From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V2 #168 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Thursday, November 18 1999 Volume 02 : Number 168 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] november 15, 1999 - london, england - a review [happyjaq@confetti.r] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 17 Nov 1999 10:43:00 +0100 From: happyjaq@confetti.ruhr.de (Carsten Wohlfeld) Subject: [MLL] november 15, 1999 - london, england - a review Mary Lou Lord London, England, November 15, 1999 Notting Hill Arts Club A review by Carsten Wohlfeld It was an evening of many suprises. The first one: She was actually there, taking a break from her family holiday to play the first of a couple of shows in London. That's Mary Lou Lord in London, England, not London, Ontario or something. The second surprise: I was there, too, despite the fact that I don't live in England, let alone London. Mary Lou didn't seem to sure about the whole thing as the sound system was pretty bad and she didn't have a monitor. She didn't really get paid either... The Notting Hill Arts Club is a very small place where the kind souls from Rough Trade are doing their "instore appearances" now as they are no longer allowed to have them at their Talbot Rd. store itself. This was the opening night and so nobody seemed to sure what to expect - not even the Rough Trade staff. So after a couple of hours of music supplied by some DJs (playing everything from the new Le Tigre single to hardcore electronic noise à la DHR) it was time for Mary Lou to take to the, erm, stage. Only that there was no stage, she was just standing in the corner of the tiny room, with the equipement from the other act, Sand, surrounding her. There were about 25 people (plus another 25 or so chatting at the bar), most of them sitting down. Most of them seemed to be really into Mary Lou's stuff, too. Which was somewhat of a surprise, at least for myself, as she really isn't very well known over here, and you hardly can get her records at all. Anyways, she started with a very nice "I'm Talking To You", then asked for requests and did the updated "His ND World". She also did - among others and not in this order - "Aim Low", "He'd Be A Diamond" (the only Bevis Frond song of the night, despite the fact that Nick was too busy to turn up), "Western Union Desperate/Just Like Heaven", "Hey Antoinette" (yay!) "1952 Vincent Black Lightning", "Blimps Go 90" and a gorgeous "Hard Road", which will fortunately appear on her forthcoming KRS-EP. She didn't do any of the recently added cover versions like "Thunder Road", but I guess if I really want to hear that stuff I gotta catch her in the streets of Boston, not London... She did however play another request that made me very, very happy (as usual), cause close to the end she did "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" and despite the fact that her (borrowed rockabilly) guitar was out of tune for the best part of the show and she seemed to think "what the fuck am I doing here" a couple of times it was a fun gig. Instead of the 30 minutes I was told she'd do she played for about 45 to 50 minutes which is all you can ask for I guess. The second band, Sand, were very good too, but sadly their music didn't mix very well with Mary Lou's style, as it was much more experimental. Kind of post-rocking, jazz-rock-punk-fusion kinda music. Good stuff if you go to a show with your mind set on that kinda music, but not a very nice experience to follow a solo set by Mary Lou. But I certainly didn't regret that I made the trip to London and now I'm looking forward to the promised new releases, the three songs on the KRS- EP, the benefit-compilation with Richard Thompson's "From Galway To Graceland" and a new major label album in the not too distant future and maybe even some other surprises... My thanks to Mary Lou (& also Steve) for making it such a fun evening. so long, Carsten - -- http://localhost.ruhr.de/users/happyjaq "and i hope i die in the nightime with the tv on and a beer in my hand and you by my side" (john p. strohm) ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V2 #168 **********************************