The man railing against the curfew that's preventing the music running beyond 11 o'clock is 71.
Over to his left is another chap, three years older, who has just sung his heart out, berating his lover, Jane, for fooling with him. So a large raspberry for those who reckon that rock 'n' roll is a young person's game.
The men in question, Paul Kantner, founder of Jefferson Starship, née Airplane, and David Frieberg, a California rock veteran whose CV includes 1960s west coast heroes Quicksilver Messenger Service as well as the now-40-year-old Baron Von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun album with various Starship alumni, are the names who front a band whose music manages to sound both of a charming vintage and indecently current.
Their hits, including White Rabbit, Somebody to Love and the later Count on Me, roll back the years but in this guise they have the power to excite all over again.
Instrumentally the band is in great shape, sounding supertight despite it being only drummer Richard Newman's second gig and presenting both near-stadium rock heroics without the pomp or excess and intimate moments. Vocally, though, it's beyond great, in large part thanks to the phenomenal Cathy Richardson, whose exhilaratingly volcanic rock chick with genuine soul soaring lends extraordinary presence alongside the admittedly now rather gnarly Kantner and the still totally convincing Frieberg.
Richardson's own passionate If I Could was a particular highlight, as was a brilliantly revitalised Fast Buck Freddie, and if Wooden Ships, a Kantner co-write with David Crosby, didn't have Crosby Stills & Nash's sweet precision, Richardson's conviction made it heart-swellingly memorable.
No comments:
Post a Comment