Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

Review

Oysterband

Live: The Courtyard, Hereford


by Ian Mann

September 24, 2007

/ LIVE

All in all then an evening of excellent music with yet another five star musical performance from the Oysters.

21/09/2007

It’s hard to believe that Oysterband have now been going for nearly thirty years. They’re still moving forward and continue to sound thoroughly contemporary as they voice their concerns at the state of the modern world.

The Oysters began as a ceilidh band but soon began writing their own material. The group’s main songwriters John Jones (lead vocals and melodeon), Alan Prosser (guitars) and Ian Telfer (violin) have been there from the start and by the early 90’s bassist/cellist Chopper and drummer Lee Partis had joined to form the “classic” Oyster line up.

Lee and Chop added a mighty rhythmic punch to the band and frankly the albums made before their arrival now sound rather thin and insipid. In part this is down to 1980’s production values but the group obviously recognised the fact too. With this in mind they rerecorded the best songs from their early albums with the then new rhythm section for the cut-price album “Trawler”. The definitive versions of Oyster classics such as “Hal An Tow” and “Another Quiet Night In England” are to be found here.

This new rock energy galvanised the band into a period of intense creativity. Their work became more angry and political as they railed against the Tory government.
They were operating in a similar musical area to the Levellers and the Pogues and comparisons were obviously made. For me the Oysters write better songs than the Levs and are far more consistent than the Pogues who were bedevilled by Shane Macgowan’s well-publicised drink problems. The band’s roots were not entirely forgotten with swirling ceilidh style instrumental breaks punctuating the songs.

Albums like “Deserters” (1992), “Holy Bandits”(1993) and the explosive “The Shouting End Of Life”(1995) were full of classic songs and a righteous anger. Each record built on the other and this trio of albums alone represents an impressive body of work. Like the Pogues the Oysterband have poetry in their souls and their streetwise lyrics, by turns tough and tender, allied to their sharp social commentary are right up there with Macgowan at his best. There aren’t many bands that can make you dance AND think at the same time but the Oysters are one of them and hence for me lies much of their appeal.

The album “Alive And Shouting” (1996) contained fifteen songs from this period with extra live “oomph!” If you ask me this irreplaceable package was one of THE albums of the 90’s but was only available by mail order or at gigs and is sadly no longer in print. Go figure.

If mainstream success evaded the Oysters the high quality of their albums and their phenomenal live shows has led to an international cult following with the band hugely popular in the UK, Scandinavia, Germany and Spain. A cover of their song “When I’m Up I Can’t Get Down” was a huge hit in Canada for Newfoundland band Great Big Sea.

“Deep Dark Ocean” (1997) and “Here I Stand” (1999) showed the band honing their songwriting skills. Both these albums are impeccably crafted but they lack the visceral impact of their immediate predecessors.

“Rise Above” (2002) was a marked return to form and the trend continued with the latest release “Meet You There” (2007). The band are no more impressed with “New Labour” than they were with the Tories and the failings of the government and pressing environmental issues such as global warming have re-introduced that sense of urgency and anger that underlies the band’s best work. Not that the Oysters should be seen solely as a political band, many of their songs are highly personal and self referential but without descending into cliché or sentimentality. Paradoxically they retain an air of mystery whilst at the same time being very open and if they’re not the creative hothouse they once were the sense of quality control with regards to their writing remains extraordinarily high. There is precious little “filler” in the Oysterband catalogue.

If the new album was a long time coming the Oysters certainly haven’t been idle in the interim. Their “Big Session” project saw them revisiting their folk roots and collaborating with young up and coming folk artists. This resulted in a couple of tours, a live album and an annual “Big Session Festival”. This is held each summer at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall and is curated and headlined by the Oysters. Seth Lakeman and Eliza Carthy are among those who have benefited from the Oysters’ patronage. They have certainly succeeded in their aim of “putting something back” into the folk scene.

I first discovered the Oysters when they played at Hereford’s Shire Hall in 1996 and I’ve been a fan ever since. With singer John Jones living locally they’ve made several appearances in the city but I’ve seen them dozens of times all over the country and rarely been disappointed. The Oysters change their set lists constantly and re-arrange their songs. Tunes drift in and out of the repertoire and unlike many of their contemporaries such as the Levellers and the Saw Doctors they don’t just play the same old set year after year. I’ve not got bored with the Oyster live experience yet and didn’t expect to start at Hereford.

