overlap

Harmony is an Elton John track from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road which has a specific and lasting sentimental reference value for me, to the point where I've just put it on and found it sufficiently uncomfortable that I've turned it off again. With nearly a year since my last trip westwards for a gig, it was refreshingly straightforward finding a venue I'd never been to, and which was yet another example of local authority design standards being a touch more elaborate than the average sticky beer floored bar venue. I got in just in time to see the first support act saying 'thank you very much, good night!' so I've nothing to tell you there. Second support Eaglesbush comprise the drummer and keyboard player from the headliners, in this instance performing as a guitar duo. To be honest it didn't really work for me - no concrete complaints perhaps beyond a slight over-emphasis on guitar and vocal skills rather than the songs themselves, but I'd try to catch some of them as a support again just to see if it was them or, as is more likely, me. Third support Andy Morse has a voice that switches between a husky roar and something of much greater delicacy. And he really hit the recognition button - halfway through I realised that the comparison I was searching for was Billy Falcon, with a touch less sunshine. Again I wasn't moved to hit the merch stand in search of an album but I enjoyed that rather more. Headline band The Storys are a band I first (and last) saw in the company of My Friend, and as with the nagging sentimentality of this post's title track, that is something that still bothers me. As a one-off hometown show, this was a friends and family plus extravaganza - see three support acts - rather than date x of a y date tour based around flogging the new album, which always has the potential for turning out something special. Over an hour and half, we got 15 or 16 tracks off the two albums, and a handful of new ones. Unless you are Teenage Fanclub with three songwriters who each take lead vocals for exactly a third of the set, spreading it around is always going to be a little tricky. Steve Balsamo may front the Storys, but Rob Thompson plays a mean lead guitar and takes lead vocal a couple of times. Bassman Andy Collins has one of the best haircuts in music and takes lead vocals on a couple of tunes. Newest recruit Rosalie Deighton has a very strong voice and also takes lead vocal on one tune. And of course the drummer and keyboard player have both had their own lead vocal moments earlier, though at many points there are three or more voices harmonising. And overall it adds up to there being no real overall vibe, more a disparate collection of covering more bases than necessary and fails to truly nail any one element. This is a shame, and I love the first album though I can't say I've been taken by the second one. It may well be the case that I thought they were outstanding when I saw them before because they were doing a 45 minute festival set in the sunshine, and didn't have as much scope for variation. All the same, I think The Storys are great and they do make fantastic vocal harmonies and a groovy seventies-flavoured sunshine sound where if you like multi-vocal stylings like CSN playing The Eagles, they've got something for you. Andy Collins, and some serious hair.

Labels: Alan Thomas, Andy Collins, Brian Thomas, gigs, Rob Thompson, Rosalie Deighton, Steve Balsamo, The Storys