Nutloaf back at The Albion

Given the choice between staying in and watching the Eurovision Song Contest or going to a pub in town to see Nutloaf play then I am always going to pick the later.

Sadly some people picked the former and it was a quiet night in the pub. Not that that stopped me and a few of the regulars from having fun listening to the band.

Anna also did some dancing, but then she always does. I didn't, but then I never do.

The Albion suits the band because the bay window gives them a natural stage and the bar is wide enough and high enough for the music to escape properly.

On the night I thought that the rhythm section sounded better than I had heard them before, the richness of the sound gave a solid bedrock for the melody and vocals.

As always with Nutloaf, they played a few songs that I either do not like very much or just do not know at all but they play those well enough for me not to get too upset. They also play a few songs that I really to like, I have to mention Crazy Horses and In A Broken Dream again here.

It was certainly far better than staying in to watch Eurovision. Of that there can be no doubt.

Three Local Bands at the Fighting Cocks

I really like to see local bands play locally and so I was not going to miss the opportunity to see three of them at the Fighting Cocks.

Even better this was a fund-raising gig in aid of a campaign to protect the NHS which needs protecting from this pernicious government.

Scud Penguin were the organisers and the headline act.

I had only seen them once before and that was for only part of their set, though I had also seen the lead guitarist in his previous band, Random Acts of Blindness.

One of the reasons that band split was over whether to concentrate on covers or their own material and Scud Penguin play all their own stuff.

They have a classic power-trio line-up and play some classic power riffs though this is not all that they do and they are not heavy in the way that, say, Cream were heavy. They are also often funky, and often in the same song. These mood changes are a distinctive feature of their songs which, on a first listen, sounded just a little to similar for comfort.

Scud Penguin impressed by closing with two brand-new songs that were both delivered with the same casual professionalism as the rest of their set. These are really good musicians playing accessible rock made all the more interesting by being their own songs.

I will see them again.

Nutloaf I had seen before.

They play just covers and, as with any covers band, what I think of them tends to come down to whether I like the original songs or not. That is especially true if, as Nutloaf do, the band keeps fairly close to the originals.

Hence my mixed feelings about Nutloaf.

I was not stirred by some of their material, particularly anything vaguely redolent of 80's Hair Rock. Things like Whitesnake's Fool for Your Loving.

The two songs that really lifted me where The Osmonds' Crazy Horses and Python Lee Jackson's In a Broken Dream. Familiarity breeds contentment.

Nutloaf seem to be the most active of these bands locally so I am sure to see them again before too long.

Unclaimed Item in the Baggage Area opened the show.

They were completely new to me and were a very pleasant surprise. They were loud, raw and guttural. It was like a scream of anger set to music, in a good way.

For a young band their choice of music was surprising, not that I recognised much of it through the brash arrangements and coarse vocals. I did catch Iggy Pop's I Want to be Your Dog from 1969.

I most certainly recognised Hawkwind's Hassan-i Sabbah, from the 1977 album Quark, Strangeness And Charm, which was my highlight from their too-brief set. The energy and noise were infectious and almost got me dancing.

Unclaimed Item in the Baggage Area is a band that I really must see again. They opened the show and the stole it with a raucous riot of sound. Wonderful.

Nutloaf at The Albion

I missed a few Nutloaf gigs due to calendar clashes so this was my first chance to see them. While they were a new band to me I knew a couple of them as they also play in Hoaxwind and friends had been to see them and had brought back positive reports.

The Albion was a new venue too. Not as a pub, I have been there a few times over many years, but as a music venue. The layout is quite good. It is a large "L" shape with a bay window at the bend giving the band somewhere to play that gives plenty of space to see them and also allows free access to the bar.

There was not much of a theme to their set, other than I suppose they all like the songs they chose, so we get some early 70s rock from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin mixed in with later stuff that I knew less well.

Musically they made a rich sound and each of them is clearly proficient and confident with their chosen instrument.

What seemed to be lacking was much interplay between them and I could not tell who, if any one, was setting the pace.

That did not stop them from turning out a succession of good tracks that got (some of) the reasonable crowd dancing and even singing. I was content just to watch and listen. And Nutloaf were certainly worth listening too as they rocked their way through a slightly eccentric "rock's greatest hits" selection.

One of the more eccentric was the Osmonds' Crazy Horses. I was glad to see it, and other unusual songs, included although it sounded a little strange without the keyboards. But I'm not going to deduct too many points for that.

The Albion had a limited choice of ales so it's just as well that the IPA was on fine form. The beer was the final flourish that combined with the music and companionship to turn a drab Autumn evening in to something jolly and uplifting.