This Hereford show was to offer my first glimpse of the Oyster’s new drummer Dil Davies. Regular incumbent Lee Partis is currently taking a sabbatical. A trained counsellor and psychotherapist he is currently working with offenders in the country’s prisons and pushing hard for elements of penal reform. He is likely to return to the stage in 2008 but in the meantime he is proving that the band’s social conscience is the real deal.

Given Lee’s impact on the band when he first joined some of the fans were wondering how they would cope without him. We shouldn’t have worried, Davies proved a highly capable replacement and as this was one of his earliest gigs with the band he’s going to get even better. Unlike Partis he doesn’t make a vocal contribution but his drumming was bang on the nail.

The show began with “Over The Water” the opening track of the new album. One of the Oysters’ trademarks is the way they blend acoustic and electric instruments and this started with the gentle and exotic tones of Chopper’s mbira (or African thumb piano) and added layers of sound incorporating violin, acoustic guitar and cello. Davies was featured on the Latin American “rhythm box” the cajon. The song boasts a soaring, anthemic chorus, as do many of the Oysters’ best tunes. However these are not gratuitous audience pleasing gestures or cheap, banal call and response singalongs. The attention to detail in the lyric writing and the sentiments of both hope and defiance that the songs often express means that the audience can belt out these songs with total conviction. For many of their followers the Oysters are not just a band, they’re pretty much a way of life.

Davies was at the drum kit for “Here Comes The Flood”, a particularly prescient title given this summer’s events. Behind the witty lyrics and stomp along chorus lies a stark environmental message. “Uncommercial Song” from “Rise Above” explores similar themes and was to feature later in the set.

“Where The World Divides” was originally slated as the title for the new album and is effectively the title track. A classic Oyster song with a powerful chorus it shows John Jones’ voice at it’s best. Black clad, tattooed and shades wearing Jones is a charismatic, almost messianic frontman controlling the crowd with a series of understated but dramatic hand gestures. As a vocalist he has improved over the years and is now singing even better than ever. The latest album reveals a new soulfulness in his vocals that probably comes from a love of old Stax records as much as traditional folk sources. Originally just a “box” player his role as an instrumentalist has decreased over time but he takes up the melodeon for “Street Of Dreams”, one of the band’s more overtly romantic numbers featuring a soaring violin solo from Ian Telfer.

“Be My Luck” from “Deep Dark Ocean” is one of the of the slighter items in the band’s back catalogue but this was followed by the dramatic “Bury Me Standing” from the new album. The soaring vocal harmonies on this tune remind me of The Band and the evocation of a landscape, in this case the huge skies of the English Fens is just as convincing as Robertson & co.‘s Americana. Inspired by the struggles of the gypsy community this is a modern Oyster classic with a great tune, rousing chorus and incisive, socially aware lyrics. Although Jones handles virtually all the lead vocal parts all members of the band are fine singers with Chopper and Prosser making vital vocal contributions here.

Whenever the Oysterband have played the Courtyard before there has been room designated for dancers. Indeed on their last visit downstairs was standing only so I was more than a little surprised when it was announced that tonight’s show was to be all seated. Some local followers decided to boycott the Hereford show for this reason, opting to travel to November’s show in Bilston instead.

Alan Prosser’s rousing tune “Walking Down The Road With You” saw Jones encouraging people to get on their feet, so to avoid blocking the view of those seated behind me I moved into the aisle. A selfless act I thought, but try telling that to the jobsworth stewards who instructed me to return to my seat. Ironically I could stand up there if I wished.

As I’d got in for free with a press ticket I complied but stewed at the injustice and absurdity of the situation as I sat through the next two numbers. The first was the Oysters rollicking take on the traditional folk classic “John Barleycorn” from the “Big Session Album” followed by “If you Can’t Be Good” from “Rise Above”.

Earlier in the year the Oysters appeared in a documentary on Radio 4 about the history and longevity of the song “Bells Of Rhymney”. A blistering version of this with Prosser’s electric guitar to the fore brought me to my feet again. This was the Oysterband at their most raw and this time I curtly refused the request to return to my seat. I remained standing for the rest of the set, blocking nobody’s view and got the distinct impression that this is what the band would have wanted. “I Won’t Sit Down” indeed.

