- Dktr. Faustus
- City Hobgoblins
- Hot Aftershave Bop
- U.S. 80’s-90’s
- Riddler
- Mr. Pharmacist
- Fiery Jack
- Shoulder Pads
- Bombast
- Gross Chapel-GB Grenadiers
- Hey! Luciani
- Living too Late
- Terry Waite Sez
- L.A.
- Prole Art Threat
NOTES
69 minutes
Audience Audio Recording
Very good audience tape – some nominal audience chatter. Last track breaks up a little towards the end on my version
It starts well with Mark and Brix howling and yelping at each other across the Faustus riff. A long percussion intro to “Hobgoblins” is worth the wait as the band powers through at a fair old lick.
The 10th date of a twenty date Bend Sinister tour – contemporary posters say the gig should have been in Hanley however by all accounts the gig was in Hull
“Bop” is loud and shouty with some adept guitaring from Brix. “US80s90s” is similarly noisy with a certain tautness and some very odd twittering noises from the synths. Guitars are nice and visceral with some good riff definition. “Riddler” is a mammoth 7 minutes plus – takes a while to get going and perhaps is a little brooding in its intensity.
We get the perky pop version of “Pharmacist” which is a touch fast and a little too “preppy” in sound….and a little jerky in parts. “Jack” , in my opinion, never worked with this iteration of the band, the keyboards do not work and the jaunty fallabilly version of the original is lost in a manic motorik beat. The guitar break sounds like something from “Trumpton” or “Jackanory” (or indeed Fiery Jackanory).
“Shoulder Pads” conjurs up the mid 60s garage sound and is a tad overlong at 6 minutes. “Bombast” is tremendously good and abandons the pop pretensions of previous numbers for a comprehensive guitar thrash session.
The centre piece of the gig is an epic ten minute version of “Gross Chapel-BG” which is sensuous, moody and compelling. The fact that the band loses the structure in parts adds to the charm of the piece which builds from a tumbling melange of possibilities into a kaliedoscope of wonder. The segue from GC to BG is intense and somewhat menacing as Smith pre-cogs some thing or another with atonal poetry. A seriously fine piece of live Fall.
“Luciani” gets a bit of a false start but pulls together well after the riffs tumble in, this is followed by a driven take of “Living too Late” , Terry Waite gets a short and well delivered outing, and then we take a trip to “LA” where scratching guitars drive a manic journey through subtle colours of sensuality.
It ends with a super-charged “Prole” which appears to have several layers of keyboards thrown in for good measure and misses the two drum line-up from 1982 but saying that is acceptable albeit a little off kilter.
A good gig.