Louis Tillett/Paris Green/Floyd Vincent & the Child Brides
@ the Annandale Hotel
Sunday 5th November 5, 2000In this country much is made of the running of the Melbourne Cup, but last weekend produced a winning trifecta that easily eclipses anything a bunch of nags may achieve on a race track.
For me there are four bands/artists which erupted from the Australian pub music scene during the early to mid '80s, came to dominate my consciousness with superb and original music and have not only survived into the new millennium but continue make music which shows every indication of being just as memorable and timeless as what has gone before.
In a conjunction of gigs almost as rare as the alignment of the planets, I not only caught Died Pretty on Friday night and the New Christs on Saturday night, but was able to round out the weekend with Louis Tillett, performing both in solo mode and as part of the intermittent, unpredictable, but always interesting musical extravaganza which is Paris Green. I guess it's just fortunate that Spy v Spy are not out and about as well at present, so I was spared the anguish of what would otherwise have been a virtually impossible choice if they'd also been in town on any evening this weekend.
Even before Louis took to the stage, the Annandale Hotel was starting to look like a school reunion for Sandringham Hotel, class of... well, any time from the mid eighties up until Newtown's status as the Goth and body piecing centre of Australia became unassailable. This audience doubtless was drawn partly due to his loyal personal following and partly due to the near legendary status of Paris Green (given that practically every musician in Sydney either played in Paris Green at least once or has played in a band with someone else who has played in Paris Green, playing "6 degrees of separation" with Sydney musicians becomes a complete no brainer - the real challenge is to find two musicians who can't be connected in six links or less!).
However Louis isn't into nostalgia, although when his flowing, seemingly effortless keyboard skills are on display, as they were during his all too brief set on Sunday, it's hard not to hark back fondly to a time when his keyboard touch was in such demand that it seemed as if a law must have been passed preventing an Australian record being released unless he'd played on it.
These days his own time seems to be much more tightly rationed. Tonight's set was brief and I suspect really just a final portion of public practice for his forthcoming promotional trip to Germany. Unfortunately I was too snowed under at the time to write about either of his most recent gigs (at the revitalised Vic on the Park and at the Basement for a "Club Acoustica" show, which saw him swapping his trademark electric keyboard for a "proper" grand piano), but it's always a pleasure to hear him at work and he was in fine form, both vocally and on the ivories, with "Ancient Song" in particular being treated to some impressive extemporizing on the piano.
When I'd arrived for the show, I'd first thought that Louis might be playing in his occasional trio configuration instead of solo, as both Jim Dickson and Nick Fisher were in the process of setting up their equipment. However this turned out to have been just a little advance preparation for the Paris Green part of the show. In keeping with Paris Green's predilection for fluid and impromptu membership, tonight's line up was effectively a collision between Louis's semi-regular rhythm section and Floyd Vincent's front line, with Floyd and his keyboard player making up the five (and Louis only singing, not playing).
As always the Paris Green repertoire consisted completely of familiar standards, which were treated as a platform from which the music then was launched skywards. The performances were a trifle tentative for the first couple of songs, but really began to stretch out by the time they got to Iggy Pop's "Sister Midnight", the ensemble thereafter taking flight with apparent ease on each subsequent song.
Even if Louis Tillett forgot how to play the piano tomorrow, his performance as a vocalist showed that he could still get by on his singing talent alone and it's always a joy to watch Jim Dickson and Nick Fisher working together, as they consistently demonstrate themselves to be one of the best rhythm sections in Australia (of course at about 6 foot 6 inches tall, Jim Dickson would be an imposing musician even if he only played the piccolo or the penny whistle), but Floyd Vincent's contribution was equally impressive, exhibiting guitar technique which was assured and exciting without being overly affected or grandiose.
Highlight of the set for me was a version of "I Can Only Give You Everything". Without a horn section, this number turned into a garage monster powered by some classic psych organ work and comprehensively exploded the myth that operating as a "cover" band is automatically inconsistent with inspiration or originality.
Coincidentally, for part of their set Floyd Vincent & the Child Brides were joined by a horn section, the Red Spider horns, who unfortunately had to share one low microphone. This wasn't too bad for Jason Morphett on sax, but must have been a real pain in the lower back for the trombone player who had to half bend over in order to be heard when he played.
Under normal circumstances, the Child Brides probably wouldn't be featured in the Bar unless Craig was throwing a South American Salsa Night and I was really only familiar with the title track of their "Last Exit Motel" album and their "Big Bwana" single, but they turned in a very diverse and enthralling set which even included a version of Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" so different from the original that the joke kazoo orchestra version of some years back sounds positively orthodox in comparison - if TV/radio host Andrew Denton ever tries to do to "Whole Lotta Love" what he did to "Stairway To Heaven", then this arrangement would have to be featured!
- John McPharlin
