling.
Okay, whole pears. Comments: I like
this one a little better than cask
#359, for it’s cleaner and fruitier.
Another perfect summer malt, but not
for very hot days. SGP:642
– 84 points. |
Imperial
25 yo 1982/2008 (53.4%, Signatory,
cask #3715, refill sherry butt, 198
bottles) 
Colour: dark gold – pale amber.
Nose: quite some sherry mingling with
an elegant oakiness and again notes
of warm butter. Hints of ham and sulphur.
With water: again, it’s the
wood that mostly comes out with water.
Then caramel crème, vanilla
custard and Seville oranges. Very
nice. Mouth (neat): very sweet and
very fruity, starting all on orange
drops and grenadine as well as bubblegum
and marshmallows. Again, good oakiness
behind this exuberant sweetness. With
water: something ‘lavenderish’
comes out now. Violet sweets. A little
bizarre... Finish: medium long, on
orange marmalade and lavender sweets.
Comments: unusual change of profile
with water. I like the nose better
than the palate. SGP:441 –
80 points. |
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May
13, 2008 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan |
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|
Brixton
Academy, London
April 30th 2008 |
| It’s
the 30th April 2008, and thirty years
ago to the day some of us now gathered
here in a thinly-attended Brixton
Academy marched through the streets
of London with around 80,000 others
to Victoria Park in Hackney to inaugurate
the Rock
Against Racism movement. |
| The
famous Victoria Park gig (a Clash
classic) was celebrated at the weekend
by tens of thousands of people braving
the rain to attend a Love Music Hate
Racism Carnival, funded by (amongst
other people) Morrissey, who generously
stepped in at the last minute when
a major sponsor pulled out. Good old
Mozzer. You may recall RAR was inspired
by a letter written to the New Musical
Express and other papers complaining
of Eric Clapton’s racist remarks
made at a concert in Birmingham in
1976, ending with the famous postscript,
“Who shot the Sheriff Eric?
It sure as hell wasn’t you”.
A second march was held in Manchester,
with a concert headlined by the Buzzcocks
and Graham Parker (sadly our coach
dropped us off next to a too-tempting
Boddington’s pub next to the
now sadly defunct Strangeways Brewery,
so we missed the walking but managed
to get a cab to the gig). And the
rest, as they say, is history. But
tomorrow sees a nationwide election
for local government in England and
Wales, and a vote for the Mayor of
London, so this celebration of the
past is fused with thoughts for the
future. |
Tony Benn |
The
political bit saw a variety of speakers
brought to the microphone by MC Tom
Robinson to preach, largely if
not exclusively to the already converted
(and highly committed) about the dangers
of the extreme right. We heard various
trades union leaders, and Red Saunders,
the man who wrote that now famous
letter. But pick of the pack was veteran
campaigner, former Labour MP and Cabinet
Minister, Tony Benn. He’s getting
on a bit, and it’s perhaps not
surprising that most of his remarks
were framed in the context of his
grandchildren and his hopes for their
future and the world they would live
in. But his eyesight must be failing
him. Why else would he have ended
his speech “I have faith in
you, the younger generation, to make
this world a better place to live
in” when the average age of
the audience was 47? The speeches
came as the stage was being reset
for each band (“I’m only
on between two turns” said Benn)
– as some of them went on for
slightly longer than planned, the
musical element of the evening was
somewhat compressed. |
| It
began with Thirst,
a Brixton band championed by Robinson
on his new music radio
show, and signed by Ronnie Wood
to his Wooden
Records. It’s frenetic guitar-driven
stuff, a bit noisy and badly mixed,
but with bags of energy (as they used
to say back in 1976). And they do
sound interesting on disc, or rather
digital. They were followed by the
Levellers, who if you don’t
know are a rather dated and crusty
folk-roots punk rock band with a drizzle
of political attitude – a bit
like the Saw Doctors with a dash of
Das Kapital, or an agit-prop Status
Quo. And they’ve got the mad
bloke with the kilt and didgeridoo.
