A busy week with two shows scheduled, two late nights out and too little sleep. The first night was spent at the Bluebird Theater with the Overcasters and Peter Hook and the Light.
The Overcasters started off the show, just as good as I remembered them a short while ago at the Hi-Dive. The Westword review said this about their performance:
Overcasters were clearly from the same lineage as Joy Division, especially through the post-punk bands with more creative guitar ideas in the early to late '80s, but with more psychedelic edges. While not short on brooding atmospheres, such as in "The Kiss of Sister Ray," Overcasters once again exorcised melancholy feelings by making its songs burn through the dead weight of a heavy heart rather than dwell on getting stuck in low points. Guitarist John Nichols often had a look of concerned bewilderment, as though he'd just realized his power as a musician for the first time. The set ended with a newer number where the dynamics are centered around the release of tension after a dense and insistent percussion build.
The Joy Division co-founder and former New Order bassist, Peter Hook, came to Denver with his new band the Light to perform the Joy Division first album Unknown Pleasures in its entirety.
It was said about their performance:
Peter Hook & the Light came on stage after an introduction in the form of "Trans-Europe Express," by Kraftwerk. With little in the way of further introduction, the band went straight into the driving "No Love Lost," and from the beginning, those guys erased any ideas that this show might not be up to snuff. "Leaders of Men," "Glass" and "Digital" followed in quick succession, and Hook, while not possessing a voice with the same character as Ian Curtis, pulled off the nuances of the vocals that did justice to the spirit of the original songs.
Hook and the band played Unknown Pleasures straight through -- starting, of course, with "Disorder," and for a second it seemed so odd, like actually getting to see a latter-day incarnation of Joy Division. This was partly because guitarist Nat Wason really did have his parts down, and he played with a precision and intensity that was at times unnerving -- because even when he did depart from the original songs in any way, he seemed to do so with a perfect understanding of the essence of the song and interpreted what needed to be done, like he was somehow channeling a young Bernard Sumner. The absolute master of his instrument was consistently awe-inspiring, because he absolutely, truly seemed to be infused with the spirit of what Joy Division was all about.
More work on the bathromm, but I have crossed a threshold, where I now beging reassembling what I have removed. Following the installation of the "granite" bathroom countertop on Friday, the big job this weekend was putting up new wallpaper, a slow and tedious job. Being a geologist, I was instantly drawn to this variety of stone, a boldly colored pegmatite with large crystals of feldspar in a matrix of biotite, horneblende and kyanite. Matches beautifully, being a bridge betwen the tile and wallpaper.
Sunday night was spent my sunset overlook, with sweeping views of the Front Range.
Anger deep inside
Lash out at all in his way
Struck by moon madness
They can't stop talking
Every sentence starts with "me"
So into themselves
Up there on the stage
Hearing their sweet nothings
Listen to their lies
Not for you and me
Loyalty to the party
Their panic attack
Friday night began with a short collectioin of songs by Morphine, KCRW's Live Morning Becomes Eclectic, Los Angles CA on March 28, 1995. I'm really beginng to like their very unique sound.
The Joy Division performed at the Bowdon Vale Youth Club on March 14, 1979. I chose this live show in anticipation of seeing Peter Hook, bass player for Joy Division, this coming Monday night perform their very first album, Unknown Pleasures.
Nirvana closed down Friday night, a live show of theirs performed at the Hollywood Underground in Seattle, WA on September 28, 1988. Always a pleasure to listen to their early music.
Only one show needed Saturday night, Echo and The Bunnymen perform their first two albums back to back, Crocodiles and Heaven Up Here at the O2 Academy in Oxford, UK on December 16, 2010. An excellent recording of a really well done show, the band sounding really tight, Mac's voice is wonderful. It put me right back in the UK for the three shows I attended in London and Liverpool right afterwards.
This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of 9/11, this century’s Pearl Harbor like event for the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, that some longed for. But alas many died on that day and many more were to die in the years to follow, the product of right-wing chicken-hawks, men who never saw its horrors but are intoxicated with the idea of war. The job is botched, the world is an even more dangerous place than before and the coconspirators run free while people continue to die. The dead weigh upon my mind.
