| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Joe Morris |
Posted - 15/03/2011 : 20:28:33
OPENING NIGHT at JOE’S PUB
I made a rare journey from the Los Angeles basin to New York City – my second day in The City in twenty-four years – to attend the Left Banke reunion concert, that concert representing the first public stage appearance by the group in forty-two years.
I think, as the Left Banke’s first exclusive lyricist, my interest was more on tagging with old friends than in examining the music; but I have to say it was the music that took this reunion over the top and into the realm of Legend.
First, one must recognize that some of the performers and songwriters in attendance on this festive night in March had not set eyes on each other fore some thirty-five to forty years. Charly Cazalet, current bass player in the Left Banke band, actually goes back in their history to the early days of the group’s creation – something that will be explained in greater detail in the soon-to-be completed Left Banke bio-book. I hadn’t seen Charly in close to forty years.
Also in attendance: Godz founder Paul Thornton, global rocker Alan Merrill and Mary Weiss, who once fell for the Leader of the Pack. It was truly Old Home Week for many of us. Backstage was a series of rolling waves of hellos, high fives and hugs. It was a supreme pleasure for me to be present and witness my lifelong friends Tom Finn and George Cameron emerge from decades of hibernation and shine.
Joe’s Pub – reputed to be the choicest showcase venue in town these days – was sold out and filled with an additional crowd of enthusiastic standees. I was there primarily to be a member of the audience, although called on stage to supply my original guitar part for “Sing, Little Bird, Sing,” one of my songwriting contributions to the album Left Banke Too.
But… what about the show? Ah… the show! The boys opened up with what is arguably their most likely candidate for a Top 5 single aside from “Walk Away Renée” – the rockin’, sockin’ “She May Call You Up Tonight.” Their set included practically all of the first two Left Banke albums, enhanced by the addition of their finest single efforts, “Two By Two” and “Love Songs In The Night.”
How to tell you if you weren’t there? From the first note, the audience was captured and enraptured. I can tell you this with absolute certainty because I took a walk through the crowd eavesdropping on rave comments, and made quite a few such comments myself in Merrill’s ear. The group’s performance was simply fantastic!
Consider first of all that fans of a musical artist or group tend to want to audition the material in the form in which they first experienced it – the original recordings. All arrangements that night were faithful to the originals and fully recognizable by the most discerning fan; and yet the energy of the group actually surpassed that of the historic Left Banke recordings. It was as if a group of storybook characters had leapt off the pages and emerged in three and four dimensions.
One might think that given the absence of keyboardist Michael Brown and lead vocalist Steve Martin-Caro the performances would fall short of expectations; but this was so very much NOT the case. Mickey Finn (no relation to Tom other than bandmate) does an outstanding job of duplicating Brown’s established piano/clavinet parts; and Mike Fornatale’s vocals frankly put the formidable Martin-Caro in the shade.
Fornatale, who I understand wrote up the charts of John Abbott’s original string arrangement’s for the band’s accompanying cellist (Eleanor Norton) and violinist (Susan Aquila) also added an element of unbridled onstage enthusiasm that confirms this concert to be the finest in the group’s history.
Finn and Cameron too, took their turns on lead vocals, with Tom singing his absolutely stunning “Lorraine” in addition to his self-penned numbers from Left Banke Too; and George did me proud on “Bryant Hotel” and “Goodbye Holly.” Rick Reil on drums covered the original parts so well one could close his eyes and see one of the legendary Local 802 session players behind the kit. Joe McGinty served as an additional keyboardist to bring in those vital elements of the original sound. Paul Alves, besides ably delivering the guitar parts, has been along with Cameron the driving force behind this reunion project for over a year.
Coming close to the set’s finish line, the band, strings, and vocalists thundered out what I think was the first-ever public performance of their final chart single “Desirée” (lyrics by Yours Truly) and completed the set in the manner that has become a standard feature of many concerts – with “the song that started it all,” “Walk Away Renée.” This of course was followed by a roaring ovation and the required encore.
