Live From Abbey Road (Show 11, Series 2 - 05/09/2008)

Another week, another Live From Abbey Road...and after the highs of last week I was expecting a slump but was pleasantly surprised. The line up for this show is veteran Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, Ben Harper (with his Innocent Criminals) and former lead singer of Del Amitri Justin Currie. The only problem is that Currie only performs one song which is very strange.





The set:

Bryan Adams

• Heaven
• She's Got A Way
• Cuts Like A Knife

Ben Harper And The Innocent Criminals

• Better Way
• Fool For A Lonesome Train
• Use Me

Justin Currie

• Still In Love

I suppose a full band version of Summer Of '69 is out of the question so we are treated to a stripped down set from Mr. Adams. The first two tracks: the magnificent 'Heaven' and a new song 'She's Got A Away' are performed with a violinist. I can't for the life of me work out who she is and it is not explained in the show. Anyway the combination works incredibly well. They seem to be arranging each song as they are about to record which adds a dynamic feel - she is just looking to him for a cue and then plays her part; nothing is pre-written. Adams still has an amazing voice - under the rough sound there is beautiful tone. He goes solo for the classic 'Cuts Like A Knife' which gets a bit wordless. In between there are some insights: Adams talks about his recording studio in Vancouver which was an old supplies building about to be ripped down. He stepped in to recover it and has turned it into a studio. His song writing process is the 'jam and mumble' approach which he demonstrates using 'Run To You'. In the intro he tells us that his touring schedule involves playing ten days a month and the rest of the time he likes to backpack and see places. Yeah ok. A good set.

Ben Harper is not someone I follow but I am aware of his music. He captures anything and everything that is meaningful, keeping it all in small books (he never goes anywhere without a pen and a book to write in). His music is part folk, part blues and soul and influenced by funk and rock. 'Better Way' is a great song but his vocals are an acquired taste. The multitude of instruments and the arrangement is wonderful but it does go a bit mad and ends in a torrent of drums. He pays the Abbey Road studio a great compliment and describes it as an anomaly. Everything you sing and play comes back to you clearly and precisely. He says that a room of its size should not behave this way acoustically. Second song 'Fool For A Lonesome Train' is more conventional country rock/blues. When he starts talking about Beatles covers, my heart sank as I expected a dodgy rework of a classic but instead he announces 'Use Me', a Bill Withers song. Clearly Harper is a huge fan and he does not want to pass on the opportunity. A great funk/soul cover ensues with much better vocals. The end is very funny...there is a short drum solo followed by a blast on the bongos which goes a bit wrong. They can't seem to work out what went wrong but the drummer seems satisfied and declares it 'his take'. Harper tells his bongo guy that whatever his problem is, it is now captured for all time.

Justin Currie gets one song to shine (I still have no idea why his time at Abbey Road was so brief). It sees the former Del Amitri vocalist in Nick Cave mode, at a piano and accompanied by a soft keyboard. 'Still In Love' is actually quite good but feels a bit too arranged which goes against his idealology of not liking stuff that is 'nailed together'. It works though but a couple more tunes would have been nice. It is still unclear if Del Amitri is still an entity. Currie says he doesn't want to create a new band as he still has one - so he won't rule out any options.

So a highly entertaining if slightly predicatble show this week from three accomplished musicians. More please.