Battled my way to North side Strasser style and Costellos a-ten-again. I had to make the 7.30 start time, so I ate half a sandwich and stashed the rest in my again conveniently parked car. walked to the Old town, and it was strange - there wasn't the masses of people outside having their last smokes before going in. Inside - and again no one. Looked @ the ticket - it was a 7pm start. FUCK!!!! however, since I'm seeing them again and again, I wasn't deeply disturbed. Missed the fist 1/2 h, and when the applause started for whatever song was on, I entered and took up my seat in the same general area that I had been in the nite before.
At this point there is not much variation in the sets besides order of songs played. On a given day - two sets- I will hear 88% of songs played twice - maybe 3-4 songs unique to each set. The next day? Same thing. So the question that popped up in my mind this show was when I feel that this or that song was "The Best Version of the Song" played during the entire 6 show stand- meaning the 'best' version of "I thought you were my boyfriend' or "Take Ecstasy w/ me" - is it that they played better on this version this set this nite, or was I in a different mood ................ or what?? I really can't quantify why I liked this song better this set or whatever, but then again, the strings of cliche's/sayings plays into it: 'no accounting for taste', 'eye of the beholder', etc... Questions like this/generally no answers, just my reactions.
So, which song triggered this? The third time I heard "Boyfriend", I was very happy. It was the best version so far of the song. It then rolled into the fucked instruments / rhyming "Water torture", a song not new but to me. It features Claudia following some convoluted rhyme scheme while John and Sam lay their instruments flat and pick @ the strings along the bridges and strange places. Like I wrote before, it creates a sound sorta like -but of course vastly different - then that done by Big Black in the "Kerosene" introduction. The sound is fucking kool, and also is Claudias rendering of the scheme. It's something I love and started to look forward to @ the end of each version of 'boyfriend' . At a later show Stephin or Claudia mentioned that in practice the band noticed that the songs have similar....... somethings, so they decided to 'sorta-join' the songs. Again, I started to look forward to it each time - BUT HOLD IT RITE THERE !! A common faux pas happened this set on the switchover. We started to clap, including me. This brought down a quick shake of the head "No!" from Stephin, and we let the beautiful transition go on. Beautiful.
And there were plenty songs that were not my favourite that my notes on them contained two letters: 'ih'. 'ih' means, well, ih, whatever, next song please. As much as I love the Fields (and allied bands), through the course of hundred-two hundred of their songs of various LP/EP/etc etc , there are of course some I just don't feel. The danger of getting tix to six is that one may sit through six versions of one -or a few - of these songs. I noted "Grand Canyon", "Gargoyle", and "Bitter end". The "Goat song" simply had "Skip it next time" written next to it.
But during that song came Stephins most visibly enjoyable moment so far. (And yes, i fully realise I'm playing into the 'oh look @ Stephin - he's scratching his face !! ?h He's talking about fauns/ etc... ). He had a very heartfelt smile when Claudia missed a note or was off key or something. As demanding as he seems to be - very demanding - it was nice to see some levity and a huge smile from him. See? He is one of us! As we had permanent smiles on our happy faces through sixsets, so he can also smile........once.
And then there's "Rodeo". This version was an 'ih' fer sure, but as always, some of the most massive applause came after this song. What am I missing? Well, I felt it once the nite before, but not this time. S'alrite. Although the repeated exposure to this song hasn't made me a fan, exposure to other songs made me like them more and more. Again, I came into the sixsets w/out having heard a single song on the new LP, so much is all new to me. But the songs I like or and more are "The Nun's Litany", "Zombie Boy", and what I thought was "Javier says" (Turns out it's "Xavier says"). The Nun song is about a nun who wants to be, in turn, a playboy's bunny, a topless waitress, artists model, cobra danser (what?), brother worker, dominatrix, porno starlet, etc... . "Zombie Boy" is the full bodied propulsive song I champion. And I really began to fall for "Xavier". Shirley Simms, the new singer in the band who sits to the bands left and onlt has a limited role live - takes lead on this. It's somewhat of a quiet songs - though not anything like the pindrop songs that are in the set- that really showcases her singing. She's great. I love the song after being on the fence for a bit.
And then there is the Bag Lady. I know, I know, cruel, but a singer from the past - Sally Timms - came to reprise her singing part on "Give me back my Dreams", which she handled on the "6th's" LP "Hyacinth's and Thistles" (an terrible lp, much much much the lessor of the "Holiday" like grandeur/splendor of the bands earlier close to perfect "Wasp's Nests"). During a Friday set - not sure which one - Claudia mentioned that Ms. Timms was in Chicago having flown in from London. Jet lag made her miss the first nites shows. She sang this one song, and that was all. She didn't appear in the late set, and it got me to thinking "Fuck - they flew her in from London for just ONE SONG??". Although I had more wished they brought in Brabara manning for "San Diego Zoo" or Lou Barlow for "In the city in the rain" or Dean Wareham for ""Falling out of Love (with you)", she sounded great and I am now a fan of the song. I guess that is why she was brought in, n'est pas?
Bag Lady? Yeah, she was dressed much like a bag lady. I know, cruel - she is a pretty women. But the outfit................... However, Claudia did improve on hers - she took on a Sporty Spice look with an athletic top to cover her........ generally brown overalls look. Rest of the band? As always, they generally follow Stephins 'muted brown style' that he has preferred the last few years. Muted brown, he has said something about, so he doesn't have to think much about dressing choices. Or something like that.
Claudia had a great story before what has become my favourite new song "THREE WAY !!!". @ an L.A. show there was a blond girl who was on Ecstasy (see below) and alternately fondling the boy on one side of her and the girl on the other side. When it came time to introduce the song, Claudia mentioned the title (THREE WAY !!!) and got a shocked reaction from the girl as if she was thinking: "AHHHHHHHHHHH MY COVER BLOWN !!!!!!!!". Great story. Terribly titillating, too. So, the question is this : How does Claudia know she was on vitamin E ? Huh? She makes lots of remarks like this - (They were coked up ", etc) and I wonder how she knows. I'm handle this later, but I get the feeling that this band has done loads and loads of drugs. And don't care if we know. I guess one could worry, but they seem healthy.
"THREE WAY!!!" So lovely a song. My favourite new song, I know I've said (there are other great traxx on the new LP being played, but it's my favourite by farr. Get it, Mr. Farr?). and this time there was a especial fuck up that was fun to watch (Claudia talks about fauns/ we faun). The song has all the feel of a full instrumental, and the band rocks out to it -well, as much as a quiet uke, cello, acoustic, and grand piano can - and builds up to a crescendo, until it stops three times : the boys yell "THREE WAY!!!" @ the first break (literally the only time the audience hears Sam and John's voices the whole show. THE ONLY TIME.), the girls yell it @ the second break, and all five yell it to end the song. This moments levity came w/ Claudia missed cue for the girls yelling part. The girls laughed. We fawned.
And then they left, Claudia as usual collecting the bands notebooks. Why her the job? Maybe 'cause she's generally last to leave.
Next : the cranky set.
1 comment:
Per'aps she has left us for London, but for quite some time Sally Timms lived in the greater 312/773 area.
I always loved giving her a "Hiya, Sally" whenever I saw her out and about at a show. Even if she did yell at me and an ex once for talking during a boring set she was doing at the Abbey.
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