Average White Band
The Fleece, Bristol 25th May -As the evening takes hold, the gig gradually fills up with Blokes of a Certain Age; mostly mates, but some probably brought by their wives. Thirty years ago it might have been a forest of comb-overs, but bald is the new Brylcreem. There are, though, plenty of under-thirties dotted about, and a gaggle of aggressively healthy matching blondes has captured the frontline.
The lights dimmed, the band plugged in, a tape of Billy Connolly taking the piss out of AWB and the actual band took off with a medley of bits, including just enough of 'Pick up the Pieces' to switch on the crowd's pleasure circuits. Beaming smiles all round. Alan introduced 'What does it Take', a tune from their first, 'Gollywog' album, for hard-core fans.
Klyde Jones, recent addition to the line-up, took the stratospheric vocal lead for 'Music is the Queen of my Life', Next up: an instrumental, which after a couple of bars identified itself as, hey, 'Work To Do'. Alan came in on vocal refrain, followed again by Klyde. If we hadn't noticed it already, another welcome addition to AWB is Freddy 'V' Vigdor on saxes and keyboards, keeping that Big Sound intact.
The new drummer, Rocky Bryant, got his star spot in a slab of pure fragmented funk. Rocky looks about as young as Tony Williams would have been when he joined Miles Davis.
Deceptive, though- Alan tells me after the gig that Rocky is a lot more grown-up than he appears; it's just that he, like Klyde, hasn't grown the wrinkles we white boys nurture. Other news is that his predecessor, Steve Ferrone, has joined forces with founder member Roger Ball in a West Coast band. When I mention the fact that the front-of-house lady is called Lulu, it leads us to reminiscence about the Scottish music scene in the early 'sixties. Names like The Senate, The Poets and The Hi-fi- Combo are bandied about. Alan's experience goes all the way back to seeing The Silver Beetles. Onnie mentions an ancient Frankie Miller record with tram-cars on the cover. And somehow that takes us to talking about DC Thomson, of Beano and Dandy fame. A great many Scots (including Alan and your correspondent) have at some time worked for DC Thomson, but the only one who got famous was Dudley D Watkins, which seems fair as he devoted his life to writing and drawing Oor Wullie, The Broons, Sparky's Magic Patch, Black Bob the Wonder Dog, Desperate Dan and a good bit more. His weekly workload would have been unremarkable if shared among five or six less devoted mortals. By a strange twist, AWB's first drummer, Robbie McIntosh, is buried beside Watkins.
Cut to the gig: More effortless funky swing in 'What Are You Gonna Do For Me'. The sound maybe doesn't have to be cranked up so high - the band's dynamic arrangements aught to be enough to hit the spot. When they pulled back a little for a bass solo from Klyde it worked well, but Onnie's distinctive solos throughout just managed to fly over the strange atonal growl accompanying Alan's bass notes. Alan introduced the next piece, dedicated to 'Scotland's other national drink'. Not as you might guess, Irn Bru, but a slightly more aged beverage, 'McEwan's Export' - nothing to do here but dance. 'You Me and Us' was followed by that old Stranglers favourite, 'Walk on By'. Not immediately recognisable as they have sliced it up and chopped in the funk. 'I'm the One', an excellent anthem for everyone who wants to be in front, segued into the deathless 'Cut the Cake' and here some fundamental change took over on the floor. The crowd, who had up till now been joyfully enthusiastic, got rather wild. It was the end of the two-hour set, but of course everyone wanted more. The encore was the soul-medicine 'Pick up the Pieces' and we all duly got wilder. AWB, generous to a fault, finished for real with a relatively soothing 'Let's go Round Again'.
picture courtesy of wikipedia
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