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 Sunday was also a night of blues - but this time the lyrics took front of stage. Willy De Ville and Eric Burdon brought with them two great voices and many, many more great songs to enjoy. Eric Burdon: 'Bring it on Home' by The Animals was one of the discs found on a jukebox belonging to John Lennon from the late 60's. Lead singer (and only original member) Eric Burdon takes the stage in a t-shirt quoting Lennon's observation that as a Beatle from 'Up North' the 'southerners treated us like animals'. The Animals were presumably similarly despised, although Burdon himself was seemingly not overly keen on his Newcastle home, once famously saying it was a city where 'the rain comes at you sideways'. 'Bring it on Home' and 'We gotta get outta this place' are R&B classics given fresh life as is the bands mega-hit 'House of the Rising Sun' which escapes sounding like a tired time piece thanks to stunning lead guitar work on a classical guitar body from Mcfadden - fantastic stuff. 'I wrote this one in 1968, when I thought I could change the world - what a schmuck!' says Burdon introducing his anti-Vietnam anthem 'Sky Pilot'. And of course Burdon is right, music doesn't enable you to change the world. It does make the world a better place to be though, and by the time the last drum beats of 'Ring of Fire' were echoing round the Museumsplatz Willy DeVille and The Animals have done just that.  Burdon undoubtedly has the CV of a top bluesman - his band's appearances in the 60's with Sonny Boy Wiliamson II in themselves being legendary. But this is 2006 so a more restrained BB King approach would be understandable. As it turns out Burdon is fuelled on by a dynamic band and, although there is a stool onstage he rarely stays still long enough to sit on it. Paula O'rourke, the first female bass player I've seen in a long while (ever?) and Eric Mcfadden on guitar complement each others music perfectly yet play with the enthusiasm of a first gig - can't remember when I last saw musicians enjoying simply playing so much. All-in-all the band provides a fresh punch for Burdon's time weathered songs and vocals.
The Double Bass of David Keyes keeps a steady tempo whilst Jeff Levine's glorious jazz/blues piano adds just enough colour to lighten the dark mood that DeVille, with his somewhat melancholic manner, occasionally seems to be heading into. Blues classics like 'Trouble in Mind' seem right up DeVille's (ghetto)street and he does the song enough justice true enough. It's the unexpected numbers plucked from all sorts of genres that catch the ear though as he deftly stamps his own mark on each one. The victim on 'Carmelita' who's "all stretched out on heroin" is perfect material for DeVille, but then he kicks off 'Spanish Harlem' and the Latin rhythm and Blues style again seems perfectly matched, as does 'Heartbreak Hotel'. Reinforcing the importance of THE SONGS themselves, DeVille takes a new guitar for almost each one. It's like a writer taking a new piece of paper for a new poem - DeVille has been around long enough to know that, like many of the writers he mentions, It's too often the song not the singer or the writer that gets remembered. Do I detect a form of 'Punk' like rebellion still deep in DeVille's heart? In an age of TV pop idols, all hype and nothing to say, a stand for quality songs? I really hope so! |