With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Baby Bushka – Pocklington Arts Centre – York Thursday 3rd October 2024 October 13, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 8:26 pm
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Natasha Kozaily wanted a Kate Bush dance party in San Diego in 2017. Seven years later, what was born that night is almost at the end of their farewell tour. This is how Baby Bushka came into the world. Initially, I thought that they might be yet another Kate Bush tribute act, but they are so much more than that. Baby Bushka is an interactive, theatrical, interpretive, and often spiritual Kate Bush experience, with eight women who clearly love Kate and have an encyclopedia-style knowledge of her music. Even more remarkably they are American and Kate Bush was never huge across the pond. She rarely charted with singles in the Billboard chart until ‘Stranger Things’ helped “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” reach number 3 in 2022. Albumwise the ‘Hounds Of Love’ album reached number 12 in the US in 1985. This was the first time I had seen Baby Bushka and sadly as this is the farewell tour it would be the last.

I love the mix of hits and deep cuts this Kate collective performs. The great thing is that so many of these tracks have never been performed live by the one and only Catherine Bush. The hits were stunningly well enacted and played. Those included “Babooshka”, “Wow”, “Hounds Of Love”, “Army Dreamers”, “The Big Sky”, “Wuthering Heights” and the previously mentioned “Running Up That Hill”. You could have heard a pin drop during a haunting take on “The Man With The Child In His Eyes”. While “Sat In Your Lap” was not well received on release in 1981, but here with Baby Bushka putting every ounce of their power, energy, and passion into one of the high points of the night it became something else completely, I have revisited the original recording many times since. “Mother Stands For Comfort” was a mountainous run through a great tune. I loved the throwing of Baby Bushka tenners into the audience during “There Goes A Tenner”. I actually managed to get one too. There was not a duff song in the set, and the pinnacle was a gorgeous medley of “Why Should I Love You”/ “Cloudbusting”/ “Under The Ivy”. For years “Why Should I Love You” has been one of my favourite Kate songs. She wrote, produced, and performed the original, but Prince played guitar, keyboards, and bass guitar, and sang backing vocals. How many shows have you seen where you get to see wolves, polar bears, and an astronaut on stage at various times? What a night and I so wish I had discovered Baby Bushka earlier.

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Jah Wobble and the Invaders of the Heart – Pocklington Arts Centre York – Thursday 9th May 2024 May 12, 2024

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 6:09 pm
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I first saw Jah Wobble playing his thunderous bass in the early days of Public Image Ltd at the Rainbow in London on December 26th, 1978. While I have followed his music career and prolific output with great interest I am embarrassed to say that I have not witnessed him in a live environment since then. Well until this Pocklington show. what are more than 45 years among friends right? This was my first visit to the Pocklington Arts Centre and what an awesome venue it is! I had a tiny problem when getting there in that I wasn’t showing on the press list. The staff, and the band, sorted it out in a matter of minutes. The staff were interested and attentive all night and the band sent a message saying thy hoped that I would enjoy the show. Did I enjoy it? Just read on to find out, but regular readers probably already know the answer to that question.

There were two 1 hour sets scheduled with a break/ intermission between them. It is apparent from the off that Wobble is a really witty raconteur as he regaled us with some fabulous tales. If you want proof of just how good a raconteur he is, check out my review of his book here. This was to be his first gig wearing spectacles, he bought said eyewear using a “plan” and spoke about everything (cars, dentists, opticians, etc.) being on a “plan”. He floated an idea of a “plan” for Invaders of the Heart, Fifty grand, and then everything after that is free, seems like a good deal doesn’t it? In opening set 1 Wobble said that there would be no set list, just chaos, a very old-school punk attitude. There were many highlights during that first hour. “Becoming More Like God” was an inspiring, transcendental masterpiece. I love Jah Wobble’s take on older Public Image material. He makes the song “Public Image” his own and follows it with a dub version where the bass can be felt in your chest. Truly spectacular and it retains the sentiment of the original while being so far removed musically. The extended funky jazz jam at the end of “Visions Of You” was stunning. Another old PiL tune, “Poptones” got a stylish introduction with Wobble doing his best Laurence Olivier vibe with the “Now is the winter of our discontent” speech from William Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’.

Set 2 was another collection of mountainous highlights. “Every Man Is An Island” is an exotic, eastern-flavoured, excursion into the magic of music with the best guitar solo of the night. “The Socialist” was predominantly a funky jazz groove, but with added metal chords. “Careering” veered and careered in a sublime psychedelic direction. In his time Wobble has covered some great film music, “Get Carter” is impeccable and feels cinematic in the way the band plays it. How could anyone not love the dubby version of the Harry J classic “The Liquidator”, that was perhaps one of the best points of the second set for me, but there was some amazing competition. The little skit with Wobble referring to the bass guitar as the lion and therefore the king of the jungle was marvellously entertaining. Then he introduced each member of the band and referred to their instrument’s position in the jungle musical hierarchy. The guitar is the meerkat, the drums are the elephant and the keys are the snake!

What genre are the Invaders of the Heart? Are they post-punk, jazz, funk, groove, spoken word, reggae, dub, punk, world, avant-garde? They are every one of those and so much more. I will definitely not be leaving it 40-plus years before I see John Wardle playing live again. I also plan on returning to the Pocklington Arts Centre very soon!

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