With only a few days left until Christmas, a fashionably dingy basement club in West London seems a slightly odd place to hold a ‘Honky Tonk’ night. Perhaps even odder is that this is the place I’ve come to see LOUIS ELIOT – the man best-remembered for fronting Britpop also-rans Rialto.
Earlier this year, Eliot released his debut solo record, ‘The Long Way Round’ (which I guess you could argue is ‘country tinged’...), and the response to his collection of semi-acoustic, melodic pop songs was pretty encouraging.
Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have the same impact live.
Take, for instance, ‘Tonight’ – on record it’s a sweet, gentle song, clearly written from the heart; its tender chiming guitar line and comforting spirit are reminiscent of the Velvet Underground’s Sunday Morning. It doesn’t work quite so well live though, coming across a bit too gentle; an opportunity to get a drink from the bar whilst there’s nothing much to miss.
Also, as the band play through the tracks from ‘The Long Way Round’ Eliot uses only electric guitar, and in losing the acoustic foundations, for several songs he loses some of the warmth that makes them eminently listenable.
A few of the more up-beat songs are still enjoyable and well received by the posse of cowboy-booted onlookers, the almost optimistic ‘Heaven in Your Eyes’ in particular. ‘Falling’ finds Eliot at his most pleasantly infectious; he valiantly battles with a harmonica, microphone stand and guitar, just about managing to pull it off (even if he does rhyme ‘window pane’ with ‘drain’ and ‘ledge’ with ‘edge’ inside the first verse). I’m less of a fan of ‘Country Life’ - live or otherwise - Eliot’s ode to a better life in the sticks is just a bit too twee.
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So, overall a mixed bag. Louis Eliot is charismatic in a Lennon-esque way, he is likeable, has a warm, familiar voice and an inherent ability to pen a catchy song; his first album has proved as much. Also, whilst the performance side of things may require a little work, he has clearly come so far from the delusions of grandeur and record label cynicism that seemed to mar his earlier forays with Rialto. But the biggest test still lies ahead; despite the undoubted potential, we’ll have to wait and see if Eliot can now hit his stride after so many false starts.
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