The name of course refers to the Levellers
of the English Civil War, largely
“the better class of person”
who were campaigning for greater property
and political rights for the middle-classes,
but whose ‘radicalism’
was kidnapped during the twentieth
century by a procession of left-wing
historians, most notably Christopher
Hill. But hang on, you knew all of
that stuff, didn’t you? The
music, very festival, very bouncy,
and sadly a bit lost in a half-empty
Brixton. |
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The
Levellers |
Walford Tyson |
Misty
in Roots date back to the mid
seventies, one of the great pioneers
of British reggae, along with ASWAD
and Steel Pulse. They were strongly
associated with the RAR movement and
also closely linked to the Ruts. But
whatever the band’s pedigree,
reggae can be a bit pedestrian, particularly
in a formal theatre setting. Not a
bit of it with Misty in Roots, fronted
by vocalist Walford Tyson, who managed
to fill a very large stage, backed
by very tight band and featuring some
excellent and imaginative brass arrangements.
Their songs were a mixture of African
roots, like ‘Musi-O-Tunya’,
inspired by an extensive stay the
band made in Zimbabwe and Zambia,
and pointed political comment, like
‘Cover up’, an indictment
of institutional racism. It’s
very, very, good stuff indeed. But
they were brought to an end abruptly,
as the stage was readied for the Alabama
3, political campaigners Non Plus
Ultra. They began with ‘Mao
Tse Tung’, vocals by D Wayne
Love, and then singers Larry Love
and Devlin Love took the stage for
‘All night long’ from
the recent MOR album. Love (Larry)
had problems with his microphone for
the first four songs or so (almost
half of the set), and the sound was
something of a mess throughout. It
couldn’t even be fully retrieved
by the appearance of Mr Segs on bass.
Moreover I have to observe that Mr
Love (Larry), what with his new hair
cut and all, looked as though he’d
been overdoing it somewhat. If I was
his mother I might be worried. And
the set was clearly rushed as the
band played against the clock. So
sadly not the A3’s greatest
moment. Not really their fault. |
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Alabama
3 |
| Nor
perhaps was it Hope Not Hate’s.
For the record, for all the sermonising,
the following day the Labour Party
was trounced in the elections, the
extreme right British National Party
gained a seat at the London Assembly
(won in Patriot Billy Bragg’s
parish) and Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone
was ousted by Tory Boris Johnson.
It just goes to show that unlike Moses
you can’t always turn the tide.
But we enjoyed the music – particularly
the wonderful Misty in Roots. -
Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate) |
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TASTING
– TWO OFFICIAL BALVENIES |
Balvenie
12 yo 'Signature' (40%, OB, batch
#001, 2008) 
A new limited release blending first
fill bourbon, refill and sherry casks.
Colour: full gold. Nose: rich, rounded,
almost exuberant at first nosing,
all on very ripe apricots, sultanas,
bananas flambéed and vanilla
custard and going on with the same
aromas. The sherry is discrete, that
is... Not very complicated but extremely
appealing, even sexy. Perfect balance.
Mouth: maybe just a tad weakish at
the very beginning of the attack (the
40%...) but the whisky is very ‘substantial’
so no big deal here. Develops all
on toffee (more sherry influence on
the palate than on the nose), orange
marmalade, bergamot (or earl grey
tea), quince jelly and vanilla fudge.
Very voluptuous but certainly not
lumpish or cloying. Finish: a bit
short, alas, but very clean and candied.
Comments: well, I hope there’s
a version at 43% as well out there.
Excellent work by the blenders anyways,
and a version that’s much more
appealing than the roasted/toasted/finished
young Balvenies I think. SGP:551
– 88 points. |
Balvenie
31 yo 1973/2004 (49.7%, OB, cask #9214,
213 bottles) 
This older one from a first fill bourbon
barrel. Colour: pale gold. Nose: extremely
typical of the bourbon Balvenies from
the early 1970’s. Loads of ripe
apricots and vanilla crème,
‘pale’ sultanas, high-end
orange marmalade, quince jelly, then
hints of wood smoke, pine resin, eucalyptus...
