Live

Rip It Up, Issue 106, 1 May 1986, Page 25

Live

Five Band Soul Revue Galaxy, Saturday May 10. On the Saturday, the five bands became four — Soul Train were unable to appear and Koo Chi Koo opened the evening. “Soul” gives license to quote favourite tracks and escape the flak usually reserved for covers bands, which can make it difficult to assess the real character of someone like Koo Chi Koo. Their dance originals were good and they seemed to enjoy performing the slower ballads. Their too-short set (five songs) closed with a triumphant bang; I'd like to see them with a longer set and more originals before saying more. : Seven Deadly Sins have a good high profile in Auckland as well as the technical ability to open with Isaac Hayes' Shaft theme. The fact that they didn't have quite the oomph to take the instrumental anywhere was forgotten when Fiona McDonald opened her mouth and gave the evening’s best vocal everything she had. And she had

a lot; too much, maybe, for the other vocalist, Manu McCarthy, who relied more on energy and stage presence. Seven Deadly Sins have two good vocalists and an excellent horn section, so the trick now is to ensure they don't have to.carry the songs and the rest of the group. S | thought the Right Track were sounding very Wilson Pickett and then they did ‘ln the Midnight Hour; which just goes to show you how many copies of The Exciting Wilson Pickett are around, yes? | say this because | don't have the patience to banter about historical facts; what | (and everybody else, apparently) enjoyed was the Right Track's rough edge and dance-pace. No one in the band apparently cares that this is 1986, but a warning to those about to record — your own opinions do come in handy. Martin Henley was in fine voice and the band had a tight style. Now let's hear something old and new, and don't let the horns take the lead when they can't hit the notes. OQuch.

The Electric Company’s link with soul is via jazz/funk at the very most. They should realise that the word “group” is no idle label, eight individuals scrapping amongst themselves for the lead instrumentals did not benefit the songs, which were saved only by four single-minded horn players. [ had a train to catch and left early; I suspect they would have had just as much fun by themselves anyway. :

That's not a criticism at all, but it does show what the word “Soul” gives people an excuse to indulge. It may be a period in history remembered with a misleading fondness, while to others it means anything with more than four members and a brass section. Fi-

ona McDonald took on a Rufus and Chaka Khan cover and won, yet two years after Chaka made her electro-funk /. Feel For You.

Definitely an excuse for a good time, the word “Soul” saw the first two dancers of the of the evening lost in the middle of a floor as big and as bare as any memory of Mainstreet. Back to the future, anyone? : Chad Taylor

Tunnellers, Flying Men Galaxy, April 24-26.

Two new bands at a newish venue. First up, the Tunnellers. This band warrants attention. Formed because they were tired of spending night after night at the pub watching different bands bang out different variations of the same theme, here’s their answer, guitarbased R&B with a touch- of country. Drawing on the Dunedin sound, country and western, and the blues, the Tunnellers have come up with a collection of impressive originals. The snappy ‘Heading Off, neo-psychedelic ‘Will You Get?” (one the Grateful Dead would've been proud of) and the excellent ‘Bus Stop Groove’ (complete with mouth organ solo) show that there's raw talent here in spades. They're still too young as a band to display much stage personality, but the important thing is that the Tunnellers are fresh and exciting and there isn't a lot of either of those two qualities around at the moment. Go and see them, you won't be disappointed. The somewhat questionable venue were more apparent in the Flying Men'’s set, first night nerves also played their part. However, two songs stood out. Their cover of Lou Reed’s ‘Rock and Roll; (with

new lyrics courtesy vocalist Martin O'Neill) and the original ‘These Three Horses' — as in, “these three horses go into a bar”. O'Neill's last band, the Last Crossing, and the Flying Men are poles apart in style, so it takes a while to accept the transition from the previous bands form of straight ahead stripped-down rock to the more intricate song structures of the Flying Men. It isn't quite working yet, but Martin O'Neill's presence coupled with the vast improvement made on the second night show the promise of great things. Barry Morris Tim Woon - :

Gluepot, April 18 Paraplegic Lesbian Dwarves Mud Wrestling! That's what we'll be having next, I'm telling you! Been to the Gluepot recently? Right old. entertainment centre it's becoming — poetry, debating, jazz, country, and whaddaya know, the other Friday and Saturday, the rock band upstairs was. displaced by some dancers and a magician! Hey, here we are in Ponsonby in 1986! But Tim Woon isn't really a magician — you see, Tim is an illusionist, with a great sense of show. Plus, he’'s an excellent dancer, and is accompanied hy great choreographed assistants who dance in routines of their own. i

Tim mimes, uses fire, sends up kids-party magicians, and creates illusions in a stylishly presented uptown set that is far more fun for yer entertainment dollar than a lot of the underinspired, couldn't-care-less acts to be found on the pub rock circuit. No wonder they're holding boxing at the Galaxy. ] :

Bryan Staff