The Left Banke has never sounded batter, and all this after a hiatus of forty odd years… just incredible. For those eager fans (also reunited, by Facebook) across the nation and the world, I urge you to demand a Left Banke performance in your area. You want a tour. You know you do. Right here. Where the days and the nights are all alike dear.
Tom (Feher) Fair
March 6th 2011 / in the air over the great Midwest. |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Joe Morris |
Posted - 25/03/2011 : 00:09:19
LOL!
indeed - Mojo mentioned the Left Banke formation
Airborne (I believe) was the name of the recent collaboration between Brown/Finn etc (I'll have to check my Leftbankeisms bootleg!)
although Brown hasn't been playing with them on any gigs
I'm sure he was at the recent Joes Pub live gig in NYC as he lives near the area here in New Jersey
I'm sure there will be the odd review of the LB gigs in the Big Takeover, Mojo..
again, check out leftbanke.nu - lot of great interviews (and cd art!) with Michael
man though, if there was ever one guy who kinda blew it; I mean, what has he done recently? all those songs about Tom Finn's girlfriend (Pretty Ballerina, Walk Away Renee, She may call you up tonight) that he had a crush on, and she moved to Boston! |
| Joe Morris |
Posted - 25/03/2011 : 00:07:18
LOL!
indeed - Mojo mentioned the Left Banke formation
Airborne (I believe) was the name of the recent collaboration between Brown/Finn etc
although Brown hasn't been playing with them on any gigs
I'm sure he was at the recent Joes Pub live gig in NYC as he lives near the area here in New Jersey
I'm sure there will be the odd review of the LB gigs in the Big Takeover, Mojo..
again, check out leftbanke.nu - lot of great interviews (and cd art!) with Michael
man though, if there was ever one guy who kinda blew it; I mean, what has he done recently? all those songs about Tom Finn's girlfriend (Pretty Ballerina, Walk Away Renee, She may call you up tonight) that he had a crush on, and she moved to Boston! |
| lemonade kid |
Posted - 24/03/2011 : 20:23:58
quote:
Originally posted by captain america and billy
Wow!! You're really the man behind the serenely poignant lines of "Renee" and "Ballerina". These are two songs I always wished I wrote the lyrics alone for! How did it usually work out between you and Mike Brown? Lyrics or music first? Were you responsible for any other top forty lyrics I might be familiar with?
Tom Fair (aka Feher) IS a co-songwriter & musician for Left Banke...
...not Joe....
_____________________________________________
Letting your freak flag fly is a state of mind,
not a fashion statement.
-lk |
| captain america and billy |
Posted - 24/03/2011 : 19:46:07
Wow!! You're really the man behind the serenely poignant lines of "Renee" and "Ballerina". These are two songs I always wished I wrote the lyrics alone for! How did it usually work out between you and Mike Brown? Lyrics or music first? Were you responsible for any other top forty lyrics I might be familiar with? |
| Joe Morris |
Posted - 18/03/2011 : 00:28:06
christ, I'd LOVE for them to do another album. Mike Brown did some stuff fairly recently with his wife (including the odd Left Banke cover) along with Tom Finn
you should check out leftbanke.nu for the downloads of the recent material (although Steve Martin hasn't been singing with the Banke due to his drinking)
Sundazed is released to cd/lp the 1st 2 LB albums (WAR/PB, Too) (the only Left Banke albums with Mike Brown to feature on them)
though I doubt if any new Left Banke material is in the pipeline
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| Kula John |
Posted - 17/03/2011 : 11:31:44
Thanks for that great review Joe. Fantastic to hear that such a great band are out there performing again. I have 'There's gonna be a storm' and it's one of my all time favourite albums. Was it a one off or will they be playing some more shows in the future....not that I expect them to make it across the ocean to this little island!
This is the time and this is the time and it is time, time, time, time, time, time, time.....
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| Joe Morris |
Posted - 17/03/2011 : 02:42:38
wish someone would put Two By Two up! |
| mikeb |
Posted - 16/03/2011 : 20:53:39
Thanks for this Joe, I found four songs have been uploaded to YouTube, sound mix varies though the sound quality is generally fine, Shadows Breaking Into My Heart sounds particularly good:
http://www.youtube.com/user/votedick#g/u
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