The Welsh theme continued with “Native Son” with its introductory verse in Cymraeg. This storming version of an old live favourite was followed by equally vigorous versions of the aforementioned “Uncommercial Song” and “Just One Life”.

There was then a pause for breath with the reflective “The Boy’s Still Running” featuring Prosser and Chopper on twin acoustic guitars and Jones in confessional mode as he sat on the monitors at the front of the stage to deliver Ian Telfer’s lyric. Telfer is very much the band’s wordsmith and although other members of the group, particularly Jones and Prosser, have a considerable input virtually every lyric has something of Telfer in its finished form.

Live the Oysters are like a well-oiled machine that gains in momentum throughout the gig. Telfer’s violin and Chopper’s cello (or bass) create a wall of sound driven on by the drums of Partis or Davies. Prosser’s guitar chords also provide considerable rhythmic impetus and form the backbone of the band’s music. His playing is particularly strong in the balance between rhythm and lead. Jones melodeon sometimes coalesces with Telfer and Chopper and his well-articulated vocals ride above this powerful backdrop. All are superb technicians and there are moments of individual virtuosity but in the main the focus is the unique band sound.

They know how to pace a show and by now the Oyster juggernaut was ready to mount an expedition to the final summit by playing some of the best loved items in their repertoire. A few of their “greatest hits” if you will.

Leon Rosselson’s “The World Turned Upside Down” a polemic about the 1649 Diggers movement is something of a history lesson in the form of a song. Unlikely material for a singalong you might think but the Oysters’ version, led by Prosser’s biting guitar hook takes the song to new territories. It becomes a hymn of defiance and resistance for our own times and gets people up dancing and singing along word perfect.

“Everywhere I Go” has been a live staple for the last ten years or so. Chugging and insistent it paints a bleak picture of alienation and disillusionment with the modern world but packs a monstrous chorus that should really be a stadium filler. But secretly I’m glad it isn’t, it’s great to see the band in the small and intimate places they tend to play. 

“When I’m Up I Can’t Get Down” and “Blood Wedding” are guaranteed moshpit fillers and soon there are others dancing in the seats and in the aisles as the stewards give up their thankless and ultimately pointless task.

An encore of the eerie but uplifting “We Can Leave Right Now” isn’t enough to satisfy the crowd and against the wishes of the theatre management the band steam through a version of the pogo friendly “By Northern Light”, the desperate romance of the lyric juxtaposed with a chord pattern ingeniously borrowed from Iggy Pop’s “Passengers”.

And that, unfortunately was that. It had been a long set but one sensed that the band were ready to offer more. I got the distinct impression that the band and Jones in particular were less than impressed with the attitude of the theatre management and the general air of “health and safety gone mad” that attached itself to the evening.

Earlier we had been entertained by young vocalist/guitarist Joe Hughes. A strong singer and a talented guitar player Hughes also possessed an impish sense of humour and cantered through an eclectic bunch of songs. He had been discovered by promoter Rob Strawson (of Nightjar Music) at Hereford’s celebrated Barrels Beer Festival earlier in the year.

Hughes began by covering two contemporary writers. Tom Waits’ lascivious blues “Ice Cream Man” was followed by the caustic wit of Alex Turner on the Arctic Monkeys’ “Mardy Bum”. He followed this with the rambling folk blues of the traditional “Lakes Of Pontchartrain” and the old blues standard “High Heel Sneakers”.

A tender original “What You Mean to Me” was quickly contrasted by the humour of the faux country “Up Shit Creek Again”. A couple of folk club staples, the tongue twisting “Molly Maguire” and “The Leaving Of Liverpool” completed an engaging and entertaining set. Hughes was well received by an appreciative Oysterband crowd.

All in all then an evening of excellent music with yet another five star musical performance from the Oysters. Docked a star as an event for the lack of a dance floor and the draconian attitude of the theatre management.

The Courtyard is a beautiful theatre with excellent facilities and is a real asset to Hereford. However on this occasion it did not cater for it’s audience as well as it might have.

October sees the Oysterband touring in Denmark before playing a further series of British dates in November and December. See http://www.oysterband.co.uk for full tour info, details of album releases and more.

blog comments powered by Disqus