All that is quite subtle and truly
superb. Unusual meatiness (ham), hints
of tinned pineapples, newly opened
pack of butterscotch... And a perfect
oak that gives the whole a superb
backbone. Classic old Balvenie, true
to its style. Mouth: exceptional creaminess
– you almost need a spoon to
get it out of your glass – and
a perfect mix of dried bananas and
pears, apricot pie, vanilla, figs,
cough syrup and various spices (cloves
ahead). And again, a perfect oak.
Finish: long, with the oak taking
control, as well as notes of cardamom
and coriander. Rather big peppery
aftertaste, with something pleasantly
prickly. Comments: good good good.
And classic. SGP:651 –
91 points. |
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May
12, 2008 |
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TASTING
– TWO YOUNG TALISKERS |
| Isle
of Skye 13 yo 1992/2005 (55.3%, The
Whisky Chamber, cask #3196, 312 bottles,
50cl)
A small German bottler. Colour: white
wine – straw. Nose: far from
a peaty and peppery blast, rather
someting porridgy, yoghurty and lemony,
even if the peatiness does slowly
arise after a while. Not much dimension,
but water should help here. With water:
well, water closed it down. Lemon-sprinkled
porridge. Mouth (neat): this one starts
much better on the palate than on
the nose. Probably a tad simple but
beautifully sharp and lemony, hyper-zesty
and candied. Peated lemon pie? With
water: rounder, creamier, candied,
orangey and very, very drinkable.
Simplicity at its best on the palate.
Finish: rather long, more ‘Talisker’
now, with the pepper starting to strike
once you’ve swallowed everything.
Comments: huge contrast between a
discrete nose and a rather demonstrative
palate. Good anyway. SGP:246
– 86 points. |
| Talisker
'57° North' (57%, OB, 2008, 1
litre)
A recent version for duty free shops
only, that one can find in several
Internet shops as well, as often with
‘interesting’ new bottlings.
Colour: full gold. Nose: it is a bigger
whisky indeed, but it’s still
no wham-bam Talisker at first nosing.
The good news is that things keep
improving after a good fifteen seconds,
with kind of a lemony peatiness growing
bigger and bigger. Little pepper,
that is. With water: it got sharper
and more lemony, mineral, flinty,
peppery, with maybe just hints of
seaweed (ah, advertising!) Mouth (neat):
really thick, creamy, it makes me
think of something like peppered lemon
tree honey mixed with kumquats (sorry
if you’re fed up with my crappy
culinary analogies.) Directly enjoyable.
With water: the pepper strikes earlier
than in the 1992! Big, big peppery
blast that almost kills all other
flavours. Finish: long and, you guessed
it, very peppery. Comments: a two-faced
Talisker, rather rounded and relatively
gentle when naked but almost monstrous
when watered down. Two whiskies for
the price of one, why would we complain?
SGP:357 – 88 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended listening.
Are ethics always other people's ethics?
The free thinking Leo
Ferré gives the
answer in his famous Préface.mp3.
Early slam? Please buy the great Léo's
music and poetry. |
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May
11, 2008 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
EDWYN COLLINS
Shepherds Bush Empire, London, April
29th 2008 |
| Edwyn
Collins is famous for
a number of things: that voice, one
of the most strangely soulful in British
music; a sometime questionable taste
in haircuts and knitwear (and I’m
not sure about the mustard coloured
shoes he’s sporting tonight);
being at the forefront of the musical
renaissance that sprung out of Glasgow
in 1980 with Orange Juice and Postcard
Records; his 1994 global hit single
‘A girl like you’; and
the fact that in February 2005 he
suffered two brain haemorrhages, underwent
major surgery and emerged alive, but
speechless and without the use of
much of his right side. And thinking
about it, he should also be famous
for the fact that just over three
years on he’s here on the stage
at the Shepherds Bush Empire, playing
with his band to a sadly only half-full
house of very loving fans. If the
rest have written him off then they’ve
made a big mistake. |
| Since
his illness, Collins has released
a new album (that he’d just
finished recording before his two
strokes) and last year performed a
handful of gigs in London. Now he’s
back on a short UK tour. He’s
worked hard to get back the power
of speech, and the ability to sing.
His voice still with that unique resonating
bassano boom but when he speaks he’s
slower and more deliberate than his
former eloquent self. But he has a
lot to say – telling us about
the strokes, about learning to sing
again, about trying to remember his
songs – all of which is punctuated
by an infectious deep laughter. |
Dave Ruffy and Edwyn Collins
|
| And
when he does sing it’s the same
Edwyn Collins voice, sometimes a little
flat (but wasn’t he always?)
and occasionally hesitant over some
of the more complex lyrics. Apart
from that it’s the real thing
– no sympathy votes here at
all, please. And behind him is a band
that will not let him fail. Unless
I’m mistaken, it includes Dave
Ruffy (ex Ruts) on the drums, Andy
Hackett (as well known for selling
guitars as playing them) on guitar,
Carwyn Ellis on bass, Sean Read on
keyboards (both long-time Collins
collaborators), and fronting the outfit
Roddy
Frame on electric and acoustic
guitars and banjo. Frame and Collins
are very close and old friends, but
even so Frame excels himself in everything
he does – I’ve rarely
seen a guitarist play through a set
like he does. |
|
Roddy
Frame and Edwyn Collins |
|
The set begins with ‘Falling
and laughing’, ‘Poor old
soul’ and ‘What presence’,
a trio of Orange Juice heavyweights,
before turning to Collins’ solo
work with songs from the new album,
‘Home again’, One is a
lonely number’, ‘You’ll
never know (my love)’ (with
guest vocals from Luca Santucci),
‘One track mind’ with
older tunes like ‘Make me feel
again’ and ‘The Wheels
of love’. We got, of course
‘Rip it up’, and the set
ended with a rampant ‘A girl
like you’ with a simply stunning
Frame solo. The band promptly left
the stage, leaving Collins with his
audience. Slowly and deliberately,
with the help of his wife, Grace,
he made his way off to the right of
the stage, pausing just once to look
back. Of course there’s an encore,
Collins with Frame on guitar singing
a new composition, ‘Searching
for the truth’, which could
have had everyone in tears, and then
with the band ‘Blue boy’
and finally ‘Don’t shilly
shally’. But before that final
song, the crowd are shouting and one
voice catches Collin’s attention.
He looks earnest, frustrated –
“I’m sorry. I’m
really sorry, but I don’t remember
that song. It’s so difficult
for me to remember …”
It’s a painful narrative which
earns a huge ovation, at the end of
which Frame menacingly leans forward
searching for the voice in the crowd
– “That’ll teach
you to ask for a song, you heartless
bastard”. |
| But
like everything else it’s good
humoured, and what couldn’t
be when Collins’ mischievous
laughter drives the set on? So, alone
on stage, he again makes that difficult
walk, arm in arm with his wife, and
again stops and turns to look back,
almost quizzically, at the cheering
crowd. That’s one rock and roll
picture I’ll remember for ever.
- Nick Morgan (photographs by
Kate) |
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TASTING
THREE MACDUFFS |
Macduff
17 yo 1990/2008 (57.8%, James MacArthur,
sherry, cask #1418) 
Colour: white wine – straw.
Nose: cheese galore! And yoghurt,
muesli, porridge... Doesn’t
quite smells like gym socks but...
After all, some may like this kind
of profile, but I’m afraid I
don’t. With water: cooked cabbage
and asparagus, then plain cheese again
(Stilton?). Probably flawed. Mouth
(neat): sugary and then twisted. No
more cheese, rather ‘old porridge’
and grapefruits. Drinkable but barely...
With water: okay-ish now, on orange
drops. Finish: rather long, cleaner
and sweeter. Oranges. Comments: bacteriologic?
An exception within James MacArthur’s
latest range, which we find globally
very good. SGP:331
(no indices for cheesiness, sorry)
– 55 points. |
| Macduff
34 yo 1974/2008 (59.4%, Villa Konthor
Limburg)
Colour: gold. Nose: much less expressive
than the 1990 but that’s rather
good news. Takes off slowly, on oranges
and ginger tonic, grass, wet wood
and vanilla, but water may be needed.
So, with water: now we have hyper-heavy
whiffs of fresh mint and lemon balm.
Very nice! Mouth (neat): sweet, very
nervous, extremely lemony, grassy
and resinous. Lemon zests, lime, mint,
sorrel... Then oak and pepper, cloves...
Big zing at 34 years of age. With
water: amazing how it got hugely drinkable
now, on all sorts of herb liqueurs
(Bénédictine, Chartreuse,
Verveine) and even something that
reminds me a of good mojito. Finish:
rather long, clean, balanced, zesty.
Comments: another oldie that needs
water, but then it gets pretty beautiful.
Unusual zestiness at 34 years old.
SGP:451 – 86 points. |
| Macduff
38 yo 1967/2005 (50.8%, Jack Wieber,
Old Train, cask #619, 204 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: this one comes
from another world, full of oranges,
milk chocolate, quinces, ripe mangos
and even pomegranates. Then we have
Havana smoke, wood smoke, dried mushrooms,
old Parma ham, leather... Very complex
yet ‘full’, rather entrancing.
And the whiffs of old rancio and very
old cognac are beautiful as well.
An exceptional nose, let’s not
take chances with water. Mouth: the
most balanced of sherried whiskies,
dry and flavourful at the same time.
All things orangey first, then walnuts
and cigar tobacco, morels (yummie),
strong black tea... Gets then more
citrusy (more oranges, lemons) and
finally frankly fruity (ripe strawberries).
Quite some oak ‘of course’
but it’s constantly an asset
here. Finish: not too long and drier
at this point (grape skin, old armagnac.)
Comments: a tireless old Macduff with
something ‘antique’ but
also an excellent freshness. SGP:354
– 91 points. |
| |
May
10, 2008 |
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FEIS
ISLE 2008: TWO NEW SINGLE CASKS |
Right: Port Ellen 1981 'Feis
Isle 2008':
the first-ever official single
cask bottling,
25 years after the closure. |
| After
Laphroaig who fired first with their
'Cairdeas' (which is already for sale
on the distillery's website), it's
Diageo who announces not one, but
two 'Feis Isle Special' bottlings,
namely a Lagavulin 1993 Single Cask
like last year (picture, left), fairly
priced at £59, and a first,
a Port Ellen 1981, single cask as
well, priced at £99.99. Hope
they'll have 1 penny change at Caol
Ila, where it'll be available in exclusivity
on May 26 - (not at the Maltings.)
There will be only +/- 200 bottles
of the PE. |
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TASTING
– TWO 1965 TOMATINS BY DUNCAN
TAYLOR |
| Tomatin
41 yo 1965/2006 (45.9%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #1904, 181 bottles)
Another two fruitbombs? Let’s
see... Colour: gold. Nose: well, it’s
well creamy, soft and fruity as expected,
albeit not quite exuberant. Quinces
and oranges, kumquats, vanilla crème,
bananas (not big bananas)... All that
coated with subtle notes of nutmeg
and a little cinnamon. Excellent freshness
considering its age. Mouth: sweet
and fruity attack, quite soft, on
orange drops and tinned pineapples.
The oak and its spicy cortege strikes
second, making the whole rather drier.
Strong tea and grape pips. Finish:
rather long but maybe a tad too drying
now. Quite some cloves. Comments:
a very good old Tomatin, especially
on the nose, but maybe it was better
a few years ago. Maybe the spirit
isn’t big enough to stand a
rather active cask for so long. SGP:450
– 84 points. |
| Tomatin
42 yo 1965/2008 (52.1%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #20942, 211 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: this cask is quite
different, staring more austerely,
on whiffs of fresh mint and apple
juice, but growing bigger and bigger
over time. Acacia honey, apricots,
quinces, oranges, hints of bergamot...
All that is very subtle, very elegant.
Rather big notes of eucalyptus after
a moment, that is, and pine resin.
A very complex old Tomatin. Mouth:
bolder and punchier than cask #1904,
with a spirit that seems to better
stand the rather big oakiness. Many
fruits (please see above) and quite
some spices. Excellent notes of ‘clean’
gi | | | | |
