Review:
'RAZA, DAN & THE SHROUDS/ FORD, SAM'
'London, Ladbroke Grove, The Elgin, 15th Aug 2013'
- Genre: 'Alt/Country'
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Our Rating:
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Yes this gig is taking place at the previously infamous Elgin Pub in Notting Hill. It's been involved in all manner of Rock & Roll legends and featured in the BBC's Punk Britannia, not to mention Mick Farren's Give the Anarchist a Cigarette, but that was all under the old ownership dictating Alcohol one of the lesser drugs featuring at the Elgin. These days it has been spruced up and made nice and they now have bands in the dining room so you can eat and listen or just drink and listen, depending on your pleasure.
By the time we arrived, SAM FORD was already on, playing an acoustic 12 string guitar on his lap almost like it was a percussion instrument rather than one you'd strum while singing in a voice rich with emotion about how Together We Learn. He was accompanied by a bass player and drummer they made a good little trio.
He put plenty of power and emotion into the next song about not getting fooled. It had the sound of the more unadorned music of Prefab Sprout, followed by a much more percussion-based tune The Storm wherein he managed to mimic the rumbling of thunder from his guitar while the lyrics helped to whip the storm up and grab everyone's attention.
He then stood up to play the last two songs of the set so they were less percussive but nonetheless I wanted to know about the 14 nights he was singing about a little bit more than on the closing song about Love Slowly Fading Away. That had some pretty thoughtful words on the break-up of a relationship. He went down very well indeed in a packed room.
This is the first time I've seen DAN RAZA with THE SHROUDS rather than solo or playing with Ben Folke-Thomas or Trent Miller et al and it's good to see him with a full band. They opened with Annie, a good gentle affair where Dan was singing about "when the Robin sings" and I was really enjoying the violin. They then played a full on country hoe-down version of Cool Dark Knight that we really need enough room to dance to rather than sitting at tables. A great tune that you need to hear regardless.
Don't Shoot The Stars was next even though Dan had introduced Cool Dark Knight as being this tune it was obvious once they he started singing which tune was which. Whatever, the interplay between the mandolin (It was Mandolin wasn't it?) and the violin plus Dan's guitar made this tune quite bewitching, drawing the listener in, waiting for the next twist in the tune.
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Singing a song about Payday at a free gig is a good idea as I do hope the bands get paid. Either way, it had a good Townes Van Zandt feel to it although Dan's voice isn't in any way tortured. The Tide Is Turning seemed to be about the aftermath of some sort of fight as Dan sings about how he heard you as the violin brings some emotional angst to the song.
Shadowland could be about the film of that name but then again it might not. It certainly cooked along at a decent lick as the mandolin player seemed to lead the band on this tune. We then got all wistful and Dan was a little full of regret as he sang Searching For You: apparently about looking for a long lost parent or mother. A powerful song that I need to hear again.
They were having fun on stage and Old Ways saw the band just having playing it like they had discovered an unknown song by Lowell George. It had a bit of that Little Feat magic going on before they got a bit mystical on Silent's The Night Wind which found Dan telling us a few times that "the Spirit is over" which as most of our glasses were empty wasn't that far off the truth. They closed the set with Madeleine: again a bit of a break up song as Dan told her how "this ain't the way." Well it was a good way to finish a pretty fine set.
I then managed to pilfer a set list that looks a whole lot more accurate than my notebook. I look forward to seeing Dan Raza and The Shrouds again before too long and also to going to see some more music at The Elgin, not least as it's just about local for this reviewer.
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author: simonovitch
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Dan Raza And The Shrouds
With guest Sam Ford
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