LATER...with Jools Holland (Series 33, Show 3)

After a good start to this series of LATER...with Jools Holland, this week was a bit disappointing. No really great rock or indie bands, and only Seasick Steve was truly impressive. The special 'old' guest this week plugging something new is Boy George, who only performed one song and that was a cover. The headliners Kaiser Chiefs and The Streets both failed to live up to the task as they peddled new songs from new albums - material that is simply not as good as previous work.




Tuesday

• Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat
• The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
• Boy George (Chat with JH at the piano)
• Seasick Steve - Started Out With Nothin
• TV On The Radio - Golden Age
• Boy George - Down By The Riverside
• Little Jackie - The World Should Revolve Around Me
• Kaiser Chiefs - Like It Too Much

Friday

• Kaiser Chiefs - Never Miss A Beat
• The Streets - Everything Is Borrowed
• Little Jackie - The Stoop
• Seasick Steve (Chat with JH)
• TV On The Radio - Golden Age
• Seasick Steve - Started Out With Nothin
• Kaiser Chiefs - Like It Too Much
• Boy George - Down By The Riverside
• The Streets - On The Edge Of A Cliff
• Boy George (Chat with JH at the piano)
• Little Jackie - The World Should Revolve Around Me
• TV On The Radio - Dancing Choose
• Seasick Steve - Walking Man
• The Streets - The Escapist
• Kaiser Chiefs - You Want History

The big problem with Kaiser Chiefs these days is that the band expend a lot of energy for very little return. Latest big single 'Never Miss A Beat' is not as good as say 'I Predict A Riot' or 'Ruby' and the rest of the set was just as weak. It's a shame that the show is used as blatant advertising rather than to showcase great music these days. Only final song 'You Want History' was decent enough and even then it suffers horribly from awful lyrics (I mean rhyming history with mystery hasn't been done a million times before). The energy however is always amazing even if the material is not.

The Streets were the same but without the energy. Skinner looks totally disinterested, treating it more like a job than art. Maybe he was just trying to remember the convoluted lyrics. Without a doubt he is a great story teller but he has become very formulaic. At least he is not messing around these days and sounds much more mature. 'Everything Is Borrowed' is okay but 'On The Edge Of A Cliff' loses it at the chorus. 'The Escapist' is genuinely great - with a wonderful gospel chorus - but the lack of scansion is a constant distraction.

As said before, the highlight was Seasick Steve - a huge favourite in the UK and now a regular guest for JH. This time we have a chat, like always not really giving much away, but great to see. They talk about his success later in life and his Dad's influence from boogie to blues and his early guitar lessons. He only performed two songs: the bluesy stomp of 'Started Out With Nothin' and the sublime 'Walking Man' which was introduced as "for all the girls...for real". A simple gorgeous melody and quiet guitar was captivating.

Elsewhere, the appearance by Boy George was largely pointless and his rendition of 'Down By The Riverside' was drowned out (sorry, bad pun) by overwhelming backing singers. His chat with Jools descended into innuendo about his recent social exploits and then was cut off before any of it was explained. Apparently he has been hanging out with Amy Winehouse which explains a lot. Little Jackie was a mess of pseudo-rapping with 'The World Should Revolve Around Me' better than 'The Stoop' - ruined by bad whistling. But she seems like a pale imitation of Lauren Hill. I was looking forward to new band TV On The Radio but was hugely let down. The falsetto mumbling of 'Golden Age' made way for the curiously titled and more frantic 'Dancing Choose'. An attempt at melody on the chorus was a huge mess.

I think what was missing this week was a surprise. I was hoping that TV On The Radio would be more interesting than they were. The Streets, Little Jackie and TV On The Radio steered things too far in one direction and there is a distinct lack of variety. No folk or country or a decent rock band. Too boring?