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Elly Roberts reviews
14th Floor Records
- November 2007
- Rating: 10/10+
King of pain, does, pain. Live.
First live album from Irelands self-confessed musical miserablist Damien Rice.For those of you who havent experienced his live shows, this is just the ticket.Actually, having seen him live, hes quite a chirpy chap, unlike his songs.
Melancholy is deep at the heart of his work. No-one does melancholy quite likeRice. This ones a bit late coming onto the market though. It has been availableat his shows.
Recorded in February 2003 before he zoomed into mass popularity, it featuressongs from O (his only album up to then) which spent 80 weeks in theUK album chart (selling 2 million worldwide, 1 million in the UK alone) andthree never before recorded tracks, including Silent Night by long-timecollaborator Lisa Hannigan, who no longer works with him.
Sadly, an announcement on March 26 2007, said their professional relationship“has run its creative course.”
Londons Union Chapel is the intimate setting for this gig. Nowadays hes doinghuge arenas like Manchesters ENA. So we have to ask: why not release one fromhis incredible 2007 tour? Nevertheless, we still get some great, great music,which is what hes about. A shrill of whistles and cheers greet him. In customaryfashion, its a Delicate start.
Acoustic guitar and melancholic violin for this most stunning of ballads. Theatmosphere is set for a great gig. The song that brought his attention to me,and millions of others it would appear, is one of the most brilliant songs everwritten – The Blowers Daughter is next, in all its glory, sounding asgood, if not better, than the studio version.
Another classic from O is the superb single Volcano, giving Hannigana better chance to shine, which it has to be said, was missing from recentshows. Then come two songs which only appear here, both excercises in sadnessand, beauty. Hannigan makes Then Go her song, which is so fragile itcould snap at any moment, with Baby Sister just as atmospheric andtender, and theres more of a duet feel here.
Livening things up, more in the recent gig format, Hannigans treatment ofBe My Husband is something to behold, including the bongos. Thenfollows one of O‘s killer tracks Amie, which you need to trackto the very end to hear how to fold-up a song with touch and finesse.
Hannigan almost steals the show (again) with the haunting Silent Night.Rightfully, they get a whipped up ovation, and if they were seated, theydsoon be on their feet. Thats the beauty, sometimes, of a live album. Sometimesthey suck. But when theyre great, like this, youre not distracted by stageantics, and focus on the music.
Few can do it. Some dont even know where to start. Damien Rice knows how.To touch our hearts and souls.
File under: Must, must, must have. Really.
Weblink:damienrice.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Delicate
2. The Blowers Daughter
3. Volcano
4. Then Go
5. Baby Sister
6. Be My Husband
7. Amie
8. Silent Night
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.