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Hugh
Cornwell - live and alone
review by
Jon Andriessen
Town Hall,
Cheltenham
Monday,
March 17
Hugh Cornwell has come along
way since leading populist punk rockers The Stranglers to a string of
number one hits in the eighties. In a solo acoustic performance of
professionalism and charm, attitude and anarchy have given way to reveal a
mild mannered and thought-provoking singer, songwriting troubadour.
In a gig of two halves the first was given solely to new material: 'I’m
afraid you’re my guinea pigs', he told us without need for apology.
Amongst these, 'Dark side of the moon', a song inspired by Radio Four's
Desert Island Discs and '24/7', a celebration of 'the man with the best
job in the world', Dylan, with the tag line, 'just being Bob'.
After the break Cornwell returned to more familiar ground in an audience
request-fest of old Stranglers tracks. It’s true to say that this was what
most people came for, but for Cornwell there’s an almost bitter edge and
antipathy towards the songs that made his name. His voice becomes just
that little bit more sardonic as if to emphasise the uncomfortable and
continuous link to the past. His acrimonious split from the other
Stranglers seems unlikely to ever be resolved, but finally and with some
good grace through gritted teeth, he belted out ‘No More Heroes’,
‘Peaches’, and a stunningly high tempo ‘Always the Sun’.
‘Golden Brown’, a classic pop song if ever there was one, finished things
off with Cornwell mockingly singing the guitar solo, (‘…didly didly dee’)
and then he left the stage, safe in the knowledge of a job well done.
Nice, yes, but not overly sleazy.
(This article originally
appeared in the Stroud News And Journal March 2003)
© Jon
Andriessen
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