But in the meantime, work continues on the bathroom, monopolizing another weekend. Regrouting shower stall walls, some painting and putting up trim and floor boards. Slow but steady progress continues to be made, although we are third of the way through September and I should be farther along. What is encouraging is that I’ve reached the stage where it is time to begin putting things back together again.
A fragile divide
The fine line within our hearts
Kindness and contempt
A floodgate opens
Waves carry the love away
Awash in their grief
First up was Wire, playing their first album Pink Flag, released in December 1977. They are described as such:
Wire are a punk/alternative rock band which formed in London, England in 1976. The band initially consisted of Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar), and Robert Gotobed (drums). The band split in 1980, but reunited in 1985 and released six further albums before disbanding in 1992. The band reunited once more in 1999 and has remained active sporadically since.
They were originally associated with the punk rock scene and were later central to the development of post-punk. The band, which gained a reputation for experimenting with song arrangements throughout its career, exhibited a steady development from an early raucous punk style to a more complex, structured sound involving increased use of guitar effects and synthesizers. Critic Stewart Mason writes, “Over their brilliant first three albums, Wire expanded the sonic boundaries of not just punk, but rock music in general.”
Mourn the innocent
Having forgot the guilty
They go unpunished
Plans set in motion
Leaping from a flaming death
Send our boots marching
Fan the nations fears
Their slingshot of aggression
Osama has won
Hurtling downward
Dust clouds spread waves of darkness
That no sun can pierce
A couple weeks ago I was driving over the mountains with a coworker who turned me onto a band I had never heard of before, Morphine. The second show this Friday night was Morphine performing live at the Fox Theater, here in Boulder, Colorado on May 15, 1994. I loved the whole arrangement: Mark Sandman's voice, lyrics and guitar playing, complemented by Dana Colley's saxaphone. I also enjoyed Mark's rapport with the audience too. Excellent soundboard recording, yielding a super show!
They are described as:
Morphine was an American alternative rock group formed by Mark Sandman and Dana Colley in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1989. Sandman and Colley added drummer Jerome Dupree to complete the lineup. After the release of Good, their debut album, Dupree left the band and was replaced by Billy Conway They disbanded in 1999 after frontman Sandman died of a heart attack.
Morphine combined blues and jazz elements with more traditional rock arrangements, giving the band a very unusual sound. Sandman's distinctive singing was described as a "deep, laid-back croon"and his songwriting featured a prominent beat influence. When asked by reporters to describe their music, the band created the label "low rock". One critical appraisal suggests that "Morphine immediately established a minimalist, low-end sound that could have easily become a gimmick: a 'power trio' not built around the sound of an electric guitar. Instead, with sly intelligence, Morphine expanded its offbeat vocabulary on each album."
Although Morphine was critically lauded throughout their career, it is difficult to measure their success commercially. In the United States the band was embraced and promoted by the indie rock community, including public and college radio stations and MTV's 120 Minutes (which the band once guest-hosted), but received little support from commercial rock radio and other music television programs. This limited their mainstream exposure and success in their home country, while internationally they enjoyed mainstream success and support, especially in Belgium, Portugal, France and Australia.
A war without end
Draining the nations coffers
Profit for others
Atop the tower
Face the inevitable
Make a leap of faith
The criminals plot
Our lives are no consequence
In their worldly games
Falling through the sky
Over the river and cross
to the other side
Final cigarette
Crushed in airports parking lot
Boards flight ninety-three
Lost reality
Ears filled with the magic sound
Eyes closed and dreaming
Saturday night started off with Television, performing live at My Father's Place on Long Island, New York on March 20, 1978. God, had I known about this music when I was so much younger I could have easily seen them while in New York at the time. Oh, all the things I missed out on, but I'm trying to make up for it with my virtual concerts here in the backyard.
Saturday night ended late into Sunday morning listening to Echo & The Bunnymen perform at the Rockpalast in Bochun Zeche, Germany on March 5, 1983. A long time ago I listened to this same show, but that recording was only about half the show. This one tonight was the whole show from beginning to end. Love this excellent recording, the band performing the best from their first three albums.
A full moon hung in the cloudless sky above on this cool Septemeber evening.
