Sometimes,
scary as it sounds, the rest of the internet can be slower than me.
When I posted my review of the recent Alternative TV gig in Brighton, I could find no footage of the event on YouTube. Which normally
wouldn't matter much. Normally that hand-held juddery stuff doesn't
give DA Pennebaker much of a run for his money, and I link to it more
as evidence that the event happened. It's like all those blurry
photos of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster.
This
time, however, two separate sets of footage has subsequently appeared
– and it's champion stuff! Here's a track I mentioned in my review,
the epic 'Splitting In Two' complete with it's
classic rolling riff. It's great the way Mark Perry looks more like
he should be propping up the bar in an East End pub than fronting a
classic punk band, while the drummer looks a similar thing only
relocated to the shires.
'Splitting
In Two' comes from their first album, 'The Image
Has Cracked'. The next night, when I went to see Blyth
Power, front man Joseph Porter cheekily enquired whether they'd
played anything from its follow-up, 'Vibing Up the Senile
Man'. Just as post-punk was like the difficult B-side to
punk's catchy single, that album became notorious when live
renditions of it's experimentalism were frequently rewarded by hurled
beer cans from frustrated pogoers.
Porter
was clearly expecting the answer “no”. Yet they did
play something, they played 'The Radio Story'.
For, according to the clip's poster, “the first time in a
generation” – and what's more it was great! As if to underline
the divergence, this is even shot from a different angle and suddenly
bursts into colour.
Both
awesome tracks, I think you'll agree. But, as I said in my review,
the really cool thing is that one band can so
effortlessly encompass both styles.
Mr.
Perry and cohorts, please come back to our fair